Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Teji Barnes (Councillor Eddie Lavery was present as her substitute) and Councillor Phoday Jarjussey.  On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman wished Councillor Jarjussey a speedy recovery.

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

The Chairman noted that the meeting on 11 January 2018 had been a single meeting review of the provision of GP services in Heathrow Villages.  The meeting had enabled Members to gain an understanding of the issues faced by residents in the area.  The Chairman advised that this issue would be revisited by the Committee in future to ensure that action was being taken to provide sustainable health services in Heathrow Villages. 

It was anticipated that a final report on the Committee's findings and recommendations would be presented to Cabinet on 19 April 2018.  The Chairman thanked those witnesses that had taken part in the review. 

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2018 be agreed as a correct record.

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting.  Mr Dan Kennedy, the Council's Deputy Director, Housing, Environment, Education, Health & Wellbeing, advised that the report included on the agenda had set out key indicators for the Safer Hillingdon Partnership (SHP).  Some Q3 data had not yet been received so had not been included in the report but would be reported to the next SHP meeting on 13 March 2018.  A copy of the report would be forwarded to the Committee Members who would then be able to pose supplementary questions.  It was noted that some police data was available online.

The key indicators included in the report were reflective of the priority areas identified by the SHP.  Actions in response to the two Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs), such as risk assessment tools and the provision of training for partner agencies, had also been included.  Progress on these actions would be reported to the SHP. 

Ms Jacqueline Robertson, the Council's Service Manager - Community Safety Team, advised that training sessions had been taking place on a bi-monthly basis for Domestic Abuse Sub Group members as well as other professionals.  These sessions had included training on the Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence (DASH) Risk Identification, Assessment and Management Model and mental capacity. 

The DHR reviews had highlighted the fact that reporting instances of domestic abuse was not someone else's job.  As such, it was important that anyone who came into contact with a victim (for example, school staff, police, fire) needed to know how to refer a victim to support services.  London Crime Prevention funding had also been secured to strengthen the MARAC in Hillingdon. 

Mr Colin Wingrove, Borough Commander of Hillingdon Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), advised that Safer Schools Officers had a presence in all schools in the Borough.  Programmes such as Operation Sceptre (the prevention and pursuit of knife crime offenders) and Your Life, You Choose (to educate young people about the consequences of crime, not only for the offender but their family and friends, victims and the wider community) were taking place in schools.  In addition, knife arches had been taken to some schools where follow up talks also took place. 

The MPS offered a supporting hand to any school in the Borough to help reduce knife crime.  Conversations had taken place with those schools that wanted to provide a safer environment for their pupils and the MPS would continue to work with schools around all crime.  More schools had been working with the MPS than ever before.

The SHP Access project had been in effect for about three months and looked to identify those at risk of knife crime by compiling a profile of what someone felt when they carried a knife.  As well as reinforcing the fact that carrying a knife was socially unacceptable, the project also looked to identify the drivers for young people to carry a knife. 

Mr Wingrove noted that there had been around 14,500 knife crime incidents in London in the last  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The Chairman praised Liz Penny, the Democratic Services Officer that had supported the Working Group, for producing such a great report on a review that had faced significant challenges.  The Vice Chairman advised that the review had been a non event where the chief witness, the London Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC), had refused to engage in terms of attendance at meetings or providing written answers to questions.  The Working Group's findings suggested that the CRC had not been working as well as anticipated and problems had been identified with the service provision nationally. 

It was noted that the Vice Chairman had attended a workshop set up by a Select Committee that had been looking into the effectiveness of local government scrutiny.  This review had highlighted the inability of scrutiny committees to hold external organisations to account in terms of there being no legislative requirement or enforcement.  The Select Committee determined that councils needed to be able to 'follow the pound'.  Its report and recommendations had been passed to Government for a response. 

The Vice Chairman advised that the Working Group had not been able to conclude that the London CRC was not working effectively as representatives had not attended any of the meetings.  However, it was suspected that the London CRC had not been working as well as anticipated and the report recommended that Cabinet engage with the NPS, HM Inspector of Probation and the Ministry of Justice to highlight the lack of engagement and the Council's inability to hold the body to account.  It was hoped that additional powers would be afforded to local government scrutiny committees to enable them to scrutinise those external organisations that delivered public services.

The Chairman acknowledged that this had been an interesting review which had highlighted the need to scrutinise the work of publicly funded organisations on behalf of residents.  It was important to have an effective non-custodial system where prison was an absolute last resort.  The report highlighted the value of what could be done by local authority scrutiny and provided a good example of detailed local work that could be clearly translated to other areas.  It was noted that other organisations had expressed an interest in this review and the Working Group's findings. 

The Committee was advised that the Working Group had been unable to conclude that the London CRC was not doing its job.  However, after some discussion amongst Members of the Working Group when reviewing the draft final report, it had been agreed to strengthen the wording.  As the London CRC had not engaged in the review, the report could not be overly critical or conclusive and there was no information or evidence to support this.  It was thought that, if the experience of other councils was not dissimilar, it was likely that action would be taken by the appropriate authorities to resolve the issue. 

The Chairman thanked those Members, officers and external witnesses that had been involved in the review. 

RESOLVED: That the Community Sentencing Working Group final  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

Consideration was given to the Committee's Work Programme.  It was noted that the local Trust Quality Account reports were likely to be submitted to the Council at some point in April 2018.  It was agreed that the Democratic Services Manager would draft responses to each of the reports and circulate them to the Committee for comment.  It was hoped that this would be completed before the election but that this would depend on when the reports were received from the Trusts. 

At the External Services Scrutiny Committee meeting on 11 January 2018, Hillingdon CCG had advised that a procurement exercise was underway in relation to the provision of GP services in Heathrow Villages which was expected to conclude in early to mid March 2018.  The CCG would be asked to provide an update at the Committee's next meeting on 14 March 2018. 

RESOLVED:  That the Work Programme be noted.