Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Jarjussey. Councillor Dhot was in attendance as his substitute.

Councillor Dhot declared a non pecuniary interest in respect of Item 5: Youth Offending / Safer Hillingdon Partnership Performance Monitoring, in that he worked for HM Prison Service in Feltham Young Offender's Institute.

RESOLVED: That all items of business be considered in public.

The Chairman, together with the other Committee Members, asked for a note of thanks to be passed to the Head of Democratic Services regarding the high quality of the clerk's minutes from the previous meeting. It was recognised that the meeting had been challenging to record, due to the high number of speakers, but that the minutes were of exceptional quality and accuracy.

It was suggested that the minutes be used as the basis of a report to be forwarded to the Chairman of the Local Safeguarding Children Board for review, before being brought to a future Cabinet meeting.

In addition, Councillor Burles requested that the topic be considered for a future Member Development session. The Chairman advised that a discussion had been held with the Conservative Group's Chief Whip, who had confirmed that there was session on Mental Health forthcoming. CSE and other topics could be incorporated into future sessions, potentially via Member Training days or through items brought to meetings of the Corporate Parenting Board and other relevant committees. Debby Weissang, CSE Strategic Manager - Children's and Young People's Service, who spoke at the previous meeting, would likely be involved in any such sessions, though these matters were still being discussed.

RESOLVED: 

1.    That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2017 be approved as a correct record.

2.    That a further report be forwarded to the Chairman of the Local Safeguarding Children Board for review, before being brought to a future Cabinet meeting.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting and thanked them for giving their time to attend. The purpose of the meeting was to enable the Committee to comment on the impact of the work being undertaken locally by the Safer Hillingdon Partnership partners and the Youth Offending Service. It was recognised that youth offending was a 'hot topic' and Members were eager for additional information and updates on this important issue.

Mark Wolski, Interim Emergency Management and Response, addressed the Committee on the topic of Crime and Disorder Reduction. Mr Wolski confirmed that that, upon review of the overall crime statistics for the Borough, it was apparent that violent crime including knife crime and knife crime with injury, together with the number of young people involved in such crime, had increased over the past 12 months. In comparison to other London Boroughs, Hillingdon was 15^th highest for knife crime, a comparatively low figure. Instead, Hillingdon saw a higher prevalence of robbery and burglaries.

Work was being undertaken to determine where and why violent crime was occurring. The Botwell and Townfield Wards showed the highest instances of knife crime within the Borough, while Hayes was often a focal point for such crime. The cohort of young offenders seen to be involved were from within the Borough, with local postcode addresses, though there were instances of groups committing crimes within the Borough but residing in areas outside the Borough, such as Southall.

Early intervention and outreach were recognised as important factors when  addressing these issues. The Hayes Initiative was designed to bring partners together, focussing on Hayes as a crime centre and crime generator. It was confirmed that a paper would be brought to the Safer Hillingdon Partnership to further elaborate on this.

Colin Wingrove, Borough Commander, addressed the Committee on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service. Mr Wingrove confirmed that within London, knife crime as a whole had increased. Within Hillingdon instance of knife crime had risen from 150 to 200 instances. To address this, the Police and Crime Plan 2017 - 2021 had been drafted set out the strategy for policing and crime reduction in London over the next four years.

46 knife offences had been recorded within Hillingdon over the current calendar year, an increase of 14 offenses in comparison to the same period in the previous year.  Incidents of crime, including robbery against commercial entities (such as betting shops) and personal robberies, had increased from 299 to 405. However, this was a stark reduction compared to the approximately 1000 offenses recorded annually five years ago. This overall downward trend was likely due to an increase in quality education as well as a wider public use of technology, for example the increase in usage of smart phones with tracking and encryption made these items less attractive to steal. Burglaries and robberies were more commonly seen in the south of the Borough.

£7.5m, via Crossrail investment, had been allocated to regenerate the Hillingdon area and provide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme. Possible items for future meetings were noted, and it was agreed that Members were to email the Chairman or the Interim Senior Democratic Services Manager, should they have ideas for further topics.

It was suggested that the London Community Rehabilitation Company (LCRC) and the National Probation Service (NPS) be invited to a future meeting, to elaborate on some of the topics discussed at this meeting, and to discuss how the proposals outlined within the Wood Report may affect them, were the proposals to be implemented.

Councillor Edwards confirmed that due to time constraints, the proposed Community Sentencing item was likely to roll over to the new municipal year, and that he would work with the Interim Senior Democratic Services Manager to finalise meeting dates and report timeframes.

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    The LCRC and NPS be invited to attend a future meeting of the Committee;

2.    Members email the Chairman or Interim Senior Democratic Services Manager with suggestions for future items; and

3.    The Work Programme be noted.