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Housing and Community Safety Policy & Scrutiny Committee |
23 January 2023 |
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Report of Director of Economy and Place |
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SAFER YORK PARTNERSHIP BI-ANNUAL REPORT
Summary
1. This report is the bi-annual report for Safer York Partnership and covers the emerging priorities which will inform the production of a new strategy for the period 2023-2026. The report also discusses the community safety issues which have impacted on the work of the Community Safety Hub in the last six months and outlines the work that has been undertaken to tackle persistent antisocial behaviour in the city.
2. The Priorities within the Community Safety Strategy 2020-23 are:
a. City Centre Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
b. Counter Terrorism
c. Domestic Abuse
d. Serious/High Risk Antisocial Behaviour
e. Serious Organised Crime
3. City Centre Crime and Antisocial behaviour
3.1 Multi-agency work to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour in the city is delivered through the work of the BID Safe Partnership. This has reduced duplication of attendance at separate meetings all with the same aim of keeping the city centre safe. The partnership is also represented at meetings to discuss the community safety element of Purple Flag and is involved in strategic meetings looking at the long term development plans for the city centre.
3.2 Following the lifting of the final COVID restrictions it was feared that this could lead to an increase in alcohol related anti-social behaviour (ASB) as normal patterns of drinking and nights out returned. This has not been the case with ASB levels and complaints relating to ASB in the city centre remaining low. With the exception of one weekend during the race season, the return of normal race events has also not resulted in large increases in alcohol related ASB.
3.3 In May 2022, the Public Space Protection Order for the area within the Bar Walls was reinstated, providing the police with the power to seize alcohol where it is associated with ASB.
3.4 The police have reconvened their Operation Safari, multi-agency meeting which looks specifically at crime and ASB associated with the night time economy. This drives initiatives such as joint work between North Yorkshire Police and British Transport police and between North Yorkshire Police and City of York Council licensing.
3.5 Safer York Partnership took part in a Christmas safety campaign rolled out across York and North Yorkshire promoting community safety messages aimed at encouraging people to enjoy safe nights out during the festive season.
4. Counter Terrorism: Protect, Prepare, Prevent
4.1 Protect and Prepare
The York Protect and Prepare Group meets quarterly and delivers an action plan aimed at increasing awareness and vigilance and putting in place measures to assess risks and put in place measures to mitigate those risks. It is currently supported by two sub groups focusing on Hostile Vehicle Mitigation and Publicly Accessible Locations although these will be merged back into the main group in 2023.
4.2 In December 2022, the Government announced that it is in the final stages of legislating for a stronger response to terrorist threat through the Protect Duty, which comes into force this year. The duty includes lessons learnt from the Manchester Arena attack and a requirement for venues hosting events to be able to demonstrate that they have taken proportionate steps to protect against a terrorist attack. Known as Martyn’s Law (after one of the Manchester Arena victims) it will follow a tiered model linked to activity that takes place at a location and its capacity aimed to prevent undue burden on businesses.
4.3 A standard tier will apply to locations with a maximum capacity of over 100 which can undertake low-cost, simple yet effective activities to improve preparedness. This will include training, information sharing and completion of a preparedness plan to embed practices, such as locking doors to delay attackers progress or knowledge on lifesaving treatments that can be administered by staff whilst awaiting emergency services.
4.4 An enhanced tier will focus on high-capacity locations in recognition of the potential consequences of a successful attack. Locations with a capacity of over 800 people at any time, will additionally be required to undertake a risk assessment to inform the development and implementation of a thorough security plan. Subsequent measures could include developing a vigilance and security culture, implementation of physical measures like CCTV or new systems and processes to enable better consideration of security.
4.5 The government will establish an inspection and enforcement regime, promoting compliance and positive cultural change and issuing credible and fair sanctions for serious breaches.
4.6 York’s Counter Terrorism response is widely cited by the Home Office and Counter Terrorism Policing as an example of National good practice and has heavily influenced the direction in which other local authorities will be required to take when the Protect Duty comes into place. Many of the requirements likely to feature in the legislation have already been put into place in York, including the development of our Safety Advisory Group (SAG) process to ensure that any large scale event organisers must clearly demonstrate consideration of the threat of a terrorist attack and be able to show relevant safety measures and procedures are in place.
4.7 The Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) Sub Group has been overseeing the delivery of the programme of permanent HVM measures in the city centre following advice from both National and Regional Counter Terrorism experts. These measures will not only provide protection for residents, businesses and visitors within the main footstreet area of the City Centre, they will also assist in protecting the aggregated spaces surrounding key venues which will be subject to the Protect Duty. The HVM sub group also considers the CT risk associated with any major events and determines where robust safety plans need to be in place and/or temporary HVM measures may be required and makes the link with the SAG process. The group is also discussing future significant development plans which may pose a higher risk and where consideration of CT mitigation needs to be incorporated into the design. In future, these issues will become standing agenda items for the Protect and Prepare Group.
4.8 The Publicly Accessible Locations (PALS) sub group is part of a pilot being delivered by Counter Terrorism Policing North East aligned to preparation for the forthcoming Protect Duty in 2023. York’s early work on Counter Terrorism has placed it in a strong position to progress this work and the action plans and processes developed through the group have been shared widely across the region as examples of good practice. The group has divided the city into 14 zones based on the presence of venues or areas which attract high footfall and crowds. Two of these zones are being used to pilot a model of awareness raising, training, safety planning and collaborative working between local businesses that will become the blueprint for wider rollout to the other zones. Work in these zones has included the development of detailed risk assessments, table top exercises and additional training sessions. In autumn 2023, one of the pilot zones is planning a live exercise which will test the plans that are in place. This work has attracted the attention of the Home Office and visits have taken place by senior Government Officials. As the pilot draws to a close in March 2023, this work will also be absorbed into the substantive agenda of the Protect and Prepare Group.
4.9 Prevent
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 contains a duty on specified authorities to safeguard individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. This is managed strategically through a Prevent Partnership Board that operates across York and North Yorkshire with an action plan executed at local level by the York Local Prevent Delivery Group. The process is supported by a Channel Panel within top tier (Unitary and County) Authorities whereby referrals are made when individuals are highlighted to the police as potentially at risk of being radicalised. The Prevent Partnership Board also reports to the North Yorkshire Police CONTEST Board.
4.10 York’s Channel Panel meets monthly. Referrals have been steady with around 1-2 cases live to the panel at any given time. Referrals to Prevent have increased although this does not necessarily translate into cases progressing to Channel.
4.11 The Prevent Partnership Board has approved the Counter Terrorism Local Profile and developed an action plan to take forward the recommendations contained within the document. This action plan forms the basis of local action delivered through the York Prevent Local Delivery Group.
4.12 A Channel Panel Chairs Conference was held by the Home Office on Tuesday 10th January and has outlined some improvements to be the system. These will be in line with anticipated recommendations in the Independent Review of Prevent.
5. Domestic Abuse
The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 places a statutory duty on tier one local authorities for the delivery of support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in safe accommodation and provides clarity over governance and accountability. Strategic responsibility for Domestic Abuse within City of York Council is held by the Public Health Team and delivery is through the York Domestic Abuse Board reporting to Safer York Partnership.
5.1 The UK charity dedicated to ending Domestic Abuse, Safe Lives, has been commissioned to carry out a Domestic Abuse needs assessment that will be used to inform a Domestic Abuse Strategy. A further needs assessment on safe accommodation is also being carried out.
5.2 The Department for Work and Pensions released funding to help raise awareness and develop strategies to address parental conflict. York has been awarded £30k p.a. for the next two years. This will support a training programme covering a range of potential issues from coparenting to challenging behaviours.
5.3 There has been an increase in reports of Domestic Abuse since before COVID and this upward trend has continued. Within York, the wards with the highest volume are Heworth, Westfield and Micklegate. There has also been an increase in the number of calls to IDAS and in the level of people accessing services through IDAS. These increases are likely to be the result of both increased confidence to report combined with the impact of the pandemic and more people being at home.
6. High Risk Anti-Social Behaviour
The Community Safety Hub Joint Coordinating Group oversees the work undertaken by the NYP/Local Authority Community Safety Hubs across York and North Yorkshire. This ensures that good practice is shared between the hubs recognising that the way in which hubs operate is appropriate to the communities within each of the districts and the city.
6.1 The community safety hub and Neighbourhood Policing Team inspectors have continued to meet daily to ensure that emerging issues are being identified and where required, multi-agency problem solving processes put into place. Multi-agency activity has largely been focused on Foxwood and Chapelfields where there has been an escalation in incidents of antisocial behaviour involving children and young people. The Community Safety Hub convened and chaired a multi-agency problem solving group involving key partners and a problem solving plan was implemented that included some changes to instigate better evidence gathering and identification of perpetrators, increased police patrols and work with the youth justice service to engage with those involved. Community engagement was undertaken by the police, community safety hub and Housing to speak with residents and provide reassurance and advice on how to report incidents. This joint activity resulted in a significant decrease in incidents, and this continued through the October Half Term Holiday. A similar approach is being taken in Chapelfields and in Haxby which have also seen significant increases in youth related anti-social behaviour. This escalation in youth related issues will be addressed as part of a Safer York Partnership Development session due to take place on 30th January to look at an early intervention and prevention model prior to next summer.
6.2 The Community Safety Hub have also been leading on multi-agency problem solving to address alcohol related antisocial behaviour in and around Union Terrace car park. A multi-agency problem solving group was established which has included Changing Lives, Healthmatic, Police, Residents Association, Public Health and the Public Realm team within City of York Council. Community Protection Warnings were issued to those persistently causing nuisance and a Public Space Protection Order was put in place covering an extended area around Union Terrace, joining up with the PSPO for the City Centre. In October a joint visit by members of the group was made to Peterborough to look at an initiative delivered by Cambridgeshire Police to deal with similar issues. This involves the creation of a fortnightly multi-agency ‘drop in’ session where those involved in ASB can access holistic support relating to health, substance misuse, accessing financial support and other services. Where police encounter perpetrators of ASB, they can be referred to this support service as part of an escalating process of intervention. Lack of engagement will result in the use of Community Protection Warnings, Notices and in some cases Criminal Behaviour Orders. Whilst not all aspects of the Peterborough project are applicable to ASB issues in York, the group is looking at how some of the learning can be adapted to provide more support to those who are vulnerable to offending behaviour as a result of their life choices.
6.3 Fortnightly meetings take place between the Community Safety Hub, Neighbourhood Policing Inspectors, North Yorkshire Police Intelligence Unit, Housing and Youth Justice Service. These meetings focus on county lines, drug related issues and exploitation of vulnerable people either relating to properties or individuals of concern. These meetings have proved to be an excellent opportunity to take joint action to resolve issues quickly and have been instrumental in supporting some excellent results in protecting York’s most vulnerable victims. The meetings are very dynamic with clear actions aligned to every individual or address discussed. Emerging hot spot areas are also discussed in this meeting to agree where a multiagency problem solving approach is needed to address issues.
6.4 Within the Community Safety Hub we use an intelligence led approach to problem solving working together with the police to capture evidence and intelligence on a case by case basis that enables us to address things through a process of escalating intervention, with the last option to take enforcement action. Our ASB Tools and Powers within the Community Safety Hub are only applied to those over 18. Where we identify nominals under age 18, we will work with the Youth Justice Service and support them through joint visits to parents if those young people involved are also tenants in CYC property. Ward Councillors are involved in some of our problem solving meetings or are briefed from those meetings to ensure they are aware of the work that partners are doing to address issues in their area. We constantly review these processes and put in place measures to learn from them and improve the problem solving process. We are doing this working with the Partnership Hub in NYP (Headquarters team).
6.5 Following changes within the Area Command, the Community Safety Hub are working closely with the NPT and HQ Partnership Hub to deliver improvements to the multi-agency problem solving process and to facilitate more early intervention and prevent – identifying issues that are likely to emerge earlier and put in place measures to prevent escalation.
6.6 Head of Community Safety has met with the Group Manager from Fire and Rescue and discussed how their Community Safety Officers can be embedded within the Community Safety Hub. This will bring an additional dimension to the team with the opportunity for joint visits and ensure that where Fire and Rescue identify vulnerable individuals through their community engagement, this information is passed across to other agencies to improve the intelligence picture. This is particularly relevant to work in identifying possible county lines (cuckooing) activity or modern slavery.
6.7 As well as supporting joint work with the ASB Team and Police Officers in the hub where cases involve elements of Environmental ASB (usually noise), the Neighbourhood Enforcement Team also carries a wider remit related to Environmental crime and ASB. The detail of this work is contained in two quarterly performance reports at Appendix A, B and C.
7. Serious Organised Crime
7.1 The Serious Organised Crime Board and the Disruption Panel (Tactical group) for York and North Yorkshire have continued to meet, working to ensure that all key partners are focused on disrupting the most prolific and serious offenders and groups operating within the city and county. Officers in the community safety Hub alongside officers from Trading Standards and Housing attend the disruption panel to contribute to intelligence and information gathering enabling disruption of those nominals and groups under discussion.
7.2 The fortnightly meeting between the Community Safety Hub, Neighbourhood Policing Teams, Police Intelligence Unit, Housing and Youth Justice Service also plays a key role in working to contribute to the disruption of organised crime.
8. Community Safety Strategy 2023-26
8.1 A Development Session is planned for 30th January 2023 where the Safer York Partnership Board will review the priorities within the current strategy and discuss emerging priorities for inclusion in the new strategy. It is unlikely that any of the priorities outlined above will be removed from the strategy.
8.2 In 2023, the Protect Duty and the Serious Violence Duty will come into effect for City of York Council to lead. Whilst work is already taking place through the North East Pilot in preparation for the Protect Duty, the Serious Violence Duty will be a new area of work, attracting Home Office Grant funding administered through the Office of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner to support delivery over the next three years. This new duty will focus on all aspects of Violent Crime including Violence Against Women and Girls and violence associated with the night time economy.
8.3 The Office of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner has led on the development of a Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and Delivery Plan which is being implemented across York and North Yorkshire. This work will overlap with work being undertaken by the Domestic Abuse Board and also with work to be taken forward under the new Serious Violence Duty.
8.4 Hate Crime will also feature more prominently within the new Community Safety Strategy following work undertaken by the Hate Crime Strategy Group and delivery of a local action plan to address hate crime in the city. There are also strong links between the hate crime work and Prevent with Extreme Right Wing Activity forming a key part of the Prevent local delivery plan.
Council
Plan
9. The Community Safety Strategy links to the following priorities within the Council Plan 2019-23
· Safe communities and culture for all
Implications
10. In
producing this report the following implications have been
considered:
· Financial – none identified
· Human Resources (HR) – none identified
· Equalities – none identified
· Legal Safer York Partnership is a statutory partnership identified within the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
· Crime and Disorder - Safer York Partnership supports the Council’s discharge of its crime and disorder duties under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998
· Information Technology (IT) - none identified
· Property – none identified
· Other
No other implications identified
Risk Management
11. There are no identified
risks relevant to this report.
Conclusions
12. The Police and Justice Act
2006 introduced a clear role for Overview and Scrutiny Committees
in overseeing the work of Community Safety Partnerships and their
constituent partners. Under the council’s scrutiny
arrangements bi-annual performance reports from Safer York
Partnership are presented to the Scrutiny and Policy
Committee.
Recommendation
13. Members are asked to:
i. Note the information relating to delivery of the Community Safety Strategy
ii. Contribute their views in relation to the potential strategic priorities for the Community Safety Strategy 2023-26
Reason: to update Members on the performance of the Safer York Partnership and facilitate contribution to development of future strategy
Contact Details
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Author: Jane Mowat Head of Community Safety Tel: 01904 555742
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Chief Officer Responsible for the report: Neil Ferris Director of Economy & Place
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Report Approved |
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Date |
10/01/23 |
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Wards Affected: |
All |
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For further information please contact the author of the report |
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Background Papers
Community Safety Strategy 2020-23
Community Safety Strategy Refresh 2022
Appendixes:
Appendix A – Neighbourhood Enforcement Team Performance Report
Appendix B - Neighbourhood Enforcement Team Quarterly Performance Report
Appendix C - Neighbourhood Enforcement Team Performance Report
Abbreviations
CYC- City of York Council
NYP- North Yorkshire Police
BID- Business Improvement District
ASB- Anti-Social Behaviour
NEO- Neighbourhood Enforcement Officer
NYCC- North Yorkshire County Council
PSPO- Public Space Protection Orders
HVM- hostile vehicle mitigation
PALS – Publicly Accessible Locations
CONTEST – Government response to Counter Terrorism
SAG – Safety Advisory Group
IDAS -Independent Domestic Abuse Service