Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

The minutes of the meeting held on 25^th October 2023 and 6^th November 2023, were agreed and signed as a true record.

Further to Minute 20 headed “UKBIC Ltd Annual Performance Report year ended 31 March 2023 and UKBIC 2023/24 Forecasts”, Members requested that the UKBIC information be shared.

Further to Minute 28 “Amendment of the City Centre Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO)”, the Chair confirmed correspondence had been sent by the Cabinet Member for Policing & Equalities to the Police Chief Constable.  The response would be circulated to Members.

Report of the Director for Public Health and Wellbeing

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee received a Briefing Note and presentation of the Director of Public Health and Wellbeing, informing Members of the Serious Violence Duty, which imposes a legal duty on the local authority to tackle serious violence using a partnership approach and to also advise the Committee on the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) a matched funded intervention project to work with people aged 14 or more who are at risk or who were experiencing violence.

In response to rising levels of knife crime and violence across the UK, the Government placed a new duty on specified authorities (of which the local authority is one) to take a partnership approach to tackling serious violence.

The Duty, which came into force in January 2023, arises from the Police, Crime, Courts, and Sentencing Act 2022 and recognises that complex issues like violence require a multifaceted approach with a range of partners taking responsibility and action.

The specified authorities include Local Authorities, Police, Fire and Rescue, Integrated Care Boards, Justice (probation & Youth Justice). Other key stakeholders should be consulted and have a duty to cooperate with the specified authorities, this includes education partners and prisons.

In the West Midlands, the Police and Crime Commissioner were responsible for developing and publishing a response strategy informed by the data gathering and analysis work which had taken place across all 7 local authority areas.

Coventry partners had been working in close cooperation with the regional violence reduction partnership (VRP) to prepare for the Duty since 2022. Using the local plans, the Police & Crime Commissioner would submit a regional response to the Home Office by 31/01/2024, the deadline. The Regional response strategy must be reviewed annually thereafter to ensure that responses to violence take account of changing circumstances.

The VRP hosted a series of online events to raise awareness of the new Duty. The VRP also worked with Crest Advisory to assess the regions readiness; the region was assessed as “preparing.”

Crest Advisory had identified 4 key factors which impact violence and were common to all 7 local authority areas:

·  Education

·  Substance Misuse

·  Demography

·  Deprivation

Other factors of note which were common to the whole region were:

·  Early identification of Adverse Childhood Experiences (trauma) was a priority.

·  Violence was heavily concentrated in a small number of areas.

·  The need for robust commissioning processes and better processes to measure impact of commissioned services.

·  Three key headlines from communities: Feelings of safety (after dark); gaps in responding to vulnerability; and concerns about addressing the drivers of violence.

·  The importance of the educational sector in addressing key risk factors effectively and the need to understand what works in education settings.

The VRP had prepared a draft 3-year violence reduction strategy which had identified 5 overarching themes:

·  Prevention across the life course (the public health approach)

·  Development of a sustainable, community and youth led approach to violence reduction.

·  Building closer regional partnerships that supports innovation.

·  Development of a West Midlands wide movement that aims for a violence free region.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

Report of the Chief Legal Officer

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered their Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2023/24.

RESOLVED that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee notes the Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2023/24 with the inclusion of the following items:

A report on the Serious Violence Duty to be brought back to Committee in 6 months.

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of public business.