Agenda item

Steve Waddington, Assistant Director Housing and Community Safety, will give a verbal update on community safety arrangements across the North Yorkshire Region.

The Assistant Director Housing and Community Safety gave a verbal update on community safety arrangements across the North Yorkshire region. 

(i)           The Structure

Details were given of proposed changes to the structure.  Currently across York and North Yorkshire there were six Community Safety Partnerships in the districts (Richmondshire and Hambleton were already combined) and one Community Safety Partnership for York (The Safer York Partnership).  York and North Yorkshire Community Safety Forum was the representative body that brought together the seven community safety partnerships and also included the Local Criminal Justice Board.  The aim had been to bring together key decision bodies to ensure that a holistic approach was taken.

The proposal for the future was that there would be two Community Safety Partnerships, one for North Yorkshire and one for York.  Although this would not result in any change to the existing arrangements for York, there were some issues for the districts regarding a loss of autonomy.

It was also proposed that there would be a York and North Yorkshire Community Safety Board to replace the existing Forum.  Its purpose would be to bring together the Police and Crime Commissioner, responsible authorities and other relevant organisations to agree and oversee strategic themes and priorities for safer communities across York and North Yorkshire.

The Board would:

·        Commission and agree the Joint Strategic Intelligence Assessment (JSIA)

·        Based on the JSIA, the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and other relevant strategic documents, agree the strategic themes and priorities for safer communities across York and North Yorkshire

·        Advise the Police and Crime Commissioner on the development of her commissioning plan

·        Evaluate progress against the agreed strategic themes and priorities for safer communities across York and North Yorkshire

·        Identify and encourage strategic opportunities for collaborative working and commissioning between the Police and Crime Commissioner, responsible authorities and other relevant organisations

·        Advise the Police and Crime Commissioner on any potential risks or conflicts to the delivery of the agreed strategic themes and priorities for safer communities across York and North Yorkshire

·        Receive regular updates from the North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership and the Safer York Partnership.

The Safer York Partnership’s view of this was that the board would be an additional layer of bureaucracy and was not necessary. 

(ii)          Funding

Historically the Home Office Grant has been directly allocated to unitary authorities (North Yorkshire has passported this to Districts in part).  This funding was now passed to the Police and Crime Commissioner.  Although she had passported the funding for this financial year, in future there would be a commissioning process whereby local authorities and other organisations would have to bid for funds.  Currently City of York Council received just under £100k of funding.

Some districts had used the Home Office grant for their core Community Safety Partnership staffing but this would no longer be permitted.  In York, the Safer York Partnership staff were core council funded and hence this would not be an issue.  In York the Home Office funding had been used to support project interventions through the task groups focused on crime reduction.

Members queried whether the Police and Crime Commissioner would passport the full amount of funding received.  They stated that it was important to ensure that appropriate arrangements were in place to ensure that the funding was appropriately managed.

Clarification was sought as to whether the changes to the funding arrangements were as a result of Home Office guidance.  Officers stated that different approaches were being taken across the country but that guidelines were in place.  It was for the Commissioner to determine how the funding was to be spent.  She had set out her priorities and it was anticipated that the allocation of funding would be informed by the outcomes in the plan.

Resolved:  That the update on community safety arrangements across the North Yorkshire region be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that the Committee is kept informed of the arrangements that are in place.