Agenda item

Report of the Strategic Director for Early Intervention and Department of Work and Pensions

Part A – Crime and Drugs Partnership

Jane Lewis, Community Safety Strategy Manager and Domestic and Sexual Violence Strategic Lead, presented the report which informs the Board of what practices and approaches have been working well and achieving good results, what the challenges are and how partner organisations can help.

Also included within the report was detailed a domestic violence gap analysis.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  the Domestic Violence Strategy has been refreshed and is due to be published next week;

(b)  there is a new formal definition of domestic violence which includes dropping the age criteria from 18 to 16 years old and identifying coercive control as a factor;

(c)  the Domestic Abuse Referral Team (DART) review is ongoing and aims to identify and analyse best practice;

(d)  challenges include:

(i)  partner agencies engaging, particularly with regard to releasing trained staff to facilitate the programme of ‘stronger families’;

(ii)  trying to get the healthy relationships programme into all primary and secondary schools, although there has been some support, more is needed;

(iii)  maintaining the free ‘friend’ 24 hour domestic and sexual violence helpline funding. The Joint Commissioning Group is trying to stabilise the funding but it is an ongoing issue and partners may be called upon to assist;

(iv)  with regard to the Saint Project, raising confidence in holding perpetrators to account;

(v)  funding for next year’s children’s workers in refuges as it is very fragile.

Questions of the board were responded to as follows

(e)  work to raise awareness of and support for domestic violence affecting young people is taking place in schools and the young people’s website but partners are encouraged to help raise awareness;

(f)  the inclusion of younger people by reducing the criteria age from 18 to 16 years old, has come about based on the experiences of young people living in Bilborough;

(g)  the Crime and Drugs Partnership Leadership Team are considering the overlay of domestic abuse with child sexual exportation and modern slavery;

(h)  partners are asked to help train partner agency staff to deliver therapeutic help and support by ensuring the partners are more confident to deal with young people and the issues, this will help young people progress;

(i)  a lot of resources go into training colleagues which they are often too busy in their full-time roles to train others.

John Yarham, Chief Executive of Futures, commented that Futures has strong engagement  with 15 to 18-year-olds, including secondary schools, so could prove a good link for raising awareness.

Helen Blackman, the Director of Children’s Social Care, and Alison Michalska,Corporate Director of Children and Adults, requested information on who within the City Council had been trained to enable identification of blockages which prevented trained staff training others, in the recognition and response to domestic violence, in line with the ethos of the training provided by the Crime and Drugs Partnership, so that these blockages can be removed.

It is noted that training is not appropriate for all partners such as the Clinical Commissioning Group who are not front line and do not engage directly with citizens.

Other organisations and programs also provide training and should be encouraged to liaise and link with partners to help promote a co-ordinated approach.

Part B - Report of Assistant Chief Executive

Ben Horvath, Troubled Families Employment Advisor Manager, DWP, presented the report and delivered a presentation on the Troubled Families Programme which enables and encourages partner organisations to co-ordinate their services to support and enable troubled families to achieve social, emotional and economic stability, and therefore improve the potential outcomes for the whole  family, including the children. The City Council’s Priority Families Programme sits within the National Troubled Families Programme.

The following points were highlighted;

(a)  Nottingham City has some of the most challenging social issues but this programme supports a holistic approach to supporting specifically identified families to achieve improved social stability and economic resilience;

(b)  to help build resilience securing employment in a family is important;

(c)  partners within the programme are trained to recognise domestic violence and child sexual exploitation, and take appropriate action;

(d)  children of families who do not work are three times more likely not to work themselves so it is important to break the cycle and making support into work available;

(e)  unemployment can lead to a variety of mental health problems, substance-abuse and crime and antisocial behaviour, including domestic violence;

(f)  the Troubled Families website includes testimonies of citizens who have been assisted into work and how this has completely changed their lives and the lives of their family, both immediate and extended;

(g)  support to assist families back into work involves the help of a range of partners understanding and supporting all members of the family;

(h)  role modelling siblings has been found to be very important;

(i)  a two day Priority Family Training course is available to partners;

(j)  challenges include that there is not yet a whole family approach across all areas of the city and that some City Council and partner staff have not engaged with the whole family model.

RESOLVED

(1)  that with regard to the work of the Crime and Drugs Partnership, partner’s support in resolving the following be considered and offers of assistance made (via Jane Lewis) with regard to:

(i)  partner agencies engaging, particularly with regard to releasing trained staff to facilitate the programme of ‘stronger families’;

(ii)  further support in trying to get the healthy relationships programme into all primary and secondary schools;

(iii)  maintaining the free ‘friend’ 24 hour domestic and sexual violence helpline funding;

(iv)  raising confidence in holding perpetrators to account  (with regard to the Saint project);

(v)  securing future funding for children’s workers within refuges;

(2)  with regard to the Priority/Troubled Families Programme:

(i)  communicating and promoting the Priority Families Model;

(ii)  embed the ‘Work Pays’ message into the Children’s Partnership as a solution to attaining resilience into the family;

(iii)  promote economic well-being by supporting families with Universal Credit and the benefits this brings.