Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Councillor Ellis and invited him to discuss the issues that had been notified in advance of the meeting.

·       Radicalisation

From 1^st July there is a legal duty on councils and schools to prevent people being drawn into terrorism – this includes working with partners, including the police and other statutory and voluntary organisations to protect the public, prevent crime and promote strong integrated communities. Public employees have a duty to report concerns if they identify people who are vulnerable and at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

In complying with the duty all authorities have to demonstrate an awareness and understanding of the risk of radicalisation in their area.  The Vulnerable Persons Panel under the umbrella of the Safer Nottinghamshire Board has responsibility for coordinating this work.  The Channel programme is part of the Government’s Prevent strategy and is used to provide support for people at risk of becoming radicalised; the multi-agency approach identifies individuals at risk; engages with them, assesses the nature and extent of that risk and develops a plan to support the individual.

As part of the Prevent strategy for Nottinghamshire the Home Office has made a one off payment of £10,000 and this has been combined with the Nottingham City Council’s allocation and will be used to train staff and partners, for training in schools and to develop an e-learning package. This allocation has to be used by March, although an extension to the deadline has been requested, and will be used to train trainers who will be able to continue this work.

The relevant Corporate Director and Chief Executive, and if necessary the Portfolio Holder, Leader and Deputy Leader, are briefed if the authority receives intelligence that there are concerns that need addressing regarding a terrorist threat.

Members were concerned about the possibility of far right influences in Gedling because of the demographic makeup of the borough and the close proximity to the City.  They were also concerned about the timelines for the Channel training and who and what would be included in the programme.

·       Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults

Safeguarding adults is also a key role for local authorities. From April 2015 local authorities are required to have Safeguarding Adults Boards in their area. These boards provide strategic leadership developing policy and practice in relation to safeguarding adults at risk.

The Vulnerable Persons Panel undertakes this role in Nottinghamshire and has a database of cases which are discussed at the monthly meeting of the panel. There are usually around 17 – 25 cases for discussion, many relate to mental health issues.  As cases are closed they are replaced by new ones.  Representatives from Gedling Homes are present at the meeting and hoarding is now recognised as reason for inclusion as a case. There is a safe guarding champion in each department and employees can discuss any concerns they have with them. Should it be necessary issues will be passed to the Community Safety and Safeguarding Manager who can refer on to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) which is the single point of contact for all professionals to report safeguarding concerns in the county.  Once a referral has been made to the panel information between different organisations can be shared and appropriate interventions and plans can be put in place.

·       The animal welfare policy

Gedling Borough adopted the policy in March and ensures that animal welfare matters are taken into account by the authority when adopting new policies and procedures in addition to promoting the welfare of animals. There is still more work to be done in this area.

·       Hate crime

Hate crimes are any crimes or incidents that are targeted at a person because of hostility or prejudice towards a person’s disability race or ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, most recorded incidents relate to race or religion.  Recorded race attacks have increased from 74 last year to 84 so far this year.

Reducing hate crime is one of the priorities of the Safer Nottinghamshire Board and the Hate Crime Steering Group has agreed a Delivery Plan for 2015-16. The plan includes a range of projects funded by the Nottinghamshire Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.  Ruth Hyde is Chief Executive of Broxtowe Borough Council  and Chair of the Nottinghamshire Hate Crime Steering Group  which looks at all hate crime but specifically racial and disability incidents.

The reintroduction of the Common Monitoring system is being considered; this could encourage and increase reporting.

Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottinghamshire Police and other organisations will be attending the ‘No to Hate’ pledge event om the 18^th December  which will highlight the importance of recognising hate crime and the need to support people to report incidents.

Members agreed that it was necessary to be proactive in promoting and celebrating difference asked for information to be available at the next meeting about what was being done in Gedling to promote this. Information regarding the ethnic makeup of the population of Gedling was also requested.

·       Programmes to discourage anti- social behaviour

There are a number of programmes that have been implemented to reduce environmental anti-social behaviour including:

·     prosecutions for dropping cigarette ends

·     raising awareness of the problem of dog walkers discarding dog waste by hanging it on trees; as part of its campaign stop this bags containing soil were hung on a tree on Mapperley Top to highlight the issue

·     the advertising of ‘litter picks’ in the Contacts magazine

·     meet the team enforcement activities.

RESOLVED:

1)    To thank Councillor Ellis for his presentation;

2)    To request further information relating to radicalisation:

·       information, timelines  and who would be included in the Channel programme; and

3)    request further information relating to hate crime:

·       data for the ethnic makeup of the borough

·       activities in Gedling to promote and celebrate the different communities