Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests and the nature of that interest, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

There were no indications that councillors would be participating while under the party whip.

There were no items of urgent business.

No submissions had been made by members of the public under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

To receive a presentation on, and to consider: the performance of the Community Safety Partnership and the priorities in the Community Safety Plan for the coming year.

The Commission has invited the following guests to address the meeting:

Councillor Iskander Jeffries, Executive Member for Culture, Delivery and Public Protection

Superintendent Andrew Cranidge, Local Police Commander, Thames Valley

Alison O’Meara, Head of Community Safety

Members of the Commission are asked to submit technical or detailed questions in advance of the meeting.

Crime and Disorder Committe

The Overview and Scrutiny Commission sat as the Crime and Disorder Committee for the first part of the meeting.

An overview of the Community Safety Partnership’s priorities and data was provided, and the following issues were highlighted:

·       Violence with injury was down 1% in Bracknell compared to no change in Thames Valley Police (TVP) statistics overall.

·       The number of incidents of violence with injury were still below pre-pandemic levels and included Domestic Abuse figures.

·       Harassment recording rules had changed recently.

·       Burglary figures were down compared to four years ago but were on the increase locally again.

·       Domestic Violence Protection Notices (DVPNs) had doubled this year. It was explained DVPN’s may be used for small periods of time and were useful for helping someone move home without the threat of violence and without the need for Domestic Violence Protection Orders which required Court sign off.

·       The number of sexual offences had risen by 9% but it was thought this related to a new strategy helping to bring people to justice for rape as well as an increase in the number of people reporting sexual offences, including historic non-consensual sex disclosed even if evidence did not warrant an investigation.

·       Sexting offences were increasing. It was now considered a crime every time the picture was shared on a device not only the offence for taking the picture. The majority of sexting offences were dealt with in schools.

Key focus areas for 2022/23 included:

·       Tackling exploitation and serious violence across all ages.

·       Reducing town centre anti-social behaviour and crime including shoplifting.

·       Reducing harm caused by domestic abuse: management of perpetrators and enforcement; delivery of the Safe Accommodation Action Plan

·       Residents had also requested that ongoing monitoring of anti-social behaviour, burglary and vehicle crime take place.

The following questions were asked regarding information contained in the presentation and answers were given:

Question: Did the 9% increase in incidents of Domestic Abuse form part of the 53 Domestic Abuse incidents and were they found inside the home?

Answer: Yes, the 9% increase related to all rape reports which were included in the 53 Domestic Abuse incidents reported and had been perpetrated by someone the person knew.

Question: Were the number of serious offences likely to level off as the increase had been largely due to the way numbers were recorded, rather than a rising trend?
Answer: Unlikely they would decrease as while the number of crimes were not increasing per person the number of people residing in the borough was increasing.

Question: Neighbourhood disputes appeared to account for a large proportion of the number of crimes committed but were a lot of them online?

Answer: Yes, there had been an increase in the number of calls received by TVP about online crime and it was thought to be a growth area, as was cybercrime and social media harassment.

Question: How do we make sure the work of the CSP dovetails with the Crime and Disorder Committee work to ensure best use of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Council Plan Overview Report (CPOR) covering the second quarter of 2023/24 is attached.

Members of the Commission are asked to submit technical or detailed questions in advance of the meeting.

The Chief Executive, Susan Halliwell, provided an overview of the Council Plan Overview Report (CPOR) and highlighted the following achievements and risks:

·       Highlights included multiple summer fun events such as the launch of the summer wellness exchange; the opening of the Binfield Health and Community Hub; the inaugural climate change summit led by the leader of the Council and a new migration team to improve the lives of individuals placed in the borough.

·       Risks – the predicted overspend in next year’s budget of £1.8-2 million had been downgraded to £1.2-1.7 million but the Council was still predicting a deficit budget. The reason for this was largely due to an increase in demand for services, a rise in the unit cost of service provision and high inflationary pressures.

Members of the Commission asked the following questions and answers were received as follows:

Question: On page 59 the number of children attending the Lookout appear to have decreased, why was this?

Answer: The Lookout figures were an anomaly as they covered the summer, when numbers usually decreased, and over two quarters the Council was hitting its targets for the number of visitors.

Question: Why had Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) figures not progressed as expected?

Answer: An update was provided to the Executive on progress against the Written Statement of Action (WSA) which showed three quarters of actions had been completed. The WSA was a two-year action plan, so not all actions were expected to be completed already, and 11 were outstanding. However, it was noted the Council was in the process of developing an action plan as part of the Safety Valve project - a government driven programme to help Council’s manage their SEND services and financial performance, which was likely to detract from officers’ abilities to complete targets on the WSA this quarter.

Question: What was the reason for the 50% drop in maintained schools being good or better in the borough, as highlighted on page 59?

Answer: There were only two maintained schools in the borough. One of those was College Hall, the Council’s Pupil Referral Unit (PRU), which had recently been judged Inadequate. Formal arrangements had been put in place to help support the PRU to improve.

Question: Was there data to show the reasons behind the number of staff being on long term sick, as shown on page 69?

Answer: A breakdown of reasons was not available but at the beginning of the quarter 38 members of staff were on long term sick and by the end of the quarter there were only 15, which equated to 1% of staff.

Question: What actions needed to be taken to help ensure value for money as part of the apprenticeship programme in the Council?

Answer: There were currently 50 apprenticeships across the Council and schools in the borough and the Council were proactive at offering opportunities to apprentices.

Question: Was the stated number of homes receiving planning permission on page 66, L284, incorrect as it showed only nine  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairs to provide verbal updates on work they are undertaking and highlight any issues arising.

An update on the work programme would be provided at the next meeting on 11^th January.