Agenda and minutes

To approve as correct the minutes of the meetings held on 23 January and 5 February, 2014 and authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meetings held on 23 January and 5 February 2014 were agreed as a correct and signed by the Chairman.

To receive a verbal report from SERCO.

The Committee received a presentation on the Community Payback programme in Havering from the Community Safety Team Leader.

Members were informed that the relationship between SERCO and the Council had been very positive over the past 6 months. Serco was now running Community Payback schemes seven days a week in the borough.

The programme had recorded the following recently:

February 2014 hours worked

Group Projects                      1458

Agency Placements                652

Total                                      2110

March 2014 hours worked

Group Projects                     2025

Agency Placements               492

Total                                     2517

The Committee were informed that SERCO was currently working on the following projects with the borough:

·         LBH Streetcare Team – work completed & in progress. 

Town Hall car park area. The team undertook cutting back and the generally cleaning of the area. The following car parks would now be done on a yearly basis:

Keswick Car Park, Hoppy Hall Car Park, Appleton Way Car Park, Dorrington Way Car Park.

The team also litter picked the alley way and had cut back the trees, cutting the branches away to a height of 5 feet to prevent individuals hiding behind them.

Crow Lane Cemetery. The team had on going work of preparing and painting the railings surrounding the cemetery, excluding the gates.

·         LBH Havering Homes. The team started work on Cherry Tree Lane, where they were cleaning, preparing and painting the washed out red railings on the main street. They would also be painting the small parking posts, metal bin doors, and shed doors

·         Add-Up. The team had worked on a short project to redecorate two offices in Billet Lane. They group would be undertaking painting of the exterior doors and windows

·         St Nicholas Church. The team undertook a redecoration of the interior of the church, once this was completed they would commence on the exterior of the church.

·         Schools

Gaynes School. The team was working within the school and its grounds, assisting with grounds maintenance, sorting and clearing of sheds within the school grounds, and painting within the school where required.

Dycorts School. The team was assisting with grounds maintenance, exterior painting of the school and out buildings.

Marshalls Park School. The team was assisting with grounds maintenance, painting of classrooms and corridors when required. They also assisted the caretaker with school furniture and clearing and assembling of school furniture

Mead School. The team was assisting with grounds maintenance, creations of foot paths, painting of classrooms, corridors and toilets. Assembling of school furniture, setting up of classrooms with new furniture and removing old furniture. This may be disrupted due to on-going building work taking place at the school.

Members asked that the worked hours be converted to money in order to evaluate its value to the borough.

The Committee agreed Community Payback provided good value to the community in Havering.

The Committee noted the report.

To consider the attached report.

The Committee considered a report that reviewed Domestic Violence in Havering.

The cross-government definition of domestic violence and abuse was defined as:

Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour,  violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This could encompass any of the following types of abuse:

·       psychological

·       physical

·       sexual

·       financial

·       emotional

The Council’s community safety team co-ordinates the Domestic Violence Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) and, in conjunction with Housing and Adult Social Services, commissions a number of services to support victims of domestic violence and their families break the cycle of domestic abuse, through the legal process to prosecution of the perpetrator.

Domestic violence in Havering – the facts

The Committee was informed that Domestic violence was prevalent in Havering and had a significant impact on the Council’s Living Ambition Vision to provide Havering residents with the highest quality of life.  Domestic violence was under reported in Havering which follows national trends as detailed in the breakdown of domestic and sexual violence in Havering as of 25 March 2014.

Domestic and sexual violence

·         For domestic violence this represented an increase of 6.7% in Havering and a Met-wide increase of 8.7%.

·         For rape in Havering this represented a 42.6% increase, compared to a Met-wide increase of 22.8%.

·         Other sexual offences across the borough saw a 3.7% decrease, compared to a 0.7% increase across London. 

(Source: Metropolitan Police March 2014)

The Committee was informed that victims of domestic violence have access to the following services in Havering:

Refuge

Havering Women’s Aid provided refuge accommodation for women fleeing domestic violence and abuse.  Currently there are two refuges in Havering.  Refuge one was based in an existing refuge building owned by Havering council.  This refuge consisted of 23 bed spaces.  Refuge two was a newly converted building owned by Old Ford Housing Association.  The building consisted of fourteen self-contained flats, varying from a bedsit to one, two and three bedroom flats and has forty bed spaces.  In 2012-13, one hundred and ten families were supported in refuge accommodation. In the first three quarters of 2013-14, eighty families had been supported in local refuges. 

Advocacy and support group service

Havering Women’s Aid was commissioned to provide a minimum of 204 two hour drop-in sessions in the borough.  In addition to the drop in, the service is supported by an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor who provides two hours support to victims. 

Floating Support

The floating support service provided emotional and practical help, advice and information to women and children experiencing domestic abuse who want to remain within their own home.  In 2012-2013 the service provided 11,960 hours of floating support to one hundred and thirty one families. 

Victim Support Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA)

The Community Safety team and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To note the response from the Interim Safer Neighbourhood Board.

The Committee noted the response from the Interim Safer Neighbourhood Board on its request that all its future meetings be held in public. In response the Board stated that for their first year, they would meet quarterly but these meeting would not be open to the public. They stated that the public attendance could best be achieved at ward panel level. However the Board was committed to allowing the public attend its annual meeting.

Councillor David Durant was allowed by the Chairman to raise a matter under urgent business on the roles of the Returning Office and the Police around election offences.  Other Members of the Committee were of the view that the Police were in a better position to investigate and deal with such matters. In response Superintendent Russell Taylor stated that from the Police point of view any such incident would be passed to a special unit (anti-terrorism unit) to provide guidance before the Police take any action.