Agenda item

(To receive a report from Daryl Pearce, County Manager Public Protection; Nicole Hilton, Community Assets and Resilience Commissioning Manager and Nick Borrill, Chief Fire Officer, which provides the Committee with performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 1 2016/17 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, Libraries and Heritage Services as set out in the Council's Business Plan)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Committee with performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 1 2017/2018 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and Libraries and Heritage as set out in the Council's Business Plan.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Juvenile first time offenders – it was suggested that there was a need to know more about the background of these offenders, for example whether any were repeat offenders. 

·         It was queried what percentage of offenders reoffended after going through restorative justice.

·         It was queried whether there was a need to look at what other areas were doing in relation to youth offending, including other countries, to find different ways of doing things.

·         Alcohol related violent crime incidents – it was queried whether it was though that a lack of visible policing had an effect on alcohol or violent crime related incidents.

·         In relation to the technical issues which had been reported as affecting the data for quarter 1, it was noted that these were due to changes to the police recording system and the database which sat behind this.  Those incidents which had not been included for quarter 1 would be corrected when data was available.

·         Alcohol related anti-social behaviour incidents – it was queried who defined an incident as 'anti-social' was it the resident or the police, and it was clarified that it would be Police officer who attended the incident who would make that decision.

·         Primary fires had increased significantly this quarter, with vehicle fires and cooking fires being more prevalent.  There was a strategy of interventions for cooking fires and Fire and Rescue was also working with the manufacturers of white goods as well some of the most vulnerable at risk groups for cooking fires.

·         In relation to deliberate fires, vehicle fires were the area of most concern, and the Arson Task Force continued to work collaboratively with neighbourhood policing teams on initiatives to reduce deliberate fires.  It was noted that most of these vehicle fires were caused by people entering the county from other areas.

·         It was queried what percentage of fires were due to people buying cheaper goods which may not be safe, as they had less money available.

·         Part of the home fire safety checks would target potential hazards in the home, including faulty white goods.

·         In relation to vehicle fires, it was queried whether these were mainly due to people coming into the county with stolen cars and then burning them.   It was confirmed that this was the most prevalent way that fire and rescue came across vehicle fires.  It was also queried whether there was a success rate in terms of catching the people who did this, but it was noted that once the fire had been extinguished, fire and rescue did not hear about the outcomes in terms of catching the culprits, as that was a matter for the Police.

·         In relation to the aim to decrease alcohol related anti-social behaviour, it was queried how this would be achieved.  Members were advised that there were various projects which had been put in place to help achieve this target, such as the Blue Light outreach project and the pub watch scheme.

·         It was queried to what extent was it possible that anti-social behaviour was due to energy drinks.  Officers advised that they were unsure on this, but would look into it further.  Work had explored in relation to the sale of high strength single cans of alcohol but not energy drinks.

·         In was noted that arson targeting farming (particularly straw) had been reduced compared to the previous year, but a campaign around farming fires had been run during that year and preventative work had taken place which had resulted in a reduction.  It was noted that a campaign was not running this year and a close eye would be kept on the figures to see if this would have an effect.

RESOLVED

            That the performance information contained within the report be noted.