Agenda and minutes

Apologies for  absence were received from Councillors Comer Schwartz and Doolan for lateness

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Declarations of interest

 If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)  Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)   Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

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RESOLVED:

That, subject to the following amendment – bullet point 2 page – the deletion of the word ‘equitable’ and the insertion of the word ‘ethical’ -  the minutes of the meeting of the Committee, held on 29 September 2014 be confirmed and the Chair be authorised to sign them

Members were informed that all the responses on the outstanding actions arising from the last meeting had been circulated to Members, with the exception of the responses from Councillor Hull which would form part of the report he submits to the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee on 08 December.

The Chair stated that additional meetings of the Committee had been arranged for 20 November 2014 and 6 January 2015 to consider additional witness evidence on Income Generation. The Chair added that it was hoped that consideration could be given to the draft recommendations at the 6 January meeting in order that any proposals could form part of the budget making process.

The Chair outlined the arrangements for dealing with filming and recording at public meetings and the arrangements for Public questions.

The Borough Commander, Gerry Campbell and the Executive Member Community Safety, Councillor Paul Convery were present for consideration of this item.

Presentations were made to the Committee, by the Borough Commander and Councillor Convery, copies of which are interleaved.

The Chair informed Members that this was the first Annual Crime and Disorder report that the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee are considering since the change in the scrutiny arrangements in May, as the report had previously been considered by the Communities Review Committee.

The Committee stated that they were keen to work with the Police and Executive Member Community Safety to improve community safety in the borough, and as part of this process in future would welcome a written report from both the Borough Commander, as well as the Executive Member for Community Safety, in order that Members can have more information in advance to prepare any questions that they may have.

The Committee appreciate that in the past Members had been happy to receive presentations from the Borough Commander, but in future years if a written report could be provided this would enable more effective scrutiny and improvements in partnership working.

During consideration of the presentation the following main points were made –

·         There had been a reduction of 4% in the overall total notifiable offences recorded by the Police when compared to the previous twelve months. MOPAC offences had fallen by 3%. However the rate of reduction is slowing and some more serious crimes are on the increase

·         Incidents of domestic violence and serious youth violence are among the most worrying increases in crime types as they both contribute to long term victimisation and vulnerability

·         Whilst Islington has seen fluctuations in the different types of offences committed over the previous year, it is clear that offenders also regularly change the nature of their offending

·         A relatively small number of households and individuals represent a significant proportion of crime, with some offenders responsible for multiple offences, including some of the gravest offences

·         The Government had introduced new legislative changes to tackle anti-social behaviour and were making significant changes to probation services and the way offenders are managed in the community

·         Overall crime in Islington has declined consistently each year since 2010 and public confidence has reached an all time high, but violence against women and serious youth violence is worsening and a long term reduction in these crimes will necessitate a change in strategy and partnership commitment

·         Key achievements over the past year include truly integrated offender management service, enabling local practitioners to collectively risk assess offenders and develop responses for them. Although domestic violence remains the most widely reported form of violence amongst women and girls the Council and its partners have been working to address a range of serious violent crime types that predominantly, but not exclusively, affect females

·         During the past year the Council has led the commissioning of 3 targeted services to address domestic violence and has also improved working with local partners to address  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

This item was considered in conjunction with item  33  above.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

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