Agenda item

To provide an overview to Members of the activities of the Gwynedd and Anglesey Community Safety Partnership (CSP), January 2023 for the the period of 2021-22, and developments for 2022-23.

 

To accept the report, noting the observations and supporting the priorities and direction of the work to the future.

 

The report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being, Senior Safeguarding, Quality Assurance and Mental Health Manager and the Senior Operational Officer, Gwynedd and Anglesey Community Safety Partnership. Attention was drawn briefly to the following principal points: 

 

-      It was noted that this report detailed the 2021-22 period.

-      It was explained that the partnership had been established in line with Local Authorities' statutory duty to work in partnership with the police, Health Service, Probation Service and the Fire and Rescue Service in line with the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Police and Criminal Justice Acts 2002 and 2006.

-      It was explained that the partnership was looking at crime and disorder, substance misuse and reducing reoffending.

-      It was explained that the partnership's priorities for the 2023-24 year was to prevent crimes and anti-social behaviour, tackling violent crime and serious organised crime, and safeguarding and building resilient communities and maintaining public safety.

-      It was stated that the partnership had faced challenges over the past year. Specifically, the partnership had lost all of its grants as they had come to an end or had moved to a regional level (whole of North Wales). In addition, technological developments meant that new types of crimes had now reached the Gwynedd and Anglesey area. Although these counties were some of the safest places to live, incidents of Organized Crime Groups and county lines in the area with the partnership being aware of them.

-      It was elaborated that shoplifting had increased 53.8% in Gwynedd, compared with 2021/22. It was believed that this derived from the general increase in living costs and it was expected for these types of crimes to increase in the coming months.

-      A summary was provided of the partnership's work over the past year:

o   Training sessions were held by the Police's Economic Crimes Unit for Local Authority staff who worked with vulnerable people to draw attention to scams used by fraudsters.

o   The Safer Streets 2 project was completed in Bangor, with the installation of 42 additional CCTV cameras and more lights in the Hirael/Deiniol area of the city.

o   A SOC Group had been introduced for Gwynedd and Anglesey.

o   The regional group had been attended regularly to develop the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy in both Councils.

o   The Violence Against Women and Girls group was established in March. The partnership attended meetings regularly to provide input into the work of fostering confidence between women and the police.

o   A Regional Prevent Delivery Group was developed.

o   Cyngor Gwynedd received a White Ribbon Accreditation following the work of the Corporate Support Department.

o   The police were consulted to investigate the possibility of extending the current Safe Spaces Scheme provision.

-      It was confirmed that all of these projects would continue to run over the next year and the partnership was going to continue to support all regional meetings and projects. The partnership was aware of the cost-of-living crisis which was affecting the residents of Gwynedd and Anglesey and was looking to see how the partnership could reduce theft and shoplifting levels in the next period.

 

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. During the discussion, the following matters were raised:

 

Additional information was requested on re-offending and how the partnership was attempting to reduce this.

-      In response to the enquiry, the Gwynedd and Anglesey Community Safety Partnership's Senior Operational Officer confirmed that crime figures were provided by the police. It was noted that the police were comparing figures from the previous year with the current year. It was confirmed that good collaboration was happening between the partnership and the police to see what the priorities were for the year to come. Should there be an increase in re-offending, the partnership would deal with this by means of projects in order to deal with the needs of the police and the public. Unfortunately, it was not possible to gauge from the figures whether or not these were re-offences at this point in time.

In response to a member's questions, the Senior Safeguarding, Quality Assurance and Mental Health Manager noted that the Fire and Rescue Service was involved in creating the plan and were contributing to meetings.

 

A request was made for further information regarding the questionnaire drawn up in order to set the foundation to develop the partnership's plan.

-      In response to the enquiry, the Senior Safeguarding, Quality Assurance and Mental Health Manager noted that the members of the partnership met face-to-face in pre Covid-19 times to discuss the plan. She explained that this was now done in the form of a simple questionnaire which sought a priority from all members of the partnership. She elaborated that the partnership would discuss the members' priorities in order to develop the plan for the following year. This had been a successful process during the lockdown period and therefore the partnership had continued to use it.  It was felt that the questionnaire allowed members to provide more information than the former procedure since members had more time to consider their priorities.

 

A discussion was held on the future funding of the partnership since grants had been removed from Gwynedd and Anglesey and were now being controlled by the North Wales Region. A member asked whether there was a risk that the money that could be used in Gwynedd and Anglesey was likely to be used in the more urban areas of the region.

-      In response to the enquiry, the Gwynedd and Anglesey Community Safety Partnership's Senior Operational Officer confirmed that there was no risk for Gwynedd and Anglesey to lose the budget completely. She elaborated that a section of the budget had been earmarked for Gwynedd and Anglesey and that Gwynedd and Anglesey could apply to the region for funding. She noted that the collaboration between the partnership and the region was very close.

 

It was considered how the partnership was dealing with the cost-of-living crisis from the perspective of domestic cases that were not crimes, since these had increased by 18.9% from the previous year.

-      In response to the enquiry, the Senior Safeguarding, Quality Assurance and Mental Health Manager noted that this would be a major factor for the 2023/24 plan.  It was not a factor for 2022/23 since the cost-of-living crisis had not started. She explained that the partnership would work closely with the third sector to provide financial support.

 

The partnership was praised for the Radicalisation Reduction Fund. It was believed that it was a major problem for the residents of Gwynedd and Anglesey, particularly the young people in the areas. Enquiries were made as to whether work was being done to collaborate with schools to tackle the problem.

-      In response to the enquiry, the Senior Safeguarding, Quality Assurance and Mental Health Manager noted that the police were leading on this via their Anti-terrorism Unit. She explained that they were learning about different skills to ensure that people were being safe on-line. Unfortunately, it was not possible to see how successful these sessions were as it was a new project. It was hoped to obtain measures in the future in order to be able to see whether the radicalisation figures had reduced.

The Chair asked whether it would be possible to obtain this information when it was available to the partnership.

 

Members gave thanks for the report.

 

RESOLVED

To accept the report, noting the observations and supporting the priorities and direction of the work to the future.