Issue - meetings

This report requested Cabinet to consider the recommendations of the review undertaken by a task group of the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee, into the effectiveness and future of Partners and Communities Together (PACTs) in Medway. The Committee had considered and recommended the review to Cabinet on 16 November 2010.

A copy of the review document had been circulated separately to Members.

The report detailed and commented upon the key findings from the review, as they related to:

·              the provision of PACTs in Medway and best practice,

·              the difficulty of the same issues being raised at meetings over time and whether each scheme’s priorities were being achieved and maintained,

·              the benefits and disadvantages of PACT schemes and engagement of partners in the process, especially when compared to areas not covered by a scheme and whether they benefited the communities involved,

·              whether PACTS provided value for money and assisted with delivery of Local Area Agreement indicator NI 4 (% of people who feel they can influence decision-making in their locality),

·              possible future work activities for PACT schemes.

In summary it was noted that the review had identified that, overall, PACTs worked well and were a good way of bringing residents together to develop priorities and action plans at neighbourhood level alongside other opportunities for community engagement currently on offer. A series of recommendations were proposed to improve and develop PACTs further.

The review document incorporating the key findings and recommendations would be referred to the Kent Police Authority and the Community Safety Partnership for consideration and response.

The committee agreed that a task group should be established to look into this matter and this report and enclosed draft review document details the task group’s work and recommendations. 

Discussion: 

The Chairman of the Task Group gave a powerpoint presentation setting out the background to the review, the evidence gathered and the conclusions and recommendations reached by the group.

The committee questioned the map and list of PACTs attached at Appendix 1 advising that there were further PACTs in Medway that had not been included. The Chairman of the Task Group responded that this was a finding of the review – that there was no definitive list of PACTs in Medway and because the police, public and councillors all referred to them differently, it had been extremely difficult to try to gather the information.

Members were enthusiastic about asking the Community Safety Partnership to progress the idea of Youth PACTs and thought this was an excellent way forward. Some Members also asked about how to form a PACT, as their ward did not have one. Officers responded that PACTs were formed when a local issue became such that the police and/or council wanted to liaise with the local community and agree ways to deal with it. Each ward would not necessarily have a PACT unless there were issues that required one to be formed.

Decision:

The committee agreed the recommendations in the review document as set out below, for referral on to Cabinet on 30 November 2010 and then the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) and the Kent Police Authority:

1.      That the CSP should be asked to accelerate action to establish a database of PACTs, the areas they cover and contact details for each should be produced and published ward by ward;

2.      A protocol and guidance for PACTs in Medway should be produced by the CSP in consultation with PACT chairmen, to include a clear statement of purpose, basic operational standards and advice on how to access support and resources;

3.      A toolkit should be developed by the CSP to assist PACT Chairman and neighbourhood teams to run meetings, record priorities, actions and outcomes;

4.      The protocol for PACTs should include a requirement that Councillors are automatically invited to become members of any PACT within their ward and provided with sufficient notice of meetings;

5.      Consideration should be given to facilitating contact between PACT Chairmen by establishing a Medway-wide Forum to enable them to share experience and best practice and to coordinate priorities across wards;

6.      As part of its annual scrutiny of the CSP the Regeneration, Community and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee should be provided by the CSP with an update on PACTs, including the priorities, actions and outcomes from them on a ward by ward basis with some evaluation of effectiveness;

7.      That the CSP should develop some analysis and comparative information to assist in evaluating the impact of PACTs and other forms of public engagement on the incidence of crime and anti social behaviour ward by ward with a view to providing this information in the quarterly news ward profile information provided to Councillors;

8.   That the CSP should recommend the Police to continue  ...  view the full minutes text for item 510