Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Cooper, Smith, Stannard and Waite.

There were none.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19^th July 2024 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19^th July 2024 were agreed as a correct record.

Public questions is an opportunity for people who live, work or study in Buckinghamshire to put a question to a Select Committee.

The Committee will hear from members of the public who have submitted questions in advance relating to items on the agenda. The Cabinet Member, relevant key partners and responsible officers will be invited to respond.

Further information on how to register can be found here: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/your-council/get-involved-with-council-decisions/select-committees/

There were none.

The Committee will consider the annual report of the Safer Buckinghamshire Partnership.

Contributors:

Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities

Cllr Peter Brazier, Deputy Cabinet Member, Community Safety

Sarah McBrearty, Community Safety Manager

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting:

• Cllr Arif Hussain, Cabinet Member for Communities
• Cllr Peter Brazier, Deputy Cabinet Member, Community Safety
• Sarah McBrearty, Community Safety Manager

The Cabinet Member for Communities introduced the report, making the following key points:

• The report provided a summary of the work that the Safer Buckinghamshire Partnership undertook during 2023 to 2024 and gave examples of the achievements of all the agencies involved. The core mission of the partnership was to make the county a safer place to live, work and do business. It worked with statutory organisations, community groups and voluntary groups to achieve these aims.
• The key aims of the Safer Buckinghamshire Strategy for 2023 to 2026 were to tackle:

1.             Neighbourhood crime

2.             Anti-social behaviour

3.             Serious violence

4.             Violence against women and girls

5.             The exploitation of vulnerable people

• Neighbourhood crime: the community safety survey carried out in Buckinghamshire 2022 showed that 67% of respondents felt that fraud and scams were a very big or fairly big issue and that 39% of respondents felt that domestic burglary was a very big or fairly big issue. Over the last year in Buckinghamshire, neighbourhood crime had decreased by 1%, personal robbery offences by 4% and theft from person offences by 24%.
• Anti-Social behaviour: Over the last year there had been a 6% reduction in anti-social behaviour crime and 36 warning notices had been issued by street wardens to street drinkers.
• Serious violence: Over the last year there had been a 6% reduction in serious violence incidents and a 25% decrease in knife crime offences. Over 500 bladed knives had been placed in knife amnesty bins and funding had been allocated to youth and community projects focussing on areas of the greatest need.
• Violence against women and girls: Between 1^st April 2023 and 29^th February 2024 there had been a reduction of 18 cases in domestic abuse crimes. Multi-agency Domestic Abuse training had been given to over 660 people. The Sexual Assault and Abuse Support Service, Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes had received the King’s Award for Voluntary Service.
• The exploitation of vulnerable people: A significant number of people had been involved in modern slavery, being paid very little and living in substandard accommodation. 2,500 officers at the council had received modern slavery training. Regular visits had been made to businesses such as car washes and hotels where there was the opportunity to take advantage of vulnerable residents.
• Housing support had been offered to offenders to encourage them into stable accommodation and employment and thereby bring down re-offending rates.
• The Multi-Agency Schools Project had done important work to encourage school attendance and encourage youths who were at risk of entering the youth justice system to make the right choices. The Community Coaching Project, which had supported children from minority ethnic groups, had been successful. None of the children supported since 2020 had gone on to commit offences.
• There had been a marked rise in retail crime and a task force had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee will receive an update from the Culture and Leisure service on activities that have been delivered in support of the Opportunity Bucks programme.

Contributors:

Cllr Clive Harriss, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure

Sophie Payne, Service Director – Culture, Sport and Leisure

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting:

• Cllr Clive Harriss, Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure
• Sophie Payne, Service Director – Culture, Sport and Leisure

The Service Director – Culture, Sport and Leisure introduced the update, making the following key points:

• Opportunity Bucks was a programme to improve outcomes for residents in ten wards in Aylesbury, Chesham and High Wycombe. Residents in these wards experience high levels of hardship.
• The service had worked with partners to increase access to culture, sport and leisure activities and thereby decrease health inequalities. This was particularly important as improvements in physical and mental health had been proven to lead to better performance at school and increased life chances.
• The service took a place-based approach, sharing information and making deeper connections into local communities. Examples of successful initiatives included walking groups, creative learning sessions and schemes to use public parks to their full potential.

In response to questions and during subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

• The Chairman asked how likely it was that the current level of engagement and support from Opportunity Bucks would continue to be funded at the end of the three-year programme. He asked if social value clauses in contracts with operators could be used to continue the work with residents from deprived groups. The Service Director, Culture, Sport and Leisure explained that social value clauses in operator contracts were firmly entrenched and gave the example of leisure operator contracts which included outreach into communities, targeting specific groups. Contractors were also able to provide work experience and apprenticeship opportunities. National initiatives which filtered down to the local level were also valuable – an example being the partnership between Parkinsons UK and local leisure operators.
•  A Member asked for more details on the findings of the focus group conducted in High Wycombe on cultural participation of different groups and the barriers to participation. The Service Director, Culture, Sport and Leisure offered to provide further information.

                                                             Action: Service Director, Culture, Sport & Leisure

• A Member expressed the view that it was expensive to hire sports facilities such as football pitches in Buckinghamshire and wondered if there had been any feedback from grassroots clubs. The Member also queried whether play parks could be made more inclusive, for example with equipment suitable for children with special needs. The Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure explained that there was a rolling programme for maintenance of play parks.  Where possible s106 funding was used to provide inclusive play equipment when parks were renewed. Examples were Higginson Park in Marlow and The Rye in High Wycombe where improvements had required a large amount of investment and had been very well received. Other initiatives to make parks safe had been used such as installing gates to keep dogs out and removing benches used by drug dealers.
• The Service Director commented that Aylesbury Vale Dynamos had been complimentary about the quality of the Council’s pitches. The Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure explained that maintaining football pitches  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee will discuss the work programme and note the items for the next meeting.

Contributors:

All Committee Members

• The Scrutiny Manager informed the members that there had been discussion on including an item on youth provision, specifically youth cafes. It was hoped that this item could be included in the agenda for the November 2024 committee meeting. The item had not been included in the Work Programme as it was not yet confirmed.
• A Member alluded to the High Wycombe Community Governance Review, which had recommended that the work of the High Wycombe Town Committee be evaluated. The Member asked whether an evaluation could be carried out by the Communities and Localism Committee. The Scrutiny Manager offered to investigate.

• A Member informed the committee of an officer who worked with migrants arriving at Dover in small boats. He felt that the officer could give a valuable insight into this work to the committee. He would provide contact details for the officer to the Scrutiny Manager.
• A Member alluded to a report on the devolution of services which had previously been given by the Cabinet Member for Communities and the Service Director of Partnerships, Policy and Communications. He asked if there was an update on the matter. The Scrutiny Manager offered to follow this up.

                                                                                              Action: Scrutiny Manager

The next meeting will take place on 20th November at 10am.

20th November 2024 at 10am.