Agenda item

The Chair introduced the report which provided a brief overview of the serious violent crime duty, as proposed in the forthcoming Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The Chair invited Sara Featherstone, Policy Lead for the Serious Violence Duty, Home Office and Sarika Spagnulo, Serious Violence Unit, Home Office, to present an overview of Serious Violence Duty.

Sarika introduced the presentation and informed the Board that on 1 April 2019, the government published a consultation on a legal duty to support a multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence. The majority of respondents favoured a legislative approach to support multi-agency working and the intention to legislate for a new Serious Violence Duty was therefore announced in the Queen’s Speech in December 2019. The Home Office expect the Duty to come into force no sooner than 2022.

Sarika highlighted that the following authorities will be subject to the duty; the police, local authorities, youth offending teams, probation, fire and rescue and health authorities. The duty would require specified authorities to work together and to share data and intelligence to establish the local problem profile and strategic needs assessment. This work would inform a published local strategy which would outline the collective action they intended to take, including:

·       A summary of the local problem profile;

·       How the chosen partnership will work together;

·       Actions including specific interventions / preventative action;

·       Engagement plans with voluntary and community organisations and young people; and

·       Identified funding streams or resources.

Sara informed the Board that the effectiveness of local partnership working would be monitored by:

·       Local strategies will need to be published and subsequently reviewed on an annual basis. Partnerships will be expected to be able to self-monitor and collectively evaluate the impact of the local strategy.

·       Police and Crime Commissioners will also have a discretionary role in supporting local partnerships with the development and implementation of their strategies and monitoring their effectiveness and impact.

·       CSPs already have a statutory requirement to keep the implementation of their strategies under review for the purposes of monitoring effectiveness and make any changes to such strategies where necessary and to publish the outcomes of each review; that approach will be mirrored for the SV Duty.

·       Routine inspection programmes undertaken by individual inspectorates may also consider the organisational response to local serious violence issues.

Concluding the presentation, Sara commented that guidance on the duty would be subject to a formal Government consultation once the legislation had successfully passed through Parliament and would provide advice on:

·       Planning and collaboration including producing a problem profile and strategic needs assessment, developing a strategy and data and information sharing;

·       Effective engagement with PCCs, VRUs, the voluntary and community sector and children and young people;

·       Sector specific guidance for duty holders;

·       Monitoring and compliance, including what makes a successful partnership and how to monitor effectiveness and a summary of the Secretary of State powers;

·       Role of CSPs in serious violence strategies.

Following the discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       In relation to two-tier areas, were the duty would lie for district and county councils? Sarika responded that it would apply to both district and county councils and would be up to the partnership to decide at what level they would like to operate to meet the requirements of the duty.

·       The map of CSPs can be fragmented, which can make it harder to ensure democratic input; it would be useful to look at CSPs to see how they are working.  The Home Office stated that CSPs will have a role to play, and that the legislation will allow partnerships in a combined format to meet the duty.

·       As many local authorities are under lot of financial pressure, would there be adequate funding for implementing the statutory duty?  Sarah replied that they have had discussion with the LGA about the burden the duty would have on local authorities alongside other duty holders. The Home Office are required to produce a burdens assessment for MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) and will formally discuss the cost on local authorities.

·       How can collective trust be built with partnerships to address key issues e.g. additional powers for police to carry out stop and search. Sarika responded that within the guidance for duty they would make clear the importance of partnerships drawing in useful insight and knowledge.

The Chair thanked Sara and Sarika for their insightful and detailed presentation on the overview of the Serious Violence Duty.

Decision:

Members of the Safer and Stronger Communities Board noted the report.

Action:

·       Officers to consider comments made by members.