Agenda item

To submit a report by the Community Safety Delivery Manager for Anglesey and Gwynedd.

Submitted – a report by the Community Safety Delivery Manager for Gwynedd and Anglesey which provided an overview of activities of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Community Safety Partnership (CSP).

The Assistant Chief Executive (Partnerships, Community & Service Improvements) reported that the Community Safety Partnership is required to present an overview of it activities to this Committee annually. This ensures that the Partnership delivers its obligations in accordance with Sections 19 and 20 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2006.  There is a statutory duty on Local Authorities in accordance with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, and subsequent amendments because of the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2002 and 2006, to work in partnership with the Police, Health Service, Probation Service and the Fire and Rescue Service, to address the local community safety agenda.  The Partnership has a duty to deal with :-

·      Crime and Disorder

·      Substance Misuse

·      Reducing reoffending

·      Delivering a strategic assessment to identify priorities (work that is now undertaken on a regional basis)

·      Putting plans in place to deal with these priorities (a plan now exists on a regional and local basis)

The Community Safety Delivery Manager for Gwynedd and Anglesey reported that the Partnership has existed on Anglesey and in Gwynedd since 1998 but a joint Partnership has operated for the past five years.  The partnership works to an Annual Plan, which is based on a three year regional plan.  The 2016/17 end of year performance report, 2017/18 Annual Plan and the 2017/18 expenditure plan was attached as Appendices 1, 2 and 3 to the report.  The following seven priorities are the Partnerships focus for 2016/17 and 2017/18 :-

·      Reducing victim based crimes (acquisitive crimes only)

·      Reducing Antisocial Behaviour

·      Supporting vulnerable people to prevent them becoming victims of crime

·      Raising confidence to report incidents of domestic abuse

·      Raising confidence to report sexual abuse

·      Addressing substance misuse in the area

·      Reducing Re-offending

The main messages deriving from the activities of the Partnership for 2016/17 were included at Page 11 and 12 of the report.

The Officer wished to amend the report before the Committee as regard to the grant provision from the Police and Crime Commissioner towards Domestic Homicide Review as it reports that the funding was to come to an end.  The Police and Crime Commissioner has indicated that the grant funding will now continue until the next financial year towards this project. 

She further stated that the Wales Audit Office has carried out a review of Community Safety across Wales and in light of the review findings, the Welsh Government has commissioned a further in-depth review of Community Safety and has also established a Board to lead on the work undertaken.  The results of the review is awaited at the end of this year and it is anticipated that further changes to the way the Community Safety Partnership operates will be enforced.

The Committee considered the report and raised the following main matters :-

·      Clarification was sought as to the increase in people reporting domestic and sexual violent crimes and whether increase is attributed to enhanced support and information now available to support victims. The Community Safety Delivery Manager responded that the Police Authority has been subject to an audit review by the HM Inspectors which investigated how the Police across England and Wales reported incidences of domestic and sexual violence crime.  The findings of the HM Inspectors review of North Wales Police  has identified that there was a need to enhance the recording of domestic and sexual violence be enhanced and thereafter it came to light that higher number of such crimes were reported recently.  The Assistant Chief Executive (Partnerships, Community & Service Improvements) said that training as regard to domestic violence is to be statutory for all staff Members of the Council through the E-learning portal;

·      Reference was made to the annual International White Ribbon Day which is held on the 25^th November to raise awareness of domestic abuse amongst the public. A successful campaign was held at Ysbyty Gwynedd last year;

·      Reference was made to a statement within the report that there has been a decrease in incidents of young offending under the age of 17 years old; questions were raised as to whether this was a result of the police and identified agencies visiting school to raise awareness of youth offending.  The Community Safety Delivery Manager responded that Welsh Government commissioned relevant agencies to attend every school to raise awareness of different categories of offending.  She noted that sexual violence towards young people is on the increase and a lot of work has been targeted in this field by different agencies.  It was also noted that an increase has been seen in young children offending against children of the same age. 

·      Clarification was sought as to whether facilities were in place to protect older people from fraudulent ‘scams’ either through social media or through the post.  The Community Safety Delivery Manager responded that the Trading Standards Department of the Council and Age Cymru have recently had a campaign to raise awareness of potential fraudulent materials;

·      Reference to Welsh Government capital grant towards the improvement of the building in Holyhead currently used for substance misuse services.  The Community Safety Delivery Manager said that the grant will enable improvement to the premises at William Street, Holyhead which offer assistance and guidance to people who use the services at the centre;

·      Reference was made to possible sexual exploitation of young people using social media and questions were raised as to whether any resource can be sought to protect these young people from pornography and exploitation.  The Community Safety Delivery Manager responded that a vast amount of information and guidance is available for parents but it is a complex field to stop such material being access on the internet.  

It was RESOLVED :-

·      To note the report and attached documents;

·      To support the priorities and future direction of work of the Community Safety Partnership.

ACTION : As noted above.