STRATEGIC POLICING AND CRIME BOARD

Tuesday, 25 October 2022

Police and Crime Plan Priority: Working in Partnership Locally West Midlands Community Safety Partnership Update Presented by: Alethea Fuller, Deputy Chief Executive

Purpose of paper

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the work of the West Midlands Community Safety Partnership, and provide some highlights of

community safety activity that has taken place across the region.

Background

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the Act 2011requires CSPs to have regard to the objectives set out in the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan 2021-2025 and for the PCC and CSPs to co-operate with each other in exercising their respective functions. The 2011 Act sets out a number of ways that PCCs and CSPs should work together, including a mutual duty to cooperate to reduce crime and disorder and reoffending and a requirement that the PCC and CSP must have regard to each other’s priorities within their respective plans. In addition, PCCs are held to account by Police and Crime Panels while overview and scrutiny committees for community safety scrutinise the work of the CSP as a whole (and are unique in that they can call in representatives from the other responsible authorities on CSPs to be held to account.

Community Safety Partnerships have a statutory responsibility to respond to crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB) in their local authority areas, and West Midlands Community Safety Partnership (WMCSP) is the forum where the PCC, statutory bodies and representatives from the seven Local Authority areas come together to agree a coordinated approach to crime reduction, local policing and community safety for the West Midlands. It provides leadership and improves co-ordination on strategic working at a regional level in respect of policing and crime reduction delivery.

The OPCC continues to have links with each of the 7 CSPs as well as meeting with the seven Heads of Community Safety monthly.

The Community Safety priorities have been agreed for 2021 - 2025 through consultation with partners and communities and are informed by West Midlands Police’s Strategic Assessment. Those priorities are preventing crime and anti-social behaviour; serious and organised crime; supporting victims and witnesses; violence and intimidation against women and girls; cyber-crime and fraud; serious violence; offending and reoffending; and substance misuse.

The OPCC is currently reviewing the Terms of Reference of WMCSP as significant responsibilities are being allocated to CSPs, and this forum gives us the opportunity to have a strategic response to all of those responsibilities. They include the Serious Violence Duty, Combatting Drugs Partnerships and Violence Against Women and Girls.

The budget for community safety is taken from the PCC’s Police Main Grant, as the PCC recognises the importance of the work that CSP’s do and therefore has kept the community safety budget at the same level since for a number of years at £3,863,308. He has also determined that each CSP continues to receive an allocation to enable local commissioning of services that respond to emerging issues.

The budget allocation is set out below:

Activity	(£)
Funding
2020_21 Allocation	£3,863,303
Force Wide Commissioning Allocations
Youth Offending	£ 652,108
Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference Structure	£ 354,000
Allocations for Victims of Crime – Victims Fund top up	£ 271,410
CSP Analysts	£ 210,000
Arrest Referral (Drug Interventions Programme)	£ 500,000
New Chance	£ 270,000
Restorative Justice West Midlands – ASB	£ 63,785
Op Hercules – Forcewide Injunctions	£ 42,000
Sub-Total	£2,091,893
Local Commissioning Allocations Birmingham £660,000 Coventry £165,000 Dudley £135,000 Sandwell £165,000 Solihull £ 90,000 Walsall £135,000 Wolverhampton £150,000
7 local CSPs	£1,500,000
Total Allocated Budget	£3,591,893

Activities

The next section of the report gives a snapshot of some of the working taking place to respond to crime and disorder.

West Midlands Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) Structure

MARAC is the non-statutory partnership response to Domestic Abuse utilised both in the West Midlands and in most local authority areas nationally. It has been operational for over ten years across the seven local authority areas in the West Midlands, but has only been hosted as a Coordination function by WMP since March 2019. The MARAC team is funded by the WMCSP budget and consists of one strategic lead for the region, four Coordinators and six Business Support Officers.

Each local authority area has 15 – 25 local partners engaged in the process, all of whom are responsible for the improved identification of high-risk domestic abuse and ensuring MARAC is operating effectively and efficiently as a partnership function. West Midlands Police are not responsible for MARAC and the process is not Police-led; this is a common misconception.

MARAC has been extremely busy in 2022, following three years of exceptional growth since the function was centralised. There are around 46 MARAC meetings held each month in the West Midlands currently, compared with just 19 per month in 2019; demand has increased by 78% in that time.

WMP took over responsibility for hosting the MARAC Coordination function and centralising MARAC across the region in 2019, and some of the key commitments made at that time were;

Improved identification of high-risk domestic abuse across the partnership

Thousands of professionals, from GPs to housing officers, retail managers to social workers, have joined us for MARAC and DASH training, an extremely well-received introduction to MARAC and risk assessment. Even today, training sessions with space for 200 delegates every month sell out and the appetite for learning against a backdrop of ever-growing and changing workforces keeps demand for this resource high.

Improved understanding of and access to MARAC

In addition to the above training provision, additional courses are available including training to become a MARAC Chair and dedicated in-house inductions with services who are all closely supported by our Coordinators. All contact with referrers begins with an offer of training and support, ensuring that our function is in a constant state of continued improvement.

Ensuring that the rate of cases returning to MARAC within 12 months remains within control limits

Cases will come back to MARAC, typically between 20% and 40% annually, due to the nature of domestic abuse and the difficult reality that these relationships often do not end just because we advise they should. To ensure this is appropriately managed, we have introduced “information only” repeat referrals, a triage system ensuring that only those incidents requiring a full discussion go back to MARAC, and Complex Case Reviews, a process designed to shine a spotlight on prolific repeats and ensure that all of the typically complex needs associated with such cases are addressed outside of the restricted confines of the MARAC meeting itself

Regional consistency

We built one regional MARAC system which manages the entire referral process in one place from point of referral through to the meeting itself. We now have one referral route, one threshold agreement and one team operating fluidly across the region, much to the relief of the partnership.

Demand

Referrals into MARAC are rising against a regional increase in Domestic Abuse at all levels. One of the reasons it is rising at such as significant rate in the high risk arena is due to a number of factors including the work put in by the MARAC team to improve identification, the impact of the pandemic on existing DA cases which we know escalated and the improved recording of repeat cases.

Overwhelmingly, the MARAC partnership are finding it difficult to cope with the resource required to manage this 78% increase in demand and dedicated funding for MARAC is hard to come by within the partnership and concerns about the sustainability of the process are regularly raised at all seven DA boards. The OPCC is currently reviewing funding for the structure which supports delivery at a partnership level.

Quarter four of 2021/22 saw the commencement of two MARAC reviews; a regional review of the efficiency of MARAC, commissioned by the Violence Reduction Partnership. This is now concluded, recently published and next steps are underway at both a regional level and also locally looking at how each MARAC partnership is gong to function. There was also a bitesize review of the impact of MARAC on survivors, which has also concluded, and is due to be published soon. The victims voice will inform next steps of the wider review.

The wider review was conducted by Lynxs Consultancy, with consultation and participation across the West Midlands via data, surveys and direct interview.

Some of the key findings

Capacity was seen as a key issue compromising MARAC effectiveness, with respondents citing that ‘their own organisations were struggling with the level of commitment and resources required against the backdrop of increasing volume.

MARAC coordinators were praised for their management role within the structure, however, there was an overwhelming consensus that the volume of cases being discussed means that MARAC meetings were too long across the region, compromising quality.

There was a clear view that current processing of meetings limits the possibility for effective safeguarding; Academic research has stressed there is a need for enhanced monitoring regarding MARAC outcomes and to create channels for agency and survivor feedback.

There is great concern about the IDVA capacity across the region given the increasing volume of cases and reduction in the number of posts funded (most notably in Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall). The PCC currently funds 74 IDVAs across the West Midlands – an increase this year, however it is still not enough capacity for the number of victims that are being referred in.

The Survivors review was delivered by the MARAC team alongside WMP Safeguarding, with direct contact with 52 survivors of high risk DA from across the region. Key findings:

86% of participants feel their safety has improved since the time when first referred to MARAC and also agreed with the statement: I was supported in understanding what domestic abuse is, which has helped me to continue to protect myself from harm.

76% agreed with the statement: Being referred for high risk domestic abuse support had a positive impact on me and reduced the risk of harm.

70% of participants had a good or reasonable understanding of what MARAC is, but only 50% felt they had the opportunity for their voiced to be heard in the meeting.

60% said the process enabled them to separate from their abuser; conversely some told us the reporting to Police and improved awareness of DA has enabled them to “safely” remain in the relationship.

Most victims hoped MARAC would help them to either be safer in their home, or enable them to move to somewhere safer; there was a lack of understanding that MARAC itself cannot provide housing

“My MARAC minutes being shared with the OIC changed how they viewed my circumstances.” This case saw a successful conviction as a result.

“Going through this process has made me realise how important life is, I am finally happy and feel safe and my children and I are completely better off.”

“At the time everything was very overwhelming so I did not understand what everyone wanted from me.”

What is clear from the outcome of the reviews is it is clear that MARAC must change in order to continue delivering a meaningful service to victims and partners. The review should lead to a welcome reinvigoration of how we deliver this multiagency response and an existing task and finish group attached to the regional DA board will lead on this work. This is likely to come at a cost to the partnership and both we here in WMP and far wider must be openminded to that as a reality. The current model, whilst successful for many years, simply cannot sustain the demand we are seeing. Many of the recommended alternative approaches included triage models very similar to MASH, for which there was palpable appetite when the findings were discussed with the Board.

The current funding for MARAC is utilised by a team of extremely dedicated staff, supported by a robust and flexible partnership who will continue to deliver as impactful and meaningful a service as possible whilst awaiting further developments. We are currently looking at the funding allocation for this structure, working with the victims team.

Safer Streets

The Safer Streets Fund was introduced by the Home Office as a way of developing local partnership responses of well-evidenced crime prevention activity in areas disproportionately and persistently impacted by acquisitive crimes such as burglary, robbery and theft. There have been a number of rounds and we have had successful bids in each round. In round 3 he OPCC has secured £458,545 from the Home Office to work in partnership with external partners to deliver initiatives to help tackle violence against women and girls. This funding is predominantly being focused on the extension of the Safer Streets 3 (SSF3) VAWG delivery which was successful in delivering outcomes across the region in 2021/22.

Also successful were the Safer Streets 4 (SSF4) bids for Wolverhampton Council £365,667, for activity to address youth ASB and violence in the City Centre, and Sandwell Council £227,100, to address ASB through additional CCTV and enhanced detached youth work, taking the total value of the funding to the West Midlands to £1,051,312. All bids are developed in consultation with Community Safety Partnership leads, the Violence Reduction Partnership, the OPCC, West Midlands Police, community and voluntary sector partners and the PCC’s Victim’s Commission.

Through guidance from the rapid evidence review, this bid combines educational programmes with community outreach with mass media campaigns, making the set of interventions more effective than any singular approach. This bid incorporates bystander/upstander programmes and education aimed at potential victims or perpetrators, both of which have also been proven successful with positive impacts on attitudes and behaviour change through the research.

There is also a continuation of the Communications and Campaign #noexcuseforabuse spearheaded by the West Midlands Victim’s Commissioner Nicky Brennan; we are also developing a regional website in order to continue the scheduled programme to ensure that it is created with multiagency partners.

Between November 2021 and June 2022, millions of people across the West Midlands will have seen or heard important messages about how everyone can play their part in ending male violence against women and girls. The Here and Now Campaign asks every man and boy in the region to have a conversation about violence against women and girls.

The new tranche of funding will support further campaigns that will be developed alongside regional agencies and experts. Some campaigns will have a distinct focus on challenging common behaviours, and others will delve into new topics that are less well understood.

The campaigns will draw on the findings of May’s YouGov survey that shed light on how people feel about calling out abuse and perceived barriers to challenging violence against women and girls. There will also be a continuation of bespoke EMVAWG lesson plans run in schools in conjunction with the Mentoring in Violence Prevention (MVP) Programme offered across the whole West Midlands to all secondary schools through the Violence Reduction Partnership.

The Safer Together #timetotalk project works in schools to address harmful sexualised attitudes in boys. The programme focuses on boys in schools, helping them to understand violence against women and girls and learn how to be an ally in preventing it, and calling it out when they see it. The additional funding will now see the programme rolled out to 60 schools in the region alongside the development of new materials and resources.

By using what works based regional measures with innovative pilot-based measures, we look to evoke success in reducing public space VAWG and address the safety needs of the West Midlands population, working in collaboration with the other successful bid areas to maximise the impact to the region.

In the first quarter of delivery; the Safer Together #timetotalk project has 20 schools signed up to the project and sessions have actively commenced in 8 schools (ahead of Q2 targets). The Violence Reduction Partnership education work is ongoing with an MVP working group set up, VAWG syllabus and training being delivered, with a new cohort of trainers starting to deliver on this work.

The Ending Male Violence Against Women and Girls (EMVAWG) Alliance met for the first time in September 2022 following the launch of the strategic partnership at the EMVAWG Conference in May 2022 with one of the main purposes being to drive regional consistency through multi-agency buy in and partnership. At this meeting presentations were given on the importance of EMVAWG, the strategic direction of the Alliance, VAWG problem profiles and West Midlands Police’s VAWG strategy. In the latter half of the meeting roundtable discussions were conducted on the Alliance’s terms of reference, communications, priorities and VAWG best practice. This meeting was well attended with representation including West Midlands Police, Domestic Abuse Coordinators, HMCTS, Directors and Chief Executives from Local Authorities, Department of Education, Children’s Services and regional VAWG leads.

Finally, the overarching identity for SSF4 VAWG Communications is all but complete, The core campaigns have been developed and further scoped. Following feedback, and drawing on core regional data on SA/SV around NTE, the focus of the first campaign will look at zero-tolerance messaging around NTE. This means moving towards an out-of-home and social-led campaign, rather than video-led.

Domestic Violence Perpetrator Interventions

Following on from the Domestic Abuse (DA) Development Day held by the OPCC in November 2021 and the subsequent DA Perpetrator Partnership Workshop held on the 11th May 2022, a regional working group made up of key stakeholders has been established by the OPCC to take forward learning. We are working to inform a West Midlands wide approach to tackling DA perpetration. Discussions at the working group were designed to delve deeper into the four key areas which have been identified through previous consultations.

These four areas below capture the areas of work which we as a region must consider if we are to effectively manage DA Perpetrators.

Systems readying

Behaviour Change Interventions

Strengthening the Criminal Justice System (CJS) Response

Prevention & Early Intervention with Children and Young People

Work has progressed against each of these areas and an updated position is summarised below. Prior to moving on it is important to pay some attention to the matters which were discussed at the working group. What has been made clear to us throughout all discussions so far is that there is no one size that fits all when it comes to tackling DA Perpetrators. What is also clear is that we must adopt a short-term view in the first instance before we can progress onto longer term solutions.

We are working with all 7 Local Authority areas to understand what each area response could/should be based on what they currently commission and based on an assessment of their local need. These conversations have commenced through the DA leads. Each local authority has differing approaches, provision and gaps in relation to tackling DA perpetrators. What our work with stakeholders has made clear is the need for a regional approach with local nuance to be led strategically by the PCC.

It is also important to mention that this work is happening alongside the MARAC Review process. The MARAC Review and subsequent MARAC re-design provides us with a unique opportunity to re-design our existing DA safeguarding systems to ensure they are better aligned with DA perpetrator management structures which will enable is to be in a good position for any forthcoming behaviour change intervention in the future. The working group also raised the following points;

Repeats - based on a comparison to 20/22 at a force level, DA crime has increased by 17.01% and the volume of positive outcomes reduced from 3,222 to 2,304. According to WMP current averages remain stable at 1,005 Repeat Victims, 1,079 Repeat Offenders. The group considered whether this information indicates we should be focussing our interventions at the high-end spectrum of risk or whether we should be looking at low/medium risk? Some areas including Coventry for example stated that some offenders being managed in the offender management system for DA are not those that hit the threshold in the MARAC criteria.

High risk – there is an ambiguity around how the term ‘high risk’ is being interpreted across systems and across safeguarding structures. For example, for the Birmingham/West Offender Management Teams, the criteria for high risk is serial offenders, which is two or more victims within a three-year period. Whereas for MARAC high risk is considered in line with the DASH Risk Assessment. the group felt that risk can be a limiter as to what we do with a perpetrator, particularly if it is not being understood consistently. Another important point in relation to risk is the recognition/understanding of risk through the lens of coercive control and this being understood and applied consistently by the workforce.

It is important to note that many of the issues outlined in the working group were also highlighted in the MARAC review findings and are currently being worked through on a local level through a dip sample exercise. The dip sample asks each Local Authority to dip sample 12 cases and answer a number of questions per case. The result of the dip sample will be analysed by Linx and shared regionally. The MARAC review echo’s conversations we are having at the DA perpetrator working group. Below we have summarised the current position across the four key areas of work outlined above.

Systems readying

Through discussions with partners we have been told that our systems and structures are not yet ready to embed a regional perpetrator programme. Partners emphasised the importance of joining up and ensuring a solid infrastructure between MASH, MARAC, ODOC and Domestic Abuse triage prior to any programme being embedded. It was stated that an effective infrastructure was an essential prerequisite to perpetrator resource being provided/implemented. It was recognised that this might be difficult with conflicting agendas between agencies and all partners including Community Safety Partnerships and Children Services need to be part of the solution. an absolute joint commitment to a core structure needs to be agreed and then work around Local Authority or local needs should take place. Robust governance at a strategic and operation level is also essential.

The OPCC are therefore working with the Drive central team to look at how they can work with the region on readying our systems to make sure they can be fit for purpose. This will lead us to the development of a consistent infrastructure across the region to support the implementation of any behaviour change interventions which we later embed.

As mentioned previously alongside this there is also work taking place to embed the recommendations from the MARAC review carried out by Linxs consultancy. Linxs identified a duplication of safeguarding structures namely the MARAC, ODOC and MASH. They have put forward a number of different models for the West Midlands to consider which include discussing the perpetrator at the same time as discussing the victim/children. This approach would take a whole family approach and would mean the same family is not discussed separately at all 3 meetings. The aforementioned dip sample exercise currently being undertaken by Local Authorities will provide a deep dive into localities and some potential for change. Part of the dip sample work involves proposing a safeguarding structure which would work locally. This work happening with OPCC oversight and it is envisaged that this will have the dual benefit of reducing MARAC demand as well as better alignment the management of high risk offenders.

Behaviour Change Interventions

In terms of a behaviour change model, partners made clear the importance of transparency and multi-agency working, with a particular focus on the need for professional trust between perpetrator and victim services who must conduct jointly held risk assessments and would benefit from complex case meetings and regular communication between perpetrator facilitators and victim support services. Outcomes should be cross-referenced between agencies. A framework to ensure effective communication and joint-working is needed. The importance of working closely with victim services was emphasised by Victims Commissioner Nicky Brennan who strongly believes any intervention must priories the safety and wellbeing of victims.

Pre-motivational work is essential before perpetrators embark on a behaviour change intervention. The 6-week motivation to change pilot delivered by Richmond Fellowship and SafeLives’ ‘Engage’ programme were given as examples of this. Addressing a perpetrator’s wider needs such as drug and alcohol use and mental health can be useful in-roads to engagement and often needed to enable them to be in a position to meaningfully embark on a behaviour change intervention. Partners also highlighted the need for a sperate, specialist intervention for certain specific DA-related offending such as FGM, HBA, FM and Stalking.

What is clear through consultation so far is that we are not looking for a regional response that we roll out across the seven areas (at least not until the above systems work is done), however the following overarching principles have been identified;

Joint risk assessments between the perps and the victim support service

Where relevant complex case meetings between the two services

Pre-motivational work is essential before a perpetrator can embark on a behaviour change intervention

Addressing a perpetrator’s wider needs such as drug and alcohol use and mental health need to be part of the response

The need for sperate, specialist intervention for certain specific DA-related offending such as FGM, HBA, FM and Stalking

In relation to Stalking the OPCC has been commissioning the Early Awareness Stalking Intervention (EASI) since April 2021. EASI is an evidence-informed intervention for those who are known to have engaged in stalking, and is delivered at the earliest stage possible. EASI works with the ex-partner, rejected typology stalker which is not driven by serious mental illness. Those able to access the intervention are those who have made an admission of stalking and have cognitive functioning ability.

The intervention aims to increase, and develop hope, skills, and a commitment to change within participants with professional support, and is an intervention utilising the Focussed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) treatment approach, which recommends 4-6 sessions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that FACT is a valid approach to use with perpetrators of stalking offences because it targets strong thoughts including the fixations and obsessions that are often associated with stalking. This intervention is being evaluated by the University of Derby and early findings suggest significant perpetrator engagement and completion rates and relatively low repeat offences during and after participating in the intervention.

Strengthening the Criminal Justice System (CJS) Response

In terms of the CJS response to DA, partners consistently referred to this as ‘broken’. The low number of cases which reach court were discussed as were the alarming 60% of DA Police reports which are filed in the first 5 days. It goes without saying that the criminal justice response needs to improve its response to victims so they feel supported enough to continue with the case until it reaches court and there must be a continued effort to reduce attrition rates. There was an acknowledgement that there must also be use of the suite of available protection orders and civil interventions.

At the working group, partners said we also need to recognise the need to increase the response for the vast amount of cases that do not make it into the CJS to ensure there is accountability for perpetrators and protection for victims. For this reason, the OPCC is working with WMP on the development of an in-custody intervention which will engage domestic abuse perpetrators regardless of risk level. The intervention is based on the premise of a teachable moment, (which in education, is described as the time at which learning a particular topic or idea becomes possible or easiest). The aim is to apply this premise to domestic abuse offenders. The in-custody intervention is based on a model of Navigators who would engage with perpetrators during these reachable teachable moments. They would work alongside the Adult Intervention Team (AIT) but be offender focussed and not part of CJ process. It would be a Voluntary (not mandatory) engagement with persons in custody and would engage with ALL DA offenders regardless of risk level. The ambition behind this service is that it would lead to an increase in engagement of offenders into CJ outcomes, including Out of Court Disposals and CPS Receipts.

It is important to point out that WMP have been offering CARA for a number of years. Project CARA is an out of court disposal for first time, standard or medium risk offenders of intimate domestic abuse. CARA sits within the criminal justice system and is part of a conditional caution. The ethos of CARA is that it is a positive opportunity to support offenders in addressing their actions and attitudes in order to prevent recidivism and repeat victimisation. The perpetrator must comply with attending a short rehabilitative domestic abuse awareness course (delivered as two workshops) which addresses abusive relationship behaviours. If the offender fails to comply, then they may face prosecution for the original offence. Acceptance to the Domestic Abuse Conditional Cautioning scheme must meet specific criteria as set by the Director of the Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Prevention & Early Intervention with Children and Young People

In society we unfortunately see the intergenerational normalisation of and desensitisation to violence and abuse from a young age. In tackling this, we are working on a whole-systems public heath approach that starts early in a child’s life and looks at both the environment within and outside the home. Partners said this prevention and early intervention work should not be gender neutral but take a gendered lens and support in breaking these norms and barriers and helping children understand them. There needs to be a change in schools and RSE curriculum with materials and training available to teachers to have the confidence to deliver this. It should look at misogyny and patriarchy and how it is present in popular culture as well as around healthy relationships and victim blaming. This needs to be delivered at a level suitable to the age of the child but delivered as soon as possible.

During the course of 2021-2022 the OPCC has been working alongside partners towards the coordination of a regional domestic abuse perpetrator approach which is reflective of localised nuances to reflect the variation in Local Authority areas including strategic structures, size and demographics - which vary greatly for each area. What has become apparent is that this work must sit alongside the regional MARAC Review which was commissioned by the VRP and carried out by Linxs consultancy. What has also become apparent is when considering any approaches to domestic abuse perpetrator intervention there is not one single intervention that will effectively meet the need of all 7 Local Authority areas and indeed all DA perpetrators, however this work continues as we work towards a regional Home Office bid, when the funding announcement is announced, We are expecting a 2-year funding opportunity to be announced – we were informed that the date would be late autumn.

Anti-Social Behaviour

In February 2022, the OPCC hosted an Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) workshop with key representatives from authority authorities, (including Heads of Community Safety, ASB leads, Housing Officers), social housing providers, and colleagues from West Midlands Police (WMP) whose roles have an ASB focus.

Items under discussion included; performance data; injunctions; vulnerabilities and non-enforcement options; community triggers; victim support and ASB within housing.

A number of recommendations were developed, alongside some key issues that were identified. They included:

Insufficient information sharing between partners was the most common issue identified when discussing performance data. Participants agreed that the West Midlands can be very ‘borough-focussed’ with regard to data, and for information to be better shared it is important that systems are developed which talk to each other.

There was a request for greater data analysis to be undertaken to look into issues such as repeat calls and the difference between number of incidents and number of victims; a request for a focus on the effectiveness of measures to address ASB such as Public Space Protection Orders.

When discussing effective enforcement, policing capacity was cited as an issue. References were made to police priorities being focussed on crime that causes the greatest harm to the public, and ASB routinely not falling into this category, despite partners making the argument that early intervention for ASB is key to prevent the escalation of it into more serious types of crime.

Vulnerable individuals and non-enforcement options were a priority discussion for the workshop, focussing on what the current challenges are regarding vulnerable people who are engaging in ASB.

The most common challenge was a lack of resources, specifically there are no dedicated resources and there are long waiting times for referral and assessment. Gaining the individual’s consent to engage in support services was also raised as a challenge that partners were facing.

With regard to the Community Trigger, it was clear that there was regional consistency in terms of the threshold for a community trigger, and it wasn’t felt that there needed to be a standardised process across the region, however it was felt that some standardised guidance around the trigger process would be helpful. An opportunity to share best practice and learnings was the most consistent ask from partners with regard to community triggers.

Discussion also took place around the ideal support for victims of ASB, as well as what the current obstacles were to providing that support. The overwhelming consensus was that victim support needs to take a holistic approach that looks at other factors in that individual’s life that may make them vulnerable, aside from the ASB.

Insufficient funds were the most common obstacle for not being able to currently provide the ideal victim support, including insufficient funds to train staff and equip them with the requisite skills. Partners emphasised the importance of incorporating lived experiences into a victim support service and empowering people to give a victims’ statement through connecting them with people who have experienced similar, perhaps also a mechanism for a befriending system.

Partners felt that it was difficult to develop a standardised policy to ASB within Housing due to different funding streams making it difficult to provide a holistic service.

Police colleagues who were based in neighbourhoods explained that due to resources they do not have time to do the joint visits with the councils that they used to do, which was a source of frustration as they know that ASB can lead to knife, and other violent, crimes.

A series of recommendations were generated as a result of the discussions of the day including, but not limited to:

A review should be conducted into the effectiveness of ASB tools and powers

There should be higher engagement with the judiciary regarding concerns over inappropriate or disproportionate sentencing

Explore what an ‘ASB Court’ could look like, with the recommendation that this take a multi-agency, problem-solving approach to address the underlying causes of ASB

Standardised guidance around the trigger process should be drafted and shared with local authorities, to assist with decision making such as when to appoint an independent chair

Refresh call handler training to include a trauma-informed approach to communicating with victims, to ensure that the first interaction victims have is as positive as possible.

The OPCC is in the process of developing the action plan attached to the report that identifies the key actions and the accountable lead for delivery. Next steps include the development of task and finish groups focussed on the different topics discussed at the workshop that will work to address the recommendations and feed the activities into a regional Programme Group. Membership is currently being finalised to ensure regional and consistent representation at each task and finish group.

From Harm to Hope

From Harm to Hope was published on the 6 December 2021, and it stated that it was the first ever Drugs Strategy that commits the whole of government and our public services to work together and share responsibility for creating a safer, healthier and more productive society. Illegal drug use is a complex issue that has evolved over many years, so we must harness all of our energy and expertise as we respond. It set out a 10-year vision for addressing the impact that drug markets have on individuals and communities. It sets out three core strategic priorities: ‘Breaking drug supply chains’, ‘Delivering a world-class treatment and recovery system’ and ‘Achieving a generational shift in the demand for drugs and promised almost £900 million of additional funding over the next three years which it claims will deliver 54,500 more treatment places, prevent nearly 1,000 deaths and close over 2,000 more county lines.

West Midlands Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Partnership (WMCDAP)

Off the back of ‘From Harm to Hope’, government published guidance calling on local areas to set up dedicated ‘Combating Drugs Partnerships’ that were expected to bring together action and oversight across all three priorities of the drugs strategy. There were two key decisions that each area needed to make in the first instance:

the geographical footprint of each partnership and

who the partnership’s Senior Responsible Officer will be.

It was proposed to partners that the partnership would best sit at a West Midlands force level (encompassing the 7 local authorities) and that the PCC could take the role as Senior Responsible Officer. After a period of negotiations, this was agreed by all areas. It was also agreed that the name of the group would be changed to reflect the equal importance that local areas place on dealing with the harms associated with alcohol. Thus, the WMCDAP was developed. This board will be part of the structure of the West Midlands Community Safety Partnership. as a lot of the relevant partners are already represented there. The priorities of the WMCSP include substance misuse.

The first substantive meeting of the WMCDP was held in September 2021. All partnerships have a series of actions that they must quickly fulfil in the months leading up to Christmas. The first of these was to finalise the Terms of Reference for the new partnership, which was completed.

The next of these actions include putting together a needs assessment for the partnership, establishing a delivery plan and a performance framework. Work is underway in all 7 local authorities with partners to deliver the actions set out above.

Public Health Approach to Fraud

Fraud is estimated to cost the UK up to £193 billion per year. This figure is rising year on year, with fraudsters inventing new ways of conning people out of their money every day. It is widely accepted that the UK’s response to fraud is poor, with clear problems relating to governance, reporting, resourcing and partnership coordination.

The WMOPCC has undertaken an extensive exercise analysing how communities and local partnerships can improve their response to fraud. To do this we have commissioned a viability and recommendations study by Professors at Cardiff University on the possibility of implementing a public health approach to fraud. We now have a recommendations report with a series of 8 recommendations on how to implement a public health approach to fraud in the West Midlands. We will be working against these recommendations over the next year to implement the country’s first public health approach to fraud.

The steering group to implement this work will sit under the West Midlands CSP due to the large community focus of much of the recommendations we will be working against within the report and fraud and cyber being a key focus of the partnership for the next year.

Recommendations

The board is asked to note the content of this report and the significant progress made in the area of community safety.

Alethea Fuller

Deputy Chief Executive, Police and Crime Commissioners Office