Councillor Sally Haydon (Cabinet Member for Customer Focus and Community Safety), (Matt Garrett Service Director for Community Connections), Dave Ryland (Community Connections Strategic Manager) and Inspector Robin Loveridge (Devon and Cornwall Police) presented the Begging and Community Safety Enforcement report –

(a)   Provided detail around city wide enforcement under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 and gave context as to the actions being undertaken to address begging via enforcement activity.

(b)  Begging and Community Safety Enforcement fell under the remit of Safer Plymouth, our Community Safety Partnership.

(c)   Safer Plymouth had the following statement of intent:

·         Identity – Safer Plymouth delivering safer communities;

·         Purpose – Co-ordination, Quality Assurance, Systems Leadership;

·         Focus – Reducing violence, abuse and exploitation;

·         Aims – Prevention of harm, early intervention, reducing re-offending;

·         Outcomes – Building community resilience, reducing inequalities and improving lives.

(d)  One measure for Safer Plymouth was whether people of Plymouth felt safe during the day and at night which is measured through the City survey.

(e)  The most recent survey from 2018 told us that 90% of people feel safe during the day, with 60% of people feeling safe during the dark. These results were fairly similar to both 2012 and 2014 with only very minor changes. Whilst there would be differences across localities to how people feel this showed that Plymouth was largely seen as a safe place to live.

(f)    Begging was an offence under section 3 of the Vagrancy Act 1824, and was a recordable offence. The maximum sentence was a fine at level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1000).

(g)   Between 01 January 2019 and 31 December 2019 in the Plymouth BCU there was 84 recorded incidents / logs of Begging (including all various definitions). 

(h)  Plymouth against Retail Crime was established in September 2001 to combat the increasing problems in Plymouth City Centre of retail crime and anti-social behaviour within the City Centre Business Improvement District (BID). PARC have Officers operating in the city centre on a daily basis and are targeted towards addressing matters of concern inclusive of Begging

(i)    Plymouth City Council has a small team that works closely with the Police and other agencies to deal with Anti-Social Behaviour in its many forms. This will support agencies to address behaviours of concern using a range of powers.

(j)    In 2019 Plymouth City Councils Community Connections team received 533 enquiries relating to Anti-Social Behaviour.

The key areas of questioning from Members related to –

·         Understanding the true number of people begging in Plymouth and what their vulnerabilities were;

·         How the problem of persistent beggars had been moved from the City Centre to surrounding areas of the city such as Mutley Plain and what further action had been done to prevent them continuing this behaviour in a new location;

·         explained that beggars had been using big issue seller spots around the City Centre which was causing issue for the sellers;

·         wanted clarification on whether members of the public busking was seen as begging;

·         how big of issue begging was in Plymouth and how did we compare with cities of similar population;

·         Whether members of the public should be encouraged to report people begging to the police and whether this would help them get the support they need;

·         What plans were in place for Mayflower 2020 to combat begging as it would be a bigger opportunity for beggars?

The Committee noted the briefing on city wide enforcement under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014 and the actions being undertaken to address begging via enforcement activity.