Agenda item

[Hannah Pawley, Community Safety Manager and Superintendent Simon Inglis, WMP, to present report]

The Chair invited Hannah Pawley, Community Safety Manager, Lynsey Kelly, Head of Communities, and Superintendent Simon Inglis, West Midlands Police to present their report.

 

The Head of Communities explained that the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership (SWP) Board annual report was being presented to members of the scrutiny panel for information and comment on current activity. The Head of Communities outlined the key priorities of the SWP Board and explained that the presentation would focus particularly on the issue of domestic violence.

 

The Head of Communities added that the panel members were also being asked to comment specifically on current activity in this area. The Head of Communities invited Deborah Smith, Prevent and Cohesion Co-ordinator to give the panel an update on changes to the Channel Duty Guidance as requested by the panel before the presentation.

 

The Prevent and Cohesion Co-ordinator advised the panel that new Government guidance was published in November 2020 to members of Channel Panel and partners on the duty in the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 to provide support for people vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.

 

The guidance placed an emphasis on the statutory nature of the Channel Panel and gave the Chair and the Deputy Chair of SWP Board a higher level of security clearance. The guidance requires that an assurance statement is published to comply with the Act. The information will be included as part of the self-assessment, which is a baseline for the local authority practice. The new guidance focuses on achieving greater compliance in the way the Channel Panels operate across the region with the aim of being consistent in terms of practice and the training provided.

 

The Prevent and Cohesion Co-ordinator advised the panel that the assurance statement was signed by the Chief Executive, Tim Johnson, and sent to Homeland Security.

 

The panel thanked the Prevent and Cohesion Co-ordinator for the presentation and agreed to note the report.

 

The Community Safety Manager advised the panel that the rest of presentation would focus on the response of SWP Board to the issue of domestic abuse particularly throughout the pandemic. The Community Safety Manger gave a summary of recorded domestic abuse incidents between April 2017- March 2021 and invited Superintendent Simon Inglis to give further details.

 

Superintendent Inglis commented on the factors which have contributed to the increase in the number of reported domestic abuse incidents mainly against women, but also against men, for example, the national lockdown and loss of employment leading to families struggling financially.

 

Superintendent Inglis added that in response to the increase in number of incidents a decision was taken to analyse the integrity of the data to better understand the issue.  A review was also undertaken into the way crime incidents were recorded across the West Midlands region and it was concluded that offences of harassment and stalking had either been under reported, or under recorded within the overall figures for domestic abuse incidents.

 

Superintendent Inglis outlined a review of the current multi-agency governance arrangements in response to the increase in domestic abuse incidents and the specific actions linked to the development of a needs assessment that will steer future commissioning plans. Superintendent Inglis updated the panel on activities linked to key themes identified from the review.

 

The Community Safety Manager gave details of plans informed by learning during the pandemic at the strategic level and through engagement with victims and specialist support services and the partnerships which have been developed during this period.

 

The Community Safety Manager advised the panel that the Interpersonal Violence Strategy will be refreshed in March 2022 and aligned to the other strategies, for the example, Tackling Violence and Exploitation Strategy.

 

Superintendent Inglis commented on the impact of the kidnap, rape, and murder of Sarah Everard and the resulting wider public concerns about the safety and protection of women, particularly in public spaces, and the level of the trust in the police to protect women.

 

Superintendent Inglis advised the panel that in response to this and increased public scrutiny of police behaviour a public survey was commissioned to better understand the views of women about safety in public spaces, within their own home and the local community. In addition, an internal survey has been commissioned of police offices to understand the culture within the service and the behaviours and attitudes towards female police officers that may make them feel uncomfortable in the workplace. The survey findings can be shared with the panel at a future meeting.

 

Superintendent Inglis commented on the slide in the presentation which gave an overview of the governance structure and highlighted the importance of delivering tangible outputs and of adopting a public health approach to tackling violence against women.

 

Superintendent Inglis also highlighted the importance of early preventative work with young people and offering support when they start to develop violent tendencies. 

 

Superintendent Inglis commented on the range of issues linked to supporting behaviour changes and the challenges to making progress, and the need to have the measures in place that can offer help in this situation; like that offered to young people who have issues with alcohol.

 

The Community Safety Manager briefed the panel about the work being done with specific agencies around city on the violence prevention offer, and gave examples of current and future work, such as the mapping of services to identify gaps where targeted interventions could be the most effective. The work will be co-ordinated through the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership Board working closely with members of the Health and Wellbeing Together Board. The Community Safety Manager briefed the panel on the future plans and proposals for achieving the priorities of the SWP Board.

 

The Community Safety Manager offered to report on progress against actions in the presentation to a future meeting of the panel.

 

The panel were invited to comment on the presentation.

 

The panel thanked Superintendent Inglis for the presentation and issues highlighted. The panel welcomed the planned survey and the opportunity to review the findings at a future meeting.

 

The panel agreed with the views of the need to focus efforts on the behaviours of young people in Year 12 now some of whom are likely to be domestic violence perpetrators in the future. The panel commented on the need to do as much as possible to break the cycle of violence.

 

Superintendent Inglis in response commented on the importance of both men and women in the police taking part in the survey in recognition of the need to get a better overall view of the issue. Superintendent Inglis reiterated his previous point about the need to focus on the changing behaviours of future generations and highlighted the challenge in getting a focus on perpetrators and securing funding to support such work. Superintendent Inglis highlighted an example of a discussion with police colleagues in Leicester who have a three-stage programme for perpetrators, and funding is being sought to introduce a similar scheme to the area.

 

The panel discussed a similar campaign aimed at sex offenders and the challenge in getting people to admit to this behaviour as part of the programme.

 

The panel queried the definition of the term domestic abuse non-crime in the presentation. Superintendent Inglis gave an example of situation, where someone reports an argument incident to what they consider to be domestic abuse. The term ‘domestic abuse’ is an umbrella term which covers violence, coercive or controlling behaviour. In a situation when there has been an argument, which is not considered to be a criminal offence, but if there is evidence of coercive controlling behaviour then this would be classified as a domestic abuse ‘non crime’ incident.

 

This is based on the understanding that this incident is not part of previous stalking or continued harassment complaints. In this situation, the matter would be referred to the local neighbourhood policing teams to offer support and follow up as interventions are needed. The importance of accurately recording the data was highlighted.

 

The panel queried if the presenters were confident that the priorities could be achieved in terms of tackling interpersonal violence against women and girls based on the total grant allocation of £150,000 for specific projects referred to in the report and requested more information about the overall funding situation.

 

The Community Safety Manager added that there has been an increase in terms of reports of domestic abuse year on year since April 2017 and during last year there has been more non-crime incidents of this type reported. The reason for the increase may be due to increased awareness of domestic abuse generally and of offences such as coercive and controlling behaviour, which might not have been recognised as such in the past but is now included in the statistics.

 

The Community Safety Manager advised the panel that the funding of £150,000 from the Police and Crime Commissioners Office is ring fenced for SWP Board to fund specific interventions to support its priorities. The role of the Board is to co-ordinate current activity of the agencies represented to ensure the best use is being made of the collective resources. Most of the funding for domestic abuse provision in the city is provided by Public Health. The Community Safety Manager agreed to share a breakdown with the panel of the total funding available to support the delivery of the priorities detailed in the report.

 

The panel expressed concerns about the impact locally due to the reduction of policing numbers over the years at a time when the need for support has increased, specifically in cases involving domestic violence. Supt Inglis offered the panel reassurance about work being done to make best use of the policing resources available, the plans for increasing policing numbers in the next two to three years and commented that extra funding can sometimes have the effect of stifling creativity in finding solutions.

 

The panel wanted further clarification about how a non-crime incident is reported either against a person or property, the circumstances where further action would be taken, or the matter escalated to a crime incident. The panel were concerned that a non-crime report against a person could affect their future employment prospects.

 

Supt. Inglis advised the panel that no one would be prosecuted or have a criminal record for a non-crime incident and explained the purpose of recording it. Supt Inglis added that information about such incident would be used to add to intelligence about a person or venue and inform future police action.  Supt Inglis commented on the value of recording an incident as a non-crime incident to the wider community and avoiding disaffection towards the police.

 

The panel discussed the guidance issued to police to help them decide if an incident should be recorded as a non-crime or crime incident. Supt Inglis reassured the panel about work done to ensure police officers comply with the law when deciding if the threshold for action has been met. Supt. Inglis added that non-crime incidents are used as an intelligence gathering tool to allow the police to understand trends in locations or individuals which may be unknown to them.

 

The panel discussed the value of having strategies, linked action plans and good governance arrangements and the importance of co-ordinated activity in this area. The panel highlighted the sharp increases in the levels of domestic abuse, the reduction in the level of services to meet the need and more generally concern about women being unsafe on the streets. The panel welcomed the focus in the strategy on training and preventative work being done in schools to educate young children in Year 12. The panel suggested that such work needed to start much earlier with very young children who may have witnessed domestic abuse within their households to talk about what a healthy and trusting relationship looks like.

 

The panel queried the reference in the reports to incidents of domestic violence involving men, while accepting this is true considered it was important to acknowledge that these figures represent a small percentage of the total, and most cases involve women. The panel suggested that such statements should be qualified to reflect the situation where most harm is caused.

 

Supt Inglis explained the reasons for targeting young people in the 16 to 17 age group where they are being violent towards the partners, within Wolverhampton and the West Midlands and gave examples of the range of programmes to address the concerns from the panel. Supt Inglis gave examples of the preventative work aimed at changing behaviours of younger children and work with schools.

 

The Community Safety Manager offered further reassurance about the presentation of data relating to domestic violence and fully acknowledged that women are largely the victims, and this will be reflected in the investment plans and the priorities. The Community Safety Manager commented on the need to also offer support to men who may be victims of abuse. The Community Safety Manager commented that members of SWP Board takes a whole life course approach to the issue of domestic violence when looking at the timing of interventions.

 

The panel supported the view of the importance of agencies intervening as early as possible if children witness or are involved in domestic violence incidents. Supt Inglis commented about the changes in the approach of the police towards looking into the welfare of children in this situation and offered reassurance about the checks done by police, for example, talking to children and taking action as appropriate.

 

The panel commented on reference in a recent report on violence against women and girls by LGIU which states that in the UK is killed by a man every three days, a figure that has remained unchanged for a decade, with most victims killed by current or former partner.

 

The panel suggested that the findings and recommendations in the paper should be considered by SWP Board and incorporated into their plans.

 

Resolved.

1.     The panel agreed to note the report and presentation findings.

2.     The panel comments on the Safer Wolverhampton Partnership (SWP) Board annual report to be considered by the SWP Board.

3.     The SWP Board to consider and respond to the findings and recommendations from LGIU briefing paper -Violence against women and girls – report of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.

4.     The Head of Communities to provide details of the annual funding programme for SWP Board.

5.     Supt Inglis to update the panel on the findings from the consultation on safety to a future meeting.

6.     The Community Safety Manager offered to report on progress against actions in the presentation to a future meeting of the panel.