Agenda and minutes

It was agreed that Item 9 on the agenda (Scrutiny Review – Debt Recovery) would be removed from this agenda as the report had not yet been finalised.  The report would be emailed to Members of this Scrutiny Panel with a request that they feed their comments back to the Chairman prior to it being submitted to the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee on the 24^th July and Cabinet on the 29^th July, 2009.

The Chairman reported that this was Angela Power’s last meeting before she left to take up employment at Sheffield City Council.

Resolved:-  That the Chairman’s and this Scrutiny Panel’s thanks be expressed and she be wished every success for the future.

There were no Declarations of Interest to report.

There were no questions from members of the public or the press.

Consideration was given to the report which set out the new terms of reference, suggested an outline work programme for the 2009/10 municipal year that included the key matters for scrutiny known to date and incorporated those areas identified by the Panel at previous meetings.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Democratic Renewal Scrutiny Panel’s Terms of Reference be noted.

(2)  That the draft work programme and its priorities for the coming year be approved.

(3)  That areas for review to be undertaken in the 2009/2010 municipal year be forwarded onto the Chairman and the Scrutiny Team.

Mark Ford, Safer Neighbourhoods Manager, and Lewis Coates, Public Protection Manager, from Housing and Neighbourhood Services gave an update presentation and an overview on how the Council and other partners dealt with anti-social behaviour.

The presentation drew specific attention to:-

·              Anti-Social Behaviour – Rotherham Perspective.

·              Anti-Social Behaviour – The Big Challenge.

·              Community Protection Unit.

·              Service Provision.

·              Key Challenges.

·              Enforcement Tools.

·              Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions 2003 – 2009.

·              Anti-Social Behaviour Notices and Fixed Penalty Notices 2003 – 2009.

·              Anti-Social Behaviour Enforcement Actions 2003 – 2009.

·              Anti-Social Behaviour Service Requests 2003 – 2009.

·              The Need for Change.

A discussion and a question and answer session ensued and the following issues were raised and subsequently clarified:-

-                 Number for surveys undertaken and whether these were restricted to Council and social housing estates only.

-                 Variation in working practices and standards in different areas of the borough.

-                 Definitions of anti-social behaviour and perceptions of different people.

-                 What actions were taken to deal with ad hoc parties and noise nuisance as opposed to persistent offenders.

-                 First point of contact documentation and the actual wording.

-                 Sharing of information and feedback at Area Assembly and community level to promote the good work of the service and issues arising out the P.A.C.T. meetings.

-                 Validity of the statistics and the correlation between live and new cases.

-                 Involvement and liaison between the Community Protection Unit and the Police.

-                 Problems with anti-social behaviour in Wickersley and whether the Community Protection Unit could access funding to assist in youth service provision in the area.

Resolved:-  (1)  That Mark Ford and Lewis Coates be thanked for their very informative present.

(2)  That the information contained and the progress made to date be noted.

(3)  That any further queries made about this presentation be made direct with the officers and any responses be circulated to all Members of this Scrutiny Panel.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Steve Parry, Neighbourhood Crime and Justice Manager, which detailed how the National Indicator 16 (Serious Acquisitive Crime Rate) was one of the eleven national indicators within the Rotherham Local Area Agreement (LAA) managed under the SAFE theme.  The indicator was one of the suite of indicators monitored within the Performance Management Framework of the Safer Rotherham Partnership (SRP) and, due to its LAA priority, was consequently reported on to the Rotherham Partnership’s Safe Theme Board.

The Crime and Disorder/Safer Rotherham Partnership portfolio now sat with the Democratic Renewal Scrutiny Panel and the purpose of this report was to provide an update on partnership performance in respect of serious acquisitive crime.

The report set out in detail and further information was provided on:-

·              The Indicator.

·              Current Performance.

·              Detected Serious Acquisitive Crime.

·              Comparisons.

·              Crime Rate.

·              Detections.

·              Processes and structures.

·              Crime Tactical Tasking and Co-ordinating Group (CTT&C).

·              Offender Management.

·              Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs)/Joint Action Group (JAG).

·              Current Issues and Activity.

Discussion ensued on:-

-                 How much crime occurred in Rotherham from people outside the borough with the close proximity to the motorway network.

-                 The reliability of the crime figures when some offences were admitted to, but not actually committed by some offenders.

-                 Sharing of information with the public, which may assist in changing perception and reducing the fear of crime.

-                 Reduction in crime and the correlation with the performance management and actual Police crime figures.

-                 Accuracy of the baseline figures for 2007/08.

-                 Detection rates of acquisitive crime and if these have been increased.

-                 Performance of the detection rates.

Resolved:-  That partnership performance against the National Indicator and the positive steps being taken to reduce the impact of this crime in communities be noted.

This item was not considered at this meeting.

Councillor Akhtar, Cabinet Member for Housing and Neighbourhoods, gave a presentation on his portfolio and his area of work relative to this Scrutiny Panel.

The presentation drew specific attention to:-

·              Best Extra Care in Town Award.

·              Key areas of responsibility.

·              Achievements in 2008/09.

·              Level of crime this year reduced by 12%.

·              LAA targets exceeded.

·              Criminal damage reduced by 6.5%.

·              Increase of attendance at Area Assemblies.

·              7% reduction in off road motor vehicle reports.

·              50.5% increase in Domestic Abuse detecton.

·              Achieved Pioneer status in neighbourhood crime and disorder.

·              Hate Crime/Community Cohesion Service.

·              Restorative/Justice Scheme for young people introduced.

·              Yorkshire and Humber Environmental Enforcement Group.

·              Difficult issues being faced in 2009/10.

·              Perception of crime and disorder.

A discussion and question and answer session ensued and the following issues were raised and subsequently clarified:-

-                 Association with motor cycle nuisance and lack of youth club provision in Wickersley.

-                 Re-profiling of individual budgets in Neighbourhoods to meet service priorities.

-                 Success of off road motor cycle nuisance in the borough.

-                 Raising the profile of perception indicators, particularly at Area Assemblies and whether a scrutiny review could assist with this work.

Resolved:-  (1)  That Councillor Akhtar be thanked for his very informative presentation.

(2)  That consideration be given to a short term Scrutiny Review relating to the delivery of the LAA performance indicators and the raising of perception.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Jan Leyland, Neighbourhood Partnership Team Manager, which provided an update on the main recommendations as annotated in the report received at Cabinet on the 23rd January, 2008 and the Corporate Management Team response of 17th March, 2008.

The main recommendation of the Scrutiny Review of Area Assemblies was that the terms of reference of the Area Assemblies, Co-ordinating Groups and Task and Finish Groups needed to be strengthened and included within the Council's Constitution to ensure Area Assemblies could deliver on their mandate of involving citizens and communities in local decision making about service provision.

It was noted that an Away Day was planned for Area Assembly Chairs looking at how Co-ordinating Groups could be supported, how the membership was elected and any training requirements.

Discussion ensued on election of community representatives onto the Co-ordinating Groups, Parish Councillors membership of Co-ordinating Groups even if they were not Borough Councillors and the need for an evaluation of the action plan following the plans for the away day on Co-ordinating Groups.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be received and the contents and the progress to date noted.

(2)  That an update on the action plan be provided to this Scrutiny Panel in September/October, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting of the Democratic Renewal Scrutiny Panel held on 11^th June, 2009 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Member for Community Development and Engagement held on 6^th July, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting of the Performance and Scrutiny Overview Committee held on 26^th June, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting of the Members’ Training and Development Panel held on 25^th June, 2009.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the minutes be noted.