Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides key performance information that is relevant to the work of the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee.  Lead officers for the service areas will be in attendance at the meeting)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the opportunity to consider key performance information that was relevant to the work of the Committee.

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:

·         Anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the police – it was suggested that this needed to be focused to a local area. 

·         There had been a shift towards those shops with illicit stock not keeping it in the shop, but instead keeping it in the back, or ordering it in on request. 

·         It was commented it was better to look where large amounts of contraband were being kept or who the suppliers were.  This change in behaviours could make it more difficult for trading standards.

·         Members were informed that investigative processes were much slower for trading standards due to processes which were involved, and it was noted that discussions were in place regarding merging the Police Licensing team with the Trading Standards Licensing team.

·         Anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the Police – it was noted that these figures did not include district housing providers.  It was noted that a computer system had been jointly procured which would be used as a single database for anti-social behaviour reports.  This should give a comprehensive review of where anti-social behaviour incidents were taking place, regardless of who reported them.

·         It was noted that in relation to HMIC and the reporting of crime data the majority of missed crimes were held in 2 main records.  One was around the DASH (Domestic Abuse Stalking and Harassment) pro-forma and may have made mention of past incidents.  It was noted that although the police had not complied with HMIC FRS with the reporting of data, no safeguarding situations had been missed, and no one had been left less safe than they should have been.  It was noted that Lincolnshire Police had been rated as good for helping people.

·         Primary Fires – concerns were expressed regarding the increase in dwelling fires.  Members were noted that the increase was mainly due to vehicle fires, which were mainly arson related as people were stealing cars and then setting fire to them.  56% of these fires were due to cooking related incidents and in many cases the fire would have burned out before Fire and Rescue arrived and therefore no action would be taken.

·         It was also noted that trends occurred nationally with numbers of fires going up or down.  At the moment, nationally there was a downward trend.  It was queried whether this could be due to homes being safer due to increased number of people having alarm systems.  Members were advised that the increase in automated system was leading to more call outs on occasions when normally fire and rescue would not have been called as people had been able to put out the fire themselves.  It was acknowledged that these systems were making people safer, but it was also creating more activity for the Service.

·         It was requested whether Fire and Rescue could bring back further data on deliberate fires.

RESOLVED

            That the performance information and associated commented be noted.