Agenda and minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 12 February 2024 as an accurate record.

The minutes from the meeting held on 12 February 2024 were agreed as an accurate record.

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests (DPIs) and other registrable and non-registrable interests they may have in relation to any item(s) of business on today’s agenda.

There were no disclosures of interest made at the meeting.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

Although there was no urgent business for the consideration of the Committee at the meeting, the Chair highlighted her concern about a recent key decision on the Laptop Renewal Programme, particularly around whether the decision represented value for money. Consideration had been given to using the call-in process to bring the decision to the Committee for further scrutiny, but there was not a consensus for this approach. Going forward, a briefing on the decision had been arranged for the Committee and a review of the implementation of the Programme would be scheduled in the committee’s work programme.

The Chair also highlighted the recent decision by NHS England to relocate children’s specialist cancer services to Evelina Hospital, rather than St Georges Hospital. The preference for the St Georges option, given the increased travel times for patient with the Evelina option had been raised by Croydon’s representatives on the South West London and Surrey Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC), who were a statutory consultee on the decision. The concerns about the Evelina Hospital option were shared by others on the JHOSC and options for taking forward these concerns were being explored. The Chair put on record her thanks to the Council’s representatives on the JHOSC, Councillors Chatterjee and O’Dame for all their work on this issue.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with a report updating on the key aspects of the Safer Croydon Partnership over the past year for its scrutiny. The Committee is asked to: -

1.               Review and note the information provided in the report,

2.               Consider its conclusions on Croydon Community Safety Partnership Review,

3.               Consider whether there are any recommendations to bring to the attention of the Mayor.

The Committee considered a report set out in pages 19 to 42 of the agenda which provided a summary of the work of the Safer Croydon Partnership over the past year. This report was provided to the Committee as part of its annual review of crime and disorder matters in the borough.

In attendance for this item were the following: -

• Councillor Ola Kolade – Cabinet Member for Community Safety
• Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain - Metropolitan Police
• Superintendent Mitchell Carr – Metropolitan Police
• Selene Grandison – Head of Croydon Probation Delivery Unit
• Kristian Aspinall – Director of Culture & Community Safety
• Ciara Goodwin – Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Coordinator
• Alison Kennedy – FJS Operations Manager
• Christopher Rowney – Head of Violence Reduction Network
• Liz Ostrowski - Independent Consultant

During the introduction to the report, the following points were noted: -

• There was a general recognition that the challenges within the borough could not be solved without partnership work.
• Since the Committee had last reviewed community safety matters in September 2022, a Community Safety Partnership Board had been established, which was open to any member of the public to attend, becoming an important mechanism for engagement with the local community.
• The Youth Safety Plan had been developed with youth groups engaged on the content of the strategy. 
• The key areas of focus for the Safer Croydon Partnership remained tackling youth violence, violence against women and girls and improving the use of data and evidence to tackle crime hotspot areas. 

Following the introduction, the Committee proceeded to question the members of the Safer Croydon Partnership on the information provided. The first question noted that the partnership was balancing a number of different boards and strategies, and as such it was questioned how the Partnership remained streamlined and focussed on delivery.  In response, it was highlighted that the work of the Partnership was expansive and different channels were needed to look at different areas, but the Executive Board had oversight over all areas. Furthermore, it was noted that three of the boards were statutory for all Community Safety Partnerships (CSP), with only two additional boards set up. This was a common amount for CSPs, with many often having more.

In follow-up, it was questioned whether there was any scope for streamlining and simplifying the structure of the Partnership. It was advised that there were other options, such as merging the community safety and safeguarding boards, but this tended to be done in low crime areas and it was recommended that these be kept separate for areas such as Croydon. Although the structure may be complex for a member of the public to understand, they would be free to attend meetings of the Community Safety Partnership Board to learn more about the work of the partnership.

It was noted that the report set out a wide range of activities delivered by the Partnership in the past year, but it was questioned how the impact from this activity was measured. It was acknowledged that some outcomes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/24

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with a draft version of the Violence Reduction Network Strategic Assessment. The Committee is asked to: -

1.               Review and note the draft Strategic Assessment for the Violence Reduction Network, and

2.               Consider whether it wishes to make any comment on the content of the draft Strategic Assessment, to be taken of in the final version.

The Committee considered a report set out in pages 43 to 102 of the agenda, which presented a draft version of the annual Strategic Assessment produced by the Violence Reduction Network. This report was provided to the Committee as part of its annual review of crime and disorder matters in the borough and gave the Committee the opportunity to provide comment on the draft report before the final version was produced.

In attendance for this item were the following: -

• Councillor Ola Kolade – Cabinet Member for Community Safety
• Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain - Metropolitan Police
• Superintendent Mitchell Carr – Metropolitan Police
• Selene Grandison – Head of Croydon Probation Delivery Unit
• Kristian Aspinall – Director of Culture & Community Safety
• Ciara Goodwin – Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Coordinator
• Alison Kennedy – FJS Operations Manager
• Christopher Rowney – Head of Violence Reduction Network
• Liz Ostrowski - Independent Consultant

Before the Committee commenced its questioning on this item, the Chair commended the report for its clarity and the range of data and crime statistics it provided.

The first question asked for more information on the implementation of the Youth Safety Strategy and how it was influencing the level of knife crime in the borough. It was advised that the Strategy had only recently been introduced in September 2023 and many of parts of the strategy were still at an initiation phase. Although the level of knife crime remained high, an engagement and diversion service had recently been commissioned for the whole year and were in the process of building relationships. Bids had also been submitted to the Mayor of London to fund other programmes such as interventions and schemes aimed at older young people.

As a follow-up, it was questioned when the outcomes from the work delivered as part of the Youth Safety Strategy, would result in a fall in the level of knife crime. Although it was acknowledged that it was extremely difficult to predict crime levels, it was hoped that there would be evidence of the figures reducing by next year. Given the limited resources available, the Police were having to focus their resources on targeted hotspots which were identified using data and intelligence. Gaining the intelligence needed from the community was an ongoing challenge for the Police, with an ongoing work to improve engagement at a ward level with parents and the wider community. It was accepted that part of the challenge would be repairing historic damage which had led to a mistrust of the police amongst communities.

It was questioned what was being done to compensate for the lack of physical safe spaces for young people and to keep young people safe online and to prevent them being exploited by county lines gangs. It was advised that the Police had recently run a nation-wide intensification week in its ongoing operation to tackle county lines drug gangs, which had resulted in a number of county lines being closed in Croydon. It was highlighted that there was safe space in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24/24

As part of its deep dive, the Scrutiny & Overview Committee is provided with a presentation on the development of the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Delivery Plan. The Committee is asked to: -

1.   Review and note the presentation on Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Delivery Plan, and

2.   Consider whether it wishes to make any comment or suggestions to be taken account of in the final version of the delivery plan.

The Committee considered a report set out in the agenda supplement, which provided an overview of the key areas to be included in the delivery plan of the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. This report was provided to the Committee as part of its annual review of crime and disorder matters in the borough and gave the Committee the opportunity to provide comment on the delivery plan before the final version was produced.

In attendance for this item were the following: -

• Councillor Ola Kolade – Cabinet Member for Community Safety
• Chief Superintendent Andy Brittain - Metropolitan Police
• Superintendent Mitchell Carr – Metropolitan Police
• Selene Grandison – Head of Croydon Probation Delivery Unit
• Kristian Aspinall – Director of Culture & Community Safety
• Ciara Goodwin – Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence Coordinator
• Alison Kennedy – FJS Operations Manager
• Christopher Rowney – Head of Violence Reduction Network
• Liz Ostrowski - Independent Consultant

The Chair highlighted that the Committee had held three separate community meetings to help educate themselves on people’s experience of violence against women and girls in the borough and the support provided by the Council and other statutory partners. The feedback provided had helped to inform the questions to be asked at this meeting. The Chair thanked the residents, community leaders, community and voluntary organisations and especially the survivors of domestic abuse who had given their time to speak to them about their experiences. Summaries of these meetings were uploaded with the agenda for the meeting and can be found here.

The first question raised by the Committee asked about the timeline for the creation of the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Delivery Plan. It was confirmed that based upon the current timeline the delivery plan would be signed off at the Cabinet meeting in May. However, this may be moved to June depending on the timings.

As it was confirmed that the delivery plan did not need to go to a meeting of Council for final approval, it was questioned how all Members would be able to input into the delivery plan. It was agreed that a briefing session would be arranged for all Members to raise awareness.

It was confirmed that no additional funding had been allocated in the budget for delivery, but there was existing ringfenced funding available, which would be supplemented by increased contributions from Public Health and the Housing Revenue Account. At the same time other external avenues for funding were being aggressively pursued.

It was highlighted that many of the offences committed that were classified as knife crimes happened in the home environment, such as domestic abuse and homicide. As such, it was suggested that the information presented at Safer Neighbourhood Panel meetings should differentiate between crimes that were a result of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and those that were a result of youth violence. It was agreed that this would help to raise awareness of the level of VAWG related incidents within local communities, particularly in comparison to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/24

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to

1.     Approve the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee’s for submission to the Executive Mayor for his consideration.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 103 to 106 of the agenda which presented recommendations proposed by the scrutiny sub-committees for sign-off ahead of submission to the Executive Mayor.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to: -

1.     Approve the recommendations made by its Sub-Committee’s for submission to the Executive Mayor for his consideration.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to: -

1.     Note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme presented in the report.

2.     Consider whether there are any other items that should be provisionally added to the work programme as a result of the discussions held during the meeting.

The Committee considered a report set out on pages 107 to 132 of the agenda which presented the most recent version of the work programme for the Scrutiny & Overview Committee and its Sub-Committees.

Resolved: The Scrutiny & Overview Committee agreed to note the most recent version of the Scrutiny Work Programme 2023-24.

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”

This motion was not required.