Agenda item

This report provides a brief overview of the presentation on Violence Against Women and Girls and the Reducing Reoffending Plan.

Discussion:

The Kent Police Assistant Chief Constable (Crime) first presented to the Board a briefing on the Kent Police Strategy Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls.

The Boards attention was drawn to five key focus areas which were outlined in detail:

1.    Holding Offenders to Account

2.    Support Victims

3.    Keeping you Safe

4.    Our Culture

5.    Strengthen the system

It was said that going into year 2 of the strategy there would be a focus on partnership working. To that end, governance between key strategic Boards across the system was explained.

Support from the Board in the following areas was sought:

·         ‘Serious Violence duty’, which was due to come into effect in January 2023

·         Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) in delivery of the Harm to Hope Strategy. The Director of Public Health, Medway Council would chair the Combating Drugs Partnership.

·         Conditions for prevention orders and two-tier system for cautions

·         Referral pathways for ‘toxic trio’ – drugs/alcohol/mental health

The Regional Probation Director, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) then presented to the Board the Reducing Reoffending Plan 2022-25. This was a 3-year plan covering four key focus areas which were outlined in detail:

1.            Training, skills, and work

2.            Drugs and alcohol addiction

3.            Family, accommodation, and readjustment to society

4.            Public security through engagement and compliance

The Board was furnished with headline statistics including that within Kent the reoffending rate was 19.7% (data 2019-20). The Head of West Kent Probation Delivery Unit, HMPPS further advised the Board that in Medway there were 1200 offenders. There was a Medway office based in Chatham and Board Members were invited to visit the newly refurbished premises.

Support from the Board in the following areas was sought:

·         The new commissioned rehabilitative services for dependency and recovery for those people on probation with substance misuse issues. This service, provided by CGL would go live on 12 September 2022.

·         The new mental health treatment requirements (MHTR) model. This was now live in Maidstone.

Members then made the following comments and suggestions:

·         The Director of Public Health undertook to discuss outside of the meeting the interface between the Council, Kent Police and HMPPS on matters such as housing and alcohol and substance misuse. He also made the connection between key Board Members and Invited attendees with whom the Kent Police and HMPPS might wish to liaise.

·         It was noted that individuals linked with the local criminal justice system, as part of Medway’s population, would be considered within the Integrated Care Strategy which was underpinned by the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy. The data included within the JSNA was considered by the Kent Police Assistant Chief Constable (Crime) as particularly important. Indeed, the Deputy Director of Public Health, Medway Council explained that his team had recently started work with the VRU. There would be a dedicated analyst within the Public Health team who would apply public health approaches to the VRU data, providing opportunities to work together.

·         With reference to recent tragedies including the murder of Sarah Everard and the subsequent public conversation on the safety of women and girls, it was asked how, as a system, the conversation could move away from the suggestion women and girls needed to keep themselves safe and the onus put on behaviour of potential future perpetrators. In response, the Board was advised that the Kent Police Strategy Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls took an offender centric approach. Kent Police had invested in schools’ officers and schools were engaged in this conversation. It was also considered that prevention orders would be a very powerful tool, prevention was key. Board Members were invited to attend a Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Walk and Talk event in Rochester on Friday 9 September 2022.

·         A concern was expressed about the capacity of the MHTR referral services and the potential for long wait lists as with other mental health services. 

·         In response to a question about non-compliance with ATRs (Alcohol Treatment Requirement) and DRRs (Drug Rehabilitation Requirement), the Board was reassured that if an individual did not comply with an ATR or DRR, the orders would be enforced.

·         The Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) outlined links to the work of the CSP and Medway Task Force, including safer streets funding projects. It was suggested that the Kent Police Assistant Chief Constable (Crime) met with the lead for the Medway Task Force.

Decision:

The Health and Wellbeing Board noted the presentation and thanked the Kent Police Assistant Chief Constable (Crime) and the Regional Probation Director, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) for answering questions and giving a good insight into how the probation service in particular was working.