Agenda and minutes

External Services Select Committee - Thursday, 5th September, 2019 6.00 pm

Venue: Committee Room 5 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Nikki O'Halloran  01895 250472

Link: Watch a LIVE or archived broadcast of this meeting here

Items
No. Item

19.

Apologies for absence and to report the presence of any substitute Members

Minutes:

Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Vanessa Hurhangee (Councillor Steve Tuckwell was present as her substitute). 

20.

Exclusion of Press and Public

To confirm that all items marked Part I will be considered in public and that any items marked Part II will be considered in private

Minutes:

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

21.

Minutes of the previous meeting - 9 July 2019 pdf icon PDF 180 KB

Minutes:

It was noted that Ms Morrison had been provided with representations from the Committee in relation to Michael Sobell Hospice.  It was anticipated that the information requested in the resolutions under minute number 17 would be provided at the Committee’s meeting on 7 November 2019.

 

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 9 July 2019 be agreed as a correct record.

22.

Safer Hillingdon Partnership Performance Monitoring pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Mr Dan Kennedy, the Council’s Director Housing, Environment, Education, Performance, Health and Wellbeing, advised that the organisations involved in the Safer Hillingdon Partnership (SHP) worked collectively to identify key crime types, set priorities and deliver programmes to prevent, detect and reduce crime.  Hillingdon remained one of the safest boroughs in London and overall levels of crime in Hillingdon were lower than the other two boroughs in the West Area Basic Command Unit (BCU).  Knife crime and drugs remained priorities in Hillingdon due to the significant links that these crimes had with other offences such as serious violence. 

 

Members were advised that MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) had announced that criminal activity was being mapped to identify criminal activity flows and hot spots in Hillingdon and neighbouring boroughs so that the response could be coordinated.  This work had highlighted the strong connections between drug related violence, knife crime and other offences.  The West Area BCU had a dedicated analyst that had been undertaking mapping analysis to identify hotspots.  This work aimed to disrupt supply and demand and divert young people away from criminal activity. 

 

Superintendent Ricky Kandohla, West Area (Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon) BCU, advised that the Metropolitan Police had been working closely with Thames Valley Police (TVP) in relation to issues such as county lines.  This work had resulted in a more joined up and cohesive approach to the issues being faced which had prevented displacement activity in the Borough.  Relations with TVP had strengthened, with information and resources now being shared which helped to tackle displacement issues. 

 

Concern was expressed that, within the BCU, resources would be concentrated in the more challenged areas and that this would shift criminal activity to neighbouring boroughs where resources were more scarce.  Supt. Kandohla assured Members that the BCU dealt with issues in their entirety to prevent this type of displacement.  A lot of investment and preventative and engagement work had been undertaken in partnership in areas such as Hayes.  Working with key communities had been an effective strategy. 

 

Although not formally identified as a key priority, it was accepted that drugs played a huge role in crime and was therefore a priority for the SHP nonetheless.  It was recognised that drugs provided a thread that ran through criminal activity so it was important to manage and address drugs issues to then have an impact on this other activity.  Consideration also needed to be given to safeguarding issues when dealing with individuals involved with drugs.  Voluntary sector organisations could provide support in these instances to help them move away from criminal activity. 

 

Supt. Kandohla advised that a pilot (Divert) had been running in South London.  This scheme worked by intervening with offenders at the point of police detention and asking if they had any interest in being rehabilitated.

 

Supt. Kandohla advised that Design Out Crime Officers liaised with developers when drawing up plans to help make new housing developments as safe as possible.  Although they could not dictate design to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

23.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 63 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

It was noted that the Committee’s next meeting would be focussing on dental health services in the Borough.  The Democratic Services Manager advised that the Council’s former Social Services, Housing and Public Health Policy Overview Committee had undertaken a review of children’s oral health in 2015.  As this report would provide useful background information, a copy would be circulated to Members of the Committee. 

 

It was suggested that the following dental-related issues be raised at the meeting on 9 October 2019:

·         waiting times for an appointment;

·         challenges faced by patients trying to join a practice list as an NHS patient;

·         the range of dental treatment that patients could get on the NHS;

·         whether older/elderly people were entitled to free dental treatment; and

·         the arrangements that were in place for those people on low income with regard to receiving dental treatment.

 

Members were asked to provide the Democratic Services Manager with any additional issues that they would like considered at this meeting. 

 

RESOLVED: That:

1.    a copy of the Social, Services, Housing and Public Health Policy Overview Committee’s review of children’s oral health be circulated to Members of the Committee;

2.    Members email the Democratic Services Manager with any additional issues that they would like considered at the meeting on 9 October 2019; and

3.    the Work Programme be noted.