Agenda and minutes

            The Chair announced that a working party meeting was needed to finalise the Council’s White Ribbon submission. It was agreed that this would be held on 10^th October 2018.

            Members received an update on a recent fatal stabbing in Runcorn. It was noted that two persons had been charged with murder and remanded into custody. Councillor D. Cargill, David Parr and other Council Officers would be attending a joint agency meeting tomorrow.

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 12^th June 2018 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

            It was reported that no questions had been received.  

            The minutes from the previous Safer Halton Partnership (SHP) meeting held on 2^nd May 2018 were presented to the Board for information.

The report was deferred until a future meeting date.

            The Board received a presentation from Mr J. Mckibbin who outlined to Members the work the North West Border Agency carried out in Halton. The Border Force was a law enforcement command within the Home Office. Border Force secured the border and promoted national prosperity by facilitating the legitimate movement of individuals and goods, whilst preventing those that would cause harm from entering the UK. This was achieved through the immigration and customs checks carried out at ports and airports.  Border Force officers worked at 140 sea and air ports across the UK and overseas and their responsibilities included:

·                checking the immigration status of people arriving in and departing the UK;

·                searching baggage, vehicles and cargo for illicit goods or illegal immigrants;

·                patrolling the UK coastline and searching vessels;

·                gathering intelligence; and

·                alerting the police and security services to people of interest

Members noted that the priorities for the Border Force were to:

·                deter and prevent individuals and goods that would harm the national interests from entering the UK;

·                facilitate the legitimate movement of individuals and trade to and from the UK;

·                protect and collect customs revenues for trade crossing the border;

·                provide excellent service to customers; and

·                provide demonstrable effectiveness, efficiency and value for money

            On behalf of the Board, the Chair agreed to write to both local MP’s to highlight the cuts to Home Office services in Halton and the potential further reductions in service.

            RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted and the Chair thanked Mr Mckibbin for his informative presentation.

            The Board considered a report by the Director Enterprise, Community and Resources, which outlined the transfer of Channel and Prevent responsibilities from the Police to local authorities’ responsibility. The Prevent Strategy had been reviewed and revised in line with the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. The Act placed a duty on specified authorities requiring them to have due regard to preventing people from being drawn into terrorism.  It also established a statutory responsibility for every local authority to ensure they had an identified panel to assess the vulnerability of identified individuals and put in place support plans, known as ‘Channel Panels’.

            Since the establishment of the Channel Programme the responsibility for assessment and case management had been held by the Police.  However, in line with a broader aim to position all Prevent activity closer to local communities and forging a stronger link with local authority safeguarding activities, the Home Office had indicated their desire to transfer many responsibilities from the Police to local authorities.

            In 2016, the Home Office initiated the ‘Dovetail’ pilot to assess the feasibility of transferring the resources and responsibility for administering the process and case management aspects of Channel from the police to local authorities, trialled initially in nine areas. The evaluation of the pilot was broadly positive and the decision of the Home Office was to extend the transfer of functions from the police to local authorities in more areas on a regional basis, commencing in the North West. The intention was to implement a regional model with funding being provided by the Home Office to resource the assessment of referrals and management of cases by Local Authority Channel Coordinators.

            An initial consultation meeting was held in October 2017 with Channel Panel Chairs and other local authority representatives on the options on the allocation of Coordinators in the region, based on current referral and case activity, and the expectations on local authorities to manage and recruit to these nationally defined roles.  For the Merseyside and Cheshire part of the region a preferred option of a ‘Three-Hub Model’ was identified on the day by the local authority representatives in attendance. Consequently, discussion was held on possible management arrangements and the expectation of hosting by one local authority in the area. It was considered that, due to the level of existing resource and understanding already in place on Prevent and Channel, Liverpool City Council was best positioned to host these new roles, subject to clarity of hosting requirements, funding provision and service level arrangements across the wider area.

            It was noted that work was currently being progressed to draw up job descriptions, finalise funding and for the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism to confirm the preferred model.

            RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

            On behalf of Manchester Port Health Authority (MPHA), Andrea Smith, Steve Seddon and Councillor Morley attended the meeting and provided the Board with an overview of the role of the Authority. MPHA was the local authority for the Manchester Ship Canal and River Weaver including the ports of Eastham, Ellesmere, Manisty, Standlow, Ince, Weston, Runcorn, Partington, Irlam and Salford. The Authority was responsible for a wide range of public health controls including:

·         Ship sanitation inspections and certificates;

·         Food standards, food safety and water quality (ships and land);

·         Infectious disease control;

·         Environmental protection;

·         Pest control;

·         Smoke free legislation;

·         Emergency planning; and

·         Import controls for high risk products of non-animal origin.

            On behalf of the Board, the Chair thanked the MPHA for their informative presentation and invited those Board Members who wished to attend a Boarding Inspection of shipping at Runcorn Docks to contact him and he would arrange this with the Authority.

RESOLVED: That the presentation be noted.