Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the two meetings held on 20^th January 2009 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

The Board was advised that since the last meeting of the Policy and Performance Board there had not been a meeting of the Safer Halton Partnership.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Safer Halton Partnership would be held on 24^th February 2009, however, the minutes would not be available in time to comply with the Access to Information Act 1985.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

The Board received a report of the Chief Executive in respect of the third quarter performance management reports on progress against service plan objectives and performance targets, performance trends/comparisons, factors affecting the services etc. for:

• Health and Partnerships;
• Highways and Transportation;
• Environmental and Regulatory services; and
• Culture and Leisure

Arising from Members’ comments and concerns the following was noted:

·        that there had been an increase in domestic burglaries nationally and this was reflected in Halton. A number of prolific offenders had recently been arrested and a number of strategies were in place to try to combat this trend.

·        It was noted that there was a cross border issue with burglaries in Widnes, which made organised gangs more difficult to track. This was being addressed by Cheshire Police and Merseyside Police working in partnership;

·        that the survey results for the percentage of adults in Halton participating in at least 30 minutes of exercise, on 3 or more days a week, was disappointing. It was noted that the survey was 500 compared to 1000 in 2006. Locally collected data showed that use of facilities and gym membership was higher and there was a concern about the sample size used, therefore a Citizens 2000 Panel report had been commissioned;

·        it was noted that some projects/expenditure showed no spend against the budget and it was noted that the majority of these were due to being one off yearly transfer between departments; and

·        whether it would be beneficial to have a Performance Monitoring Sub Committee be considered.    

RESOLVED: That the third quarter reports be received and the actions as outlined above be noted.

The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which introduced a presentation from Halton and St. Helens Primary Care Trust on its approach to alcohol treatment services in Halton.

The Board received a presentation from Professor Sue Milner, Deputy Director of Public Health and Strategic Lead from the Alcohol Programme across Halton and St. Helens, which set out:

·        the local picture in Halton;

·        the Alcohol Strategy for Halton and St. Helens;

·        other key documents including the CYP Substance Misuse Treatment Plan and Commissioning Strategy for the PCT;

·        the review of health related alcohol services;

·        the alcohol programme which had been commissioned by an Alcohol Commissioning Group;

·        the impact of reducing per capita consumption of alcohol;

·        adult framework for future pathways;

·        the children’s framework; and

·        the projected costs of the project.

Arising from Members’ comments and concerns the following was noted:

• the number of young people effected by hazardous drinking was in the low 100’s and that generally speaking fewer young people were drinking, the problem was that those who do drink, drink more than the 4-8 units recommended, which was technically binge drinking.
• whether GP’s carry out blood tests to check for alcohol levels. In response it was noted that this would not be effective, as alcohol levels in blood tests only show if the person had been drinking the night before the test. GP’s were contractually obliged to ask new patients to complete questionnaires, which included questions regarding alcohol intake levels. However, there was a need to roll this out across all patients;
• whether a minimum price on alcohol would make a difference to drinking levels. In response it was noted that in Countries where alcohol was not readily available and enforcement levels were high, there were lower drinking rates than the UK. It was therefore felt that it would be advantageous to remove high alcohol content drinks out of the system. This did not mean people could not drink the same volume of drink but that would have a lower alcohol content level.

Mr D. Parr, Chief Executive, attended the meeting and gave Members an update on a (insert name of meeting?) meeting between Government Office North West, the Strategic Health Authority, Police, retailers and local authorities, which had been held to open a dialogue between the trade and responsible authorities.

It was noted that this was a particular issue in Halton, as mortality rates were higher in Halton than neighbouring authorities and it had the highest alcohol related admissions in the Country, for men into hospital and the second highest for women.

Members were advised that Halton had committed to taking part in a number of interventions which would enable the Council to look at alternative methods of maintaining the night time economy while reducing levels of hazardous drinking in the Borough.

The Board thanked Ms Milner for her presentation and her work in the Borough and wished her well for the future.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the presentation be received; and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

The Board received a report of the Strategic, Health and Community which presented Cheshire Police Authority’s proposed Policing Objectives for 2009/10 to the Board. Inspector Cleworth attended the meeting and distributed a copy of the Policing Pledge.

Members were advised that the Police Authority had recently consulted with over 2,500 members of the public about their priorities for policing. Consultation had been carried out in a variety of ways as set out in the appendix to the report.

Members were advised that the results showed that the main priorities were:

• responding to emergency calls;
• targeting organised crime and terrorism;
• targeting drug dealers;
• tackling domestic and child abuse;
• detecting crime and arresting offenders; and
• protecting witnesses.

Members were further advised that the Police Authority had balanced these public concerns with the national priorities set by the Home Secretary, Policing Intelligence, CDRP priorities and the local priorities discussed at Community Action meetings. The Police Authority then used this breadth of opinion and intelligence to prepare the following policing objectives for the Cheshire Constable for 2009/10:

·        Increase public confidence in policing;

·        Respond effectively to the public when in need;

·        Work in partnership to create strong and vibrant communities;

·        Prevent and investigate crime and disorder;

·        Protect vulnerable people;

·        Protect the public from Serious and Organised Crime and Terrorism.

The Appendix to the report set out the six objectives in detail. It was noted that the Police Authority would welcome any comments from the Policy and Performance Board on the proposed Policing Objectives. The Police Authority would be finalising the objectives and the associated targets and measures on the 24^th February 2009.

The Board noted the change in attitude of the Police in recent years towards Partnership working and the benefits this had had on the performance against indicators.

RESOLVED: That the proposed Policing Objectives for 2009/10 as set out in Appendix 1 be endorsed.

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director, Environment which updated the Board on the issuing of Fixed Penalty Notices for environmental crime. It also included information on the current and future environmental nuisance prevention and enforcement activities.

The presentation, from Mr Clayton and Mr Carr, provided information to Members on the current and future environmental nuisance and prevention and enforcement work, including;

• the issuing of fixed penalty notices for litter;
• joint working initiatives undertaken between Council Officers and Police Community Support Officers to tackle environmental crime
• the delivery of planned future enforcement and nuisance prevention activities;
• planned education, media and promotional campaigns to raise awareness of waste issues, including the use of signs warning of prosecution for environmental crime; and
• other support work programmes such as the use of formal litter control notices and joint working initiatives with other external agencies.

Arising from Members’ comments and concerns the following was noted:

·        ‘hotspot’ areas to target would be Town Centres, main through routes, local centres, Ashley Way and the walkways of the canal;

·        that education supported by high profile punishments would enable the Council to change people’s perceptions of littering, dog fouling etc;

·         how the appeals process would work and the level of evidence needed prior to a penalty being issued; and

·        that there was a need for more signage in the Town Centres and that there was an issue with takeaway restaurants taking more responsibility for their customers litter.

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the presentation be received;

(2)               the programme of nuisance prevention and enforcement work as detailed in the presentation be endorsed;

(3)               information on the number of penalties issued be included in quarterly monitoring reports.

The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which updated Members on the latest structures as a response to the MAPS proposals from the Safer Halton PPB Topic Group.

The Board was advised that the Topic Group had been formed in 2006 to consider proposals to move to a multi agency approach for community safety. This was a significant piece of work and continued into the work programme of the Board in 2008/9.

Following on from the recommendations of the Topic Report, the Community Safety Team had undergone a major reorganisation. It was noted that there were a number of new funding sources and pieces of legislation and guidance that had also been considered since the original report was compiled. These legislative changes had helped to shape the foundation of the current structure and allowed for the inclusion of new partners into co-located team.

Members were advised that recent changes in relation to the national target setting had also had an impact on the delivery of the service and that this meant the new team must further develop the capacity to change delivery direction flexibility to meet these targets.

Members were further advised that consideration had also been given to the delivering ‘Safer Communities: A Guide to Effective Partnership Working’ document which contained a more detailed approach to applying the hallmarks of effective practice in partnership models which was the overall aim of the Safer Halton Partnership.

It was noted that a new structure had been developed that recognised the scope and membership of the Team and identified the developing priority areas of business that the Multi-Agency Community Safety Team delivered.

The membership of the Team had expanded to include a number of additional partners that were originally highlighted in the MAP report. These organisations were either co-located or part of the virtual network and further details of these partners were set out in the report.

In order to manage the new partnership, Government and community targets a robust performance management framework was now in place to monitor each of the key themes. These themes had been identified by the Strategic Needs Assessment, Local Area Agreement and the assessment of  Policing and Community Safety targets. The Community Safety Team had also identified new co-located office space and was due to move to the Widnes Waterfront development on 1^st May 2009.

An invitation was extended to the Board to visit the new office space, once the Team had relocated.

It was suggested that the Topic Group be re-convened to scrutinise the new arrangements and make sure results were being produced. It was noted that much of the work of the Team was as a result of alcohol related issues, and as the Council had committed itself to involvement in a number of interventions it would be prudent to wait for confirmation of these and to look at a wider focus of outcomes for the review.     

RESOLVED: That

(1)       the reported be noted and continued support be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Health and Community which asked Members to confirm a work programme of 2 or 3 topics to be undertaken in the 2009/10 Municipal Year.

Members confirmed that following topics were agreed for the 2009/10 Work Programme:

·     Waste Management

·     Cemetery Provision

·     Enclosure of Footbridges

·     Community Safety – Anti Social Behaviour

·     Domestic abuse and violence relating to alcohol

·     MAPS

RESOLVED: That the Policy and Performance Board agree the topics set out above for the Board’s 2009/10 work programme.