Meeting:           GWENT PUBLIC SERVICES BOARD

 

Report:              GWENT COMMUNITY SAFTEY REVIEW – PHASE ONE REPORT

 

Date:                  15th December 2022

 

 

1.      PURPOSE:

 

To provide the Gwent PSB with the phase one (scoping exercise) of the Gwent Community Safety review and proposed recommendations for discussion/agreement.

 

2.      BACKGROUND

 

A working group consisting of representatives from the statutory partners organisations under the Crime & Disorder act, Welsh Government and Wales Safer Communities Network (WLGA) have been meeting regularly to progress work in-line with the review, developing frameworks, timeline and workplans focussing on the three key areas.

 

·       Governance

·       Data/Evidence/Commissioning 

·       Wellbeing, Prevention & Communities 

 

In addition to this, the review is also seeking the views of regional board/partnerships chairs and exploring the current position and delivery of regional boards that also contribute to the community safety portfolio, so a fourth area has been added to the approach.

 

·       Key Stakeholder engagement & Board Mapping

 

 

3.      KEY ISSUES

 

3.1   Capacity & Resource

 

In December 2021 the Gwent PSB agreed a comprehensive governance review of Community Safety, incorporating Area Planning Board delivery and Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse & Sexual Violence delivery across Gwent. 

 

Over the last 12mths, officers have been meeting as part of a Task & Finish group to explore the scope of the review, establishing the elements that need to be included and developing a framework for undertaking the review within specific timelines.  

 

The breadth of work required to undertake this review effectively, and to enable to Gwent PSB to have complete clarity on how the statutory duties are being discharged, is a mammoth undertaking, as the current systems across Gwent are incredibly complex.   

 

Capacity to carry out the work involved in the review remains a challenge, as the officers undertaking this piece of work, are conducting the research in addition to core duties and role, and Safer Gwent is lacking the regional coordination function/role, which in previous years has been funded by the Gwent Police & Crime Commissioner,  therefore the timelines for this review are pressured, and there is a risk of ‘drift’ which is consequence of workload and demands on officers.  However, it is noteworthy to state that the officers involved in this review remain committed and have a wealth of knowledge and experience to bring to all aspects of this review, with the aim of improving delivery under the community safety portfolio. 

 

Officers in the task & finish group are carrying out the research that is required, with the assistance of Wales Safer Communities Network and Welsh Governments’ Head of Partnerships.  Analytical capacity, for the Data & evidence delivery framework, is a gap in resources and does have the potential to inhibit the review without dedicated capacity to undertake this element.

 

There is potential scope through Home Office funding made available to Gwent, via the Gwent OPCC, for the implementation of the Serious Violence duty which could be utilised to assist with the additional resource gaps until March 23.  The Serious Violence duty requires statutory partners and CSPs to undertake an assessment of serious violence, which will encompass all areas of the community safety portfolio, therefore it may be reasonable and efficient to utilise this resource to undertake elements of this review in relation to the data and evidence framework. 

 

 

3.2   Complexity of Duties & Partnerships

 

In developing the three delivery frameworks, the scope of the review has highlighted the vast number of duties, requirements and related legislative practices that needs to be considered if ‘core’ delivery of community safety is able to operate effectively as a whole system across Gwent.  

 

Both the Governance framework and the Data framework (included in Appendix A) specify the work that needs to be undertaken to better understand how this translates into operational practice, how effective it is at meeting needs, and where there are potential opportunities to strengthen delivery and streamline practice. 

 

Across Gwent there are a significant number of boards and partnerships, established under programme, project or legislative drivers, that operate mostly ‘thematically’ that are serviced by, what appears to often be, the same officers or organisations.

 

Through discussions so far with boards & chairs, there has been acknowledgement in both the APB and VAWDASV Boards that alignment of each other’s agendas could be strengthened as the correlation of, for example, substance misuse and domestic abuse are often connected, yet at a strategic level, plan development, service delivery and even commissioning, are considered separately, often because of historical practice, scale of agenda, or legislative/policy directives.  

 

At this point in the review, there remains a significant amount of work to be undertaken before any firm recommendations can be made in relation to the community safety portfolio, as the scope is far ranging and will require further consultation, evidence gathering, analysis and interpretation, before any feasible options can be brought back to the PSB for consideration.

 

 

4.       CONSIDERATION OF THE REVIEW FINDINGS TO DATE

 

The progress made to date, as reported in Appendix A, has highlighted further areas of exploration for which consideration by the PSB is sought.  These include:

 

4.1   The lack of consistency of CSP function across Gwent

Not all local authority areas across Gwent have a CSP and this presents a barrier to the ‘whole system’ approach to community safety, particularly as there is a need to discharge existing, new, and amending legislation such as, the Domestic Abuse Act, and Violence Against Women & Girls strategy, the Wales VAWDASV Act, and most recently, the Serious Violence duty.   As new and emerging legislation & guidance is introduced, there is an expectation that CSPs will need to decide how to discharge these requirements in a local context which places a strong emphasis on, and requirement of CSPs in practice at a locality level.

 

 

4.2   The exploration of current pieces of work with related practice

Through stakeholder feedback, it has been suggested that the PSB challenge, through the community safety review, the role of other boards and structures in planning and service delivery, to establish how they are supporting the community safety portfolio at a local level.  These include, but are not limited to;

 

-          Neighbourhood Care Networks and the Accelerated Cluster Model via Integrated Partnership Boards (ISPBs)

-          Regional Partnership Board and its sub-board structures and delivery

-          Education Achievement Service and new curriculum delivery, in related areas

 

These are not exhaustive areas; however, they have emerged from feedback with key stakeholders.  Currently these three boards are not in scope or explicit in the review frameworks.  The task & finish group agrees with this feedback, as it could be remiss of this review to not include them in the scope, particularly as the review aims to assist the PSB in establishing a solid governance structure and whole system approach to community safety across Gwent.  Consideration of these elements may present opportunities to strengthen practice/alignment of delivery that will benefit our citizens.

 

5.       NEXT STEPS

 

Subject to the PSBs view of the information provided in this report, the progress update (appendix A) and consideration of the recommendations in point 6 of this paper; progress against the 4 x key elements will continue to develop, further exploring and analysing the findings and feedback received.  This information will be used to inform a set of robust options and/or recommendation for the Gwent PSB.

Reassurance is also offered to PSB members by officers involved in undertaking this work that they are mindful of the need for this review to align to the wellbeing plan development and Marmot pilot, to ensure that the structures and systems that sit as part of the community safety portfolio can respond to the ambition of the Gwent PSBs wellbeing priorities.  

 

6.       RECOMMENDATIONS

 

The PSB is asked to consider for agreement or steer, the following 4 x recommendations.

 

6.1   The need for analytical capacity, either in-kind from partner organisation, through realignment of resource where analytical capacity exists across partnerships or by utilising the funding attached to the Serious Violence Duty

 

6.2   The need for the Safer Gwent Coordination role, to assist officers to coordinate the work required as part of the review, to ensure there is no drift in timescales and that the pace of this review aligns with the Wellbeing Plan development  

 

6.3   To include in the scope of the review, exploration of the role and function of the following boards/workstreams, with support from PSB sponsored leadership:

-          Neighbourhood care Networks and Accelerated Cluster Model via Integrated Services Partnership Boards (ISPBs)

-          Regional Partnership Board - Sub-boards/groups

-          Educational Achievement Service & New Curriculum for Life delivery 

 

6.4   The formation of Community Safety Partnerships in all 5 x LA areas

 

 

 

7.       GOVERNANCE AND REPORTING

 

The working group, supported by Safer Gwent, will provide update reports in agreement with the lead PSB sponsors at each PSB meeting.

 

 

8.       RESOURCES

 

Ongoing officer capacity is required to undertake the review.  Officers listed as part of the working group, Safer Gwent and other key stakeholders will be required to commit their time to assist with conducting the review.  Additional resources have also been sought through recommendations in this report. 

 

 

Report Authors:

Names: Sharran Lloyd (MCC)/ Kate Williams (TCBC & Chair of Safer Gwent)

Emails: Sharranlloyd@monmouthshire.gov.uk /  Kate.Williams@torfaen.gov.uk