Attendance 

Apologies 

• Cllr Peter Barrow, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority 
• Andrea Breen, Dorset Council
• Stewart Dipple, Dorset Police
• Paul Dempsey, Dorset Council 
• Antony Bholah, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service
• Ian Denness, Dorset Council 
• Sunita Khattra-Hall, Children's Service 

Item 

No 1

1. Election of Vice Chair

1.1 Due to changes at Dorset Council, Cllr Laura Beddow had taken over as the Chair of the Community Safety Partnership in line with the group’s terms of reference.

1.2 It was agreed that Temporary Chief Superintendent Richard Bell would continue as Vice Chair during 2023/24.

No 2

2. Terms of Reference 

2.1 Members of the group considered an updated terms of reference that incorporated new responsibilities relating to serious violence. The terms of reference were agreed subject to any comments from Dorset Council’s Legal Team.

No 3

3 Minutes of Meeting held on 15 March and Matters Arising 

3.1 The Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole Community Safety Partnership had requested changes to the Pan Dorset Reducing Reoffending Strategy 2023 to 26 that had been agreed at the last Dorset Community Safety Partnership meeting.

3.2 It was agreed to circulate the final strategy to Community Safety Partnership members once it had been amended.

Action - Andy Frost 

No 4

4 Domestic Homicide Review's

4.1 Members of the group considered work on Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs). 

4.2 Di Evans updated the Partnership on the status of Domestic Homicide Review's including those which were marked complete, those currently with the Home Office Quality Assurance Panel, those that were ongoing, and those that did not meet the Domestic Homicide Review criteria or had been passed to other Community Safety Partnership's to deliver.

4.3 Di explained there was a back log with the Home Office quality assurance process which was causing some local delays with reviews.

4.4 Di also explained to the group work to engage families, which was a vital part of the Domestic Homicide Review process.

4.5 Community Safety Partnership  members considered a summary of learning points coming out of Domestic Homicide Review's, particularly those reviews that were complex and those that included older people. The summary included identifying trends across Domestic Homicide Review's as well as learning from case reviews from outside the area.

4.6 The group discussed the local approach to working with the Coroner given the lack of clarity / detail in statutory guidance. Di explained that she worked closely with the Coroner’s office to ensure processes were joined up and effective. 

4.7 Di gave an update on the Community Safety Partnership response to consultation on certain aspects of Domestic Homicide Review's and confirmed the Home Office would be conducting a full review of statutory guidance later this year.

4.8 Members of the group considered the work of the Domestic Homicide Review Action Planning Group. There was now a formal action planning log that allowed partners to look at learning trends, track progress against actions and demonstrate achievements.

Resolved

• The recommendations in the report were agreed.

No 5

5 Update on Local Priorities 

5.1 John Newcombe provided the group with an update on partners’ work to tackle local priorities, which included a summary of the co-ordination, oversight and progress of specific local priorities as identified at the area Partnership Co-ordinating Group (PCG) Meetings.

5.2 John highlighted issues around addiction and mental health and the impact these had on local issues. John was seeking case examples to help understand the challenges and inform how partners address them.

5.3 Headlines from Partnership Coordinating Group's included:

• challenges remained with youth related Anti Social Behaviour
• the Safer Streets Partnership was working well in Weymouth and Portland
• work was taking place with licensed premises around volume sales and cheap alcohol
• the positive work of ‘Project Boys’, which was working with education and youth outreach
• work with Trading Standards to tackle the illegal selling of vapes to those who were underage
• positive work on rural crime including county lines and community engagement work

5.4 There was a discussion around challenges in taking forward analytical work to help understand issues and measure impact, particularly around repeat offenders. Partners recognised it had been an ambition of the Community Safety Partnership for some time to improve collaboration on analytical work and committed to trying to achieve that.

5.5 Richard Bell mentioned issues around youth violence that had been reported in the media and outlined how the Police and Council were working together to manage repeat offenders.

5.6 Members of the group discussed youth justice outcomes. David Webb ran through some of the challenges around timescales and delays in getting cases to court but went on to explain there didn’t appear to be an issue with getting the correct outcome once things had got to court. Partners were looking at developing an approach through their serious violence work to use funding to help coordinate intelligence prior to court to help speed things up.

5.7 Partners discussed the national Police initiative ‘right care, right person’, which was likely to be agreed in September and then adopted by individual forces. The change will involve Police Forces no longer attending some incidents relating to mental health and broader health and social issues. It was explained the approach was being enacted to reprioritise Policing towards tackling crime and to ensure wider health and social care issues were being picked up by the most appropriate agency.

5.8 Everyone agreed it was important to find ways to manage the impact of this policy change and be prepared. John Newcombe agreed to lead this work linking in with key contacts in the Police and partners.

Action, John Newcombe

5.9 Richard Bell informed the group that the Police and Crime Commissioner intended to encourage the use of Community Triggers (now called Anti Social Behaviour Case Reviews) via the National Action Week for Anti-Social Behaviour. John Newcombe explained that the number of Community Triggers fluctuates from time to time and was currently relatively low. There was a discussion on the impact of community triggers, given the time involved in completing them verses the outcomes achieved.

5.10 David updated the group on a new pilot coming to Dorset called Immediate Justice. Work was happening outside of the Community Safety Partnership to go through the detail of how the initiative will work in practice. David raised some concerns about the ethos of the scheme, which felt punitive and in conflict with the approach taken locally (i.e. reparative).

5.11 Members of the group discussed the various initiatives currently being released by central government (such as the Turnaround Project, the Serious Violence Duty etc) and the fact they don’t seem to have been considered alongside one another. Partners felt it was important to come together and ensure things were joined up.

No 6

6 Update on Strategic Priorities 

6.1 Andy updated the group on partners’ work to tackle strategic priorities.

6.2 Since the last meeting, a significant amount of time had been spent organising partners’ response to the new serious violence duty and ensuring it aligned to existing delivery planning work.

6.3 This work had involved developing the evidence base, co-ordinating delivery plans, liaison with the Home Office and Crest and working with Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).

6.4 Additional activity undertaken since the last meeting included:

• continuation of communication and awareness raising campaigns relating to domestic abuse and sexual offences
• development of a new multi-agency approach to tackle high-harm offending that cuts across a range of activity
• progression of work to co-design and co-commission services in line with the local Domestic Abuse Commissioning Charter
• mapping current Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) provision in schools to understand and assess prevention work around domestic abuse and sexual violence. The mapping work is being done in conjunction with Children’s and other services to ensure things are joined up
• the research project to better understand issues of domestic abuse is progressing well. A presentation on the findings so far was given to the Dorset Domestic Abuse Forum. The findings of the work will be used to inform and adapt service provision
• a dedicated Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) training event was being planned for the autumn as part of the specialist events available through Dorset Council’s Adults and Housing Learning & Development programme
• continuation of work to progress actions from Domestic Homicide Review's through the Action Plan Review Group (APRG)

6.5 In addition, time had been spent preparing for the arrival of the barge to house asylum seekers at Portland Port.

6.6 In terms of performance, Andy reported that Domestic Abuse Incidents and Domestic Abuse Crimes had reduced. Serious Sexual Offences had increased compared to the same time last year. Richard Bell explained that arrest rates for domestic abuse had gone up. This was positive and demonstrated the effectiveness of work to target offenders.

6.7 It was recognised that for some time, partners had wanted to develop a more detailed analysis of issues and performance to inform and direct their work. Andy informed the group that following a successful recruitment process, the intention was to develop this work with a focus on four main areas:

• development of more detailed understanding of key issues and dynamics relating to current themes
• using that understanding to develop targeted initiatives and interventions
• assessing the impact of targeted initiatives and interventions
• development of a performance management framework to assess more broadly, partners’ impact on key issues 

6.8 Ian Grant gave an update on partners’ domestic abuse whole systems work which was welcomed by members of the group.

No 7

7 Serious Violence Duty 

7.1 Di Evans gave an update on progress against the new serious violence duty.

7.2 Since the last Community Safety Partnership meeting partners had:

• formed a task and finish group who were coordinating work on serious violence
• agreed representatives to take individual lead roles in the work of the task and finish group to maintain momentum
• created a high-level delivery plan. This was a working document that would be kept up to date as work progressed
• met the first key milestones set by central government, including monitoring report cards completed and sent back via the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner
• commenced work to scope needs assessment and community consultation work
• continued to engage with the Crest Advisory group and made a request for support with needs assessment work

7.3 Priorities over the coming months included:

• continuation of needs assessment and strategy work
• continuation of community engagement work
• fine tuning partners’ high level delivery plan including setting out evidence base and performance measures
• identifying potential initiatives and projects and putting forward funding proposals to support these
• agreeing initiatives and proposals to recommend for funding approval

7.4 Ian Grant gave an update on delivery planning work, explaining it would be used to help determine how funding should be allocated.

Resolved

1. The latest position relating to the new serious violence duty was noted.

2. Proposals for decision making on funding allocations were noted.

No 8

8 Community Safety Partnership Review 

8.1 Andy updated the group on partners’ response to the Government’s consultation on Community Safety Partnership’s.

No 9

9 Portland Port 

9.1 Andy explained the work being undertaken to prepare for the barge that will house asylum seekers at Portland Port. Work, including any community safety aspects, was being co-ordinated through a dedicated multi-agency forum.

No 10

10 Forward Plan 

10.1 Members of the Community Safety Partnership agreed the Forward Plan. 

No 11

11 Any Other Business 

11.1. Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to provide details of a funding opportunity to members of the group outside of the meeting.

Action, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner 

Future Meeting Dates:

• 10am on 21 September 2023
• 10am on 21 December 2023
• 10am on 14 March 2023