Issue - meetings

Safeguarding and Supporting Children and Families

·  Violent Crime Involving Young People

·  General Update

Helen Blackman, Director of Children’s Integrated Service, Shelley Nicholls, Head of Service and Sophie Russell, Head of Children’s Strategy and Improvement delivered a presentation and report on the work of the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme to safeguard and prevent children and young people becoming victims and offenders.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  Partnerships involving councils, the police and other stakeholders are key to tackling knife crime;

(b)  Between March 2015 and March 2019, there has been a significant increase in the number of knife crime incidents reported to Nottinghamshire Police but that number has slightly decreased between December 2018 and March 2019;

(c)  Although half of victims and offenders involved in knife crimes in Nottingham City (not including those associated with domestic violence) were aged 25 and over, 23% of offenders were aged under 17 with 18% of under 17s being victims of knife crime. 33% of victims and 26% of offenders were aged 18 – 25. 45% of knife crimes reported were personal robberies with the majority of offences taking place in the City Centre, Hyson Green and Arboretum;

(d)  There are a number of strategic links with the police, schools, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services, safeguarding, families, education and training providers, voluntary and community groups, the Courts and the City Economy which feed into the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme;

(e)  Criminal exploitation interlinks with a number of multiple vulnerabilities and offences including the child being exposed to and/or victim of physical and emotional violence, neglect, sexual abuse and exploitation, modern day slavery and human trafficking, domestic abuse and missing episodes;

(f)  ‘County Lines’ is a term used by government departments, law enforcement, local authorities and partner agencies to describe the use of mobile phone ‘lines’ by gangs looking to extend their drug dealing activities into locations outside of their metropolitan home areas;

(g)  There is an acute awareness that when dealing with ‘at risk’ individuals and offenders who are threatening children and young adults, it is important that some of these people are also children and young adults, so they need safeguarding and support to;

(h)  Case studies from Chicago and Glasgow have helped inform the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme’s work;

(i)  The proposed approach breaks down into two areas:

a.  Phase One – Development of a responsive, deployable and flexible resource through a multi-agency hub;

b.  Phase Two – a systemic ‘public health’ approach to tackling the causative factors;

(j)  The Programme links together with Police Crime Commissioner’s Knife Crime Action Plan and aims to coordinate activities;

(k)  Children’s Partnership Board will receive updates from the Serious Youth Violence and Exploitation Programme in line with its governance structure;

(l)  Over £490,000 in Troubled Families ‘Supporting Families affected by Youth Crime’ funding has been secured to work with schools and the voluntary sector;

(m)A Play & Youth review and restructure is underway, which was presented to Executive Panel on 18 March 2019;

(n)  The Multi-agency Child Criminal Exploitation Panel  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5