Agenda and draft minutes

Customers and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel - Wednesday 3 April 2013 4.00 pm

Venue: Council House (Next to the Civic Centre), Plymouth

Contact: Katey Johns, Democratic Support  Email: katey.johns@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

55.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by councillors in accordance with the code of conduct in relation to items under consideration at this meeting.

56.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 96 KB

The Panel will be asked to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2013.

Minutes:

Agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2013.

57.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

58.

TRACKING RESOLUTIONS pdf icon PDF 28 KB

The panel will monitor progress on previous resolutions.

Minutes:

The panel considered its tracking resolutions schedule and was advised that with regard to minute 50, relating to Clause 5 of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, a response was still outstanding from Oliver Colvile MP.

59.

CRIME STATISTICS pdf icon PDF 85 KB

The panel will receive for its information a report on crime statistics.

Minutes:

The Chair proposed, with the panel’s agreement, that given the close connection between this item and the next they be taken together.  He then welcomed Chief Superintendent Andy Bickley, Councillor Penberthy and Sarah Hopkins who were in attendance to inform the panel on crime statistics against the following five targets –

 

·         Closing the gap in overall crime

·         Acquisitive Crime

·         Violence with Injury

·         Criminal Damage

·         Anti-Social Behaviour

 

Superintendent Bickley reported that the targets set were tougher than in previous years and paid credit to the work of the Police and its partner organisations to the fact that all targets were currently being achieved.  Members heard that –

 

(a)

 

the latest information available demonstrated that performance against the targets was continuing to improve and the 17,114 crimes committed in the city in the past 11 months represented an 11.4 per cent reduction on the same period for 2011/12 (2,175 fewer crimes);

 

(b)

 

when considered against its comparator group, Plymouth was the fifth best performing authority overall in terms of total recorded crime;

 

(c)

 

with regard to serious acquisitive crime, levels for 2012/13 had reduced by 19 per cent compared to the same period in 2011/12 (506 fewer crimes/victims);

 

(d)

 

with regard to violence with injury, levels for 2012/13 had decreased by 4.6 per cent when compared to the same period in 2011/12 (115 fewer crimes);

 

(e)

 

with regard to criminal damage, levels for 2012/13 had reduced by 22.3 per cent when compared to the same period in 2011/12 (843 fewer crimes);

 

(f)

 

with regard to anti-social behaviour, levels for 2012/13 had reduced by 28.2 per cent when compared to the same period in 2011/12 (3,732 fewer incidents);

 

(g)

 

looking forward there were three key areas on which to focus, namely:

 

·         domestic abuse – accounted for 30 per cent of all violence and was notoriously under-reported;

·         sexual offences – 8 per cent rise compared to 2011/12 (40 more crimes);

·         violence against persons with injury – which was not just a problem in the evening and night-time economy.  Intelligence work and analysis required to gain a better understanding of the contributing factors

 

The minutes of the Safe and Strong Board held on 31 January 2013 were noted.

 

The Chair thanked Chief Superintendent Bickley, the Cabinet Member for Cooperatives and Community Development and the Community Safety Partnership Manager for their attendance.

60.

SAFE AND STRONG MINUTES pdf icon PDF 226 KB

The panel will receive for its information the Safe and Strong minutes.

Minutes:

This item was taken in conjunction with agenda item number six.

61.

LIBRARY MODERNISATION TASK AND FINISH GROUP REPORT pdf icon PDF 1 MB

The panel will receive for its information a copy of the report arising from the Library Modernisation Task and Finish Group.

Minutes:

The panel received for its information a copy of the task and finish group report on Library Modernisation.  The Chair drew members’ particular attention to the report’s recommendations and took the opportunity to thank all those who participated in the review.  Members welcomed the report and were happy to commend the recommendations to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

 

Agreed the report is referred to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board for approval.

62.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 21 KB

The panel will consider its work programme for 2012/13.

Minutes:

The Chair commented that as this was the last meeting of the panel for the current municipal year and, given that consideration was being given to changing the structure of scrutiny, there was little point in discussing the work programme at this time.  He took the opportunity to thank members for their involvement in scrutiny during the past year, particularly those who had participated in the task and finish reviews.

63.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s)  …. of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.