Agenda item

Report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships.

The Chairman asked the Strategic Manager – Policy, Planning and Partnerships, Andrea Petty to speak to Members as regards an update from the Safe Durham Partnership (SDP) (for copy see file of minutes).  It was noted that the next meeting of the SDP was tomorrow, Tuesday, 16 January 2018.

Members noted the Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Review Action Plan, which was produced following a peer review held 5 – 7 September 2017, looking at how the SDP works and makes a difference to local people.  It was noted the key areas of focus were: “can the SDP involve communities more?”; “can the SDP do more to focus on preventative work?” and “provide advice in relation to progressing SDP priorities”.

It was explained that the SDP was found to be very strong in terms of its links to Overview and Scrutiny and AAPs.  It was noted that areas for further work included: a joint Police, DCC and SDP marketing plan; better social media; better safeguarding in terms of adults, for example in terms of Cybercrime, finance and reporting fraud; hate crime, with the tension monitoring toolkit to be reviewed in 2018.

Councillors noted other topics discussed included: Transforming care in the North East and Cumbria: Criminal Justice Briefing; the finding from the Student Voice Survey, with the key messages being a third of primary schoolchildren did not feel safe in the classroom and around half of primary schoolchildren having social media accounts despite there being a age restriction of 13 years old.  It was added that a quarter of secondary schoolchildren did not feel safe in the classroom and around 6% had been asked to send pictures or videos of themselves to people online.

The Strategic Manager – Policy, Planning and Partnerships concluded by noting the work of the Victims and Witness Group, a sub-group of the Cleveland and Durham Local Criminal Justice Partnership Board, with the group currently reviewing their overall aim of ensuring victims are fully supported through the criminal justice process.

The Chairman thanked the Strategic Manager – Policy, Planning and Partnerships for her update and noted that the statistics coming from the Student Survey were worrying and surprising and noted it could be an area for Overview and Scrutiny to look at.

Councillor J Charlton referred to the Victims and Witness Group item and asked Members to note that processes in terms Victim Personal Statements were not well explained and that the impact they could have on a case was not easy to understand and therefore this was an area that should be looked at.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.