Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Darren Clifford replaced County Councillor Miles Parkinson for this meeting.

There were no apologies.

A report was presented informing the Committee that at the County Council's annual meeting on 15 May 2014 it was agreed that the Scrutiny Committee should comprise 13 County Councillors (on the basis of 6 Labour members, 1 Liberal Democrat member, 5 Conservative members, and 1 Independent member). Nominations of County Councillors to serve on the Committee had been submitted to the County Secretary and Solicitor by the respective political groups.

The County Councillors appointed to serve on the Scrutiny Committee for the following year were:

  Alyson Barnes  Carl Crompton 

  Richard Newman-Thompson  Liz Oades

   David O'Toole  Miles Parkinson

  Clare Pritchard  John Shedwick

  Vivien Taylor  Christian Wakeford

  David Watts  George Wilkins

  Bill Winlow

The Full Council also appointed County Councillor B Winlow and County Councillor A Barnes as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the 2014/15 municipal year

Resolved: That the Committee note:

1.  The appointment of County Councillor B Winlow and County Councillor A Barnes as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the municipal year;

2.  The membership of the Committee following the County Council's annual meeting; and

3.  The Terms of Reference of the Committee.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None were disclosed.

County Councillor Crompton informed the Committee that he had attended the Scrutiny Committee on 9 May but his attendance had been omitted from the minutes.

It was noted that the minute of the meeting of the 20 May contained a typographical error on page 2 of the minutes. It was confirmed that it should read "the local County Councillor for the division had played no part in the decision."

Resolved: That, with the amendments noted above, the minutes of the meetings held on 9 and 20 May 2014 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting Bob Stott, Director for Universal and Early Support Services; Helene Cooper, Community Safety and Justice Co-Ordinator; County Councillor Tony Martin, Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services; Sakthi Karunanithi, Director of Public Health; Martin Hill, Head of Magistrates Prosecutions, Lancashire and Cumbria Crown Prosecution Service; and Assistant Chief Constable Tim Jacques.

A report was presented on the strong history of partnership working in relation to Domestic Abuse in Lancashire and the continued commitment in making it a safe place to live, work and visit. The key partners included Lancashire County Council, district and unitary authorities, Lancashire Constabulary, Clinical Commissioning Groups, Lancashire Fire and Rescue, Lancashire Probation Services, wider criminal justice partners and the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Lancashire Community Safety Strategy Group (LCSSG) brought together representatives of these organisations to set the strategic direction for coordinating partnership activity under a range of statutory duties, to reduce crime and re-offending, tackle anti-social behaviour and substance misuse.

Reducing the harm caused by domestic abuse was a key priority for LCSSG and was aligned across a range of strategic partnerships including the Lancashire Children and Young People's Trust and Lancashire Safeguarding Children Board.

A Domestic Abuse Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) had been developed which detailed the prevalence of domestic abuse in the county. This had been based on a substantial evidence gathering project, including service mapping, reviewing good practice, an assessment of resources available and extensive service user consultation.

There were 20,750 calls to police about domestic abuse between April 2013 and March 2014 in Lancashire. Burnley and Preston had the highest number of calls to the police about domestic abuse. Hyndburn, Lancaster and Pendle also had above county average numbers of calls. All had seen a reduction in calls over the last three years. 47% of the calls to the police about domestic abuse in 2013/14 related to households with at least one child.

Lancashire County Council children's social care received 4,995 referrals for domestic abuse from April 2013 to January 2014 which was less than half the number of referrals in the same period the previous year.

Between April 2013 and March 2014, 18% of attendees at accident and emergency departments in Lancashire for an assault, gave the assault location as being in the home.

There were 3028 high risk Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) that had taken place from April 2013 to March 2014 in Lancashire. This was an increase of 40% compared with April 2011 to March 2012. Increased awareness and workforce training had contributed to the increase. There were 3799 children in the households where MARACs took place. The rate of repeat had stayed fairly constant at around 23% over the last three years.

Between April 2013 and March 2014, Lancashire County Council's supporting people service provided 1050 services to people whose primary need was domestic abuse. Floating support, outreach services and women's refuge were the main services provided.

The number of successful prosecutions had risen year on year. In 2013/14,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A report was presented summarising the work to be undertaken by the Committee in the coming months, including an update on task group work. It was agreed that, following on from the previous agenda item, further reports would be added to the workplan on Domestic Abuse as set out in the minutes.

Resolved: That the report be noted

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

None.

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday 11 July at 10:30am at the County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be on Friday 11 July, at 10.30 at the County Hall, Preston.