Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Councillor Matthew Vaux, Cabinet Member, Diana Davies and Tim Bray, Officers, to present the report.

 

The Serious Violence Duty commenced on 31^st January 2023 and covers the requirements set out in Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This places a duty on specified authorities to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence. The specified authorities include Local Authorities, Local Health Boards, Fire and Rescue Authorities, Policing and the Justice Sector (Probation and Youth Offending Teams) and it is these organisations that are responsible for delivering the duty and jointly accountable for delivering the key milestones of the regional grant funding provided by the Home Office to implement the requirements of the Duty. In addition to the specified authorities, there are also relevant authorities which includes educational authorities (as well as prison and youth custody authorities). There is a requirement for these authorities to co-operate with the specified authorities as necessary, to deliver the duty and they must also be consulted by the specified authorities in the preparation of the strategy. Specified authorities must identify the kinds of serious violence that occur in the area, the causes of that violence (so far as it is possible to do so), and to prepare and implement a strategy for preventing, and reducing serious violence in the area. The strategy should contain bespoke solutions to prevent and reduce serious violence and must be kept under review, which should be done on an annual basis and updated when necessary. Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) To inform this process, specified authorities should jointly undertake an evidence-based analysis of the causes of serious violence within their area and use this analysis to develop a local Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) which should inform the local strategy. This will include a wide range of data and as an example can include local and national crime data, census data, hospital and primary care data. From a local authority’s perspective, it may also require educational data such as attendance, suspension and exclusion data and children’s 2 social care data. The SNA will include a common understanding of the cohorts that are most vulnerable to serious violence and the local strategy will need to demonstrate how each area is focussing resources on the defined population most in need of support.

 

The Duty does not provide a definition of Serious Violence, as it is up to each area to define what serious violence is; this will be centred on local evidence-base informed by the SNA. When considering the SNA, it is clear that violence is not limited to physical violence against the person. It provides that, for the purposes of the Duty, violence includes domestic abuse, sexual offences, violence against property and threats of violence Furthermore, the Serious Violence Strategy 2018 states that Serious Violence is concerned with specific types of crime such as homicide, knife crime, and gun crime and areas of criminality where serious violence or its threat is inherent, such as in gangs and county lines drug dealing. It also includes emerging crime threats faced in some areas of the country such as the use of corrosive substances as a weapon.

 

This duty forms a new ‘public health approach’ to tackling Violent Crime, identifying what causes violence and find interventions that work to prevent it spreading. A ‘public health’ approach involves multiple public and social services working together to implement early interventions to prevent people from becoming involved in violent crime.

 

The Serious Violence Duty is intended to create the right conditions for authorities to collaborate and communicate regularly, using existing partnerships where possible, to share information and take effective coordinated action in their local areas. All organisations and agencies subject to the Duty will be accountable for their activity and co-operation.

 

Officers advised Committee Members of the current timeline which is as follows:

• 31^st January 2023 – Serious Violence Duty commenced

• 31^st March 2023 – Partnership agreement to be confirmed

• 28^th April 2023 – provisional version of delivery plan and confirmation of Home Office funding usage

• 29^th Sept 2023 – advanced version of delivery plan to be agreed

• 31^st January 2024 – Strategic Needs Assessment for Serious Violence completed

31^st January 2024 – Local Strategy completed (including final version of the delivery plan)

 

The Statutory Guidance document as published on 16^th December 2022 can be accessed on the following Website: Serious Violence Duty - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (please note specific Guidance for Wales from pages 20 onwards).

 

Funding has been allocated to Dyfed Powys region by the Home Office to implement the Serious Violence Duty and as per legislation, this will be overseen by the Police and Crime Commissioner, who will also be providing support, monitoring activity and reporting to the Secretary of State.

Funding from the Home Office has been confirmed up to 2024/2025 on the following yearly allocations:

2022/2023: Labour costs £30,000 Non-labour costs: £0

2023/2024: Labour costs £180,000 Non-labour costs: £39,737.48

2024/2025: Labour costs £77,041.71 Non-labour costs: £111,655.25

 

At present, the resource is being allocated to increase analytical capacity within Dyfed Powys Police to prepare and deliver the regional SNA. Furthermore, it is intended that funding will be used to oversee the coordination of the delivery plan, strategy and associated workstreams within the region.

 

Crest Advisory has been commissioned by the Home Office to work with organisations specified in the SV Duty and local partners during 2023 to determine their readiness for the Duty and provide tailored support to develop and ensure compliance. Partners across the region, including Ceredigion County Council have attended joint meetings with the Police and Crime Commissioner and nominated SV leads from key organisations have been identified. The nominated Strategic Lead for Ceredigion County Council is Barry Rees, as CSP chair and nominated practitioners are Diana Davies (Corporate Manager for Partnerships and Performance) and Tim Bray (Partnerships and Civil Contingencies Manager).

 

Existing partnership arrangements can be used to deliver on this Duty as the Statutory Guidance indicates that there isn’t a necessity to create new partnerships. As such, it has been agreed that the existing Serious Violence and Organised Crime (SVOC) structure, which is already established and the Regional SVOC Board is the correct platform to lead on the planning and implementation of the SV Duty requirements. The Corporate Manager for Partnerships and Performance and the Partnerships and Civil Contingencies Manager currently attend Regional SVOC meetings, and will continue to do so and report back where necessary. Furthermore, in recognition of the vital role that education has in safeguarding, it is recommended that a strategic education representative for the area be represented at meetings to discuss the SV Duty. This will assist in providing a link between the specified responsible authorities and individual institutions, the new Curriculum for Wales and the opportunities that this presents with regards supporting the well-being landscape. It is proposed that the SV Duty is presented for information to Cabinet on the 6^th June 2023.

 

During discussion, the following was noted:

 

·       Concern was expressed in relation to the increase in drugs and County Lines activity in the County and Committee Members agreed this should be closely monitored,

·       Further to a question regarding funding allocation, the Officer confirmed that it is not yet clear what agency will be leading on sourcing additional capacity to coordinate this work. This should be confirmed by September 2023.

 

Following discussion, Committee Members were asked to consider the following recommendation:

i.               To note the new Serious Violence Duty and implications for Ceredigion County Council and the relevant partnerships which are attended by Ceredigion County Council representatives.

 

Committee Members agreed to note the new Serious Violence Duty and implications for Ceredigion County Council and the relevant partnerships which are attended by Ceredigion County Council representatives.

In order for the Overview and Scrutiny Coordinating Committee to understand the additional duties that Ceredigion County Council is required to respond to and consider.

 

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member and the Officers for attending and presenting the information to the Committee.