Agenda item

To consider the attached report of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Panel was provided with a report which detailed progress made (Year 4, 2020/21, to end of quarter 3) on delivery of the following four-year Police and Crime Plan key aims for reducing reoffending:

1. A review by police and other criminal justice partners on whether processes for identifying and referring individuals in contact with the criminal justice system into substance misuse services are as effective as they could be.

2. Improved data sharing on gangs, with the aim of reducing exploitation of young people through gang membership and reducing and preventing violent crime, especially knife crime.

3. A modern offender management strategy for Thames Valley addressing gaps in existing schemes and tackling offenders across the crime spectrum who pose the greatest risk or threat of harm.

4. Identification and implementation of best practice in the management of perpetrators of domestic violence, particularly focussing on serial perpetrators.

The Deputy PCC referred to the continued funding of the ‘Buddi-tags’ scheme, which was a voluntary scheme used by offenders and helped them resist returning to crime.

Reference was made to the Office of the PCC coordinating a bid to the Home Office for the ‘Prison Leavers Fund’. The Panel was informed that this involved different partners and elements of support for adults leaving prison and included:

·       improving the family links for parents in prison with their children;

·       ensuring arrangements are made to access benefits, substance misuse prescriptions, housing, mental health needs, etc via ‘departure lounges’ upon leaving prison,

·       improving access to digital resources to assist prison leavers accessing education/employment,

·       recruiting system navigators, including those with lived experience, and

·       volunteers to advocate and support individuals leaving prison.

Members’ Questions

(1)      In terms of data sharing on gangs and reducing violent crime, how successful has the data sharing been with the NHS?

[The Deputy PCC responded that there were two areas where data sharing was taking place; Thames Valley Together was the sharing of NHS data with the Police, which was individualised and identified individuals at risk.

The Panel was informed that re-offending could become cyclical, with for example, children of offenders becoming offenders. The second area where data was being used was a data visualisation tool which was created jointly with Hampshire. It allowed users to understand where serious violence was happening and target hotspot locations for Police patrols or problem-solving activity.

The Dashboard information would be shared with Community Safety Partnerships and it will enable CSPs to see Police data. In addition, the Police will be able to see anti-social behaviour data, issues around housing. The Offending Team would be involved with this.

Stage two, would be the platform being available for the public on the PCC website, to enable the public to see relevant shared data for their area.]

(2)      How will the PCC encourage a more joined up criminal justice system through the tasks identified in the Plan?

[The Deputy PCC reported that he was the Chairman of the Local Criminal Justice Board with the Reducing Re-Offending Board sitting underneath that. Coming out of the Prison Leavers scheme was the need for having a strategic level involvement of all those partners involved. Where there were gaps, make sure local authorities and magistrates were represented.]

(3)      Is there any data available on the successes of getting Re-Offenders to access education, training and employment, and also what impact has the Pandemic had on this?   

[The Deputy PCC said he did not have data on successes to hand, but he could send that information to Panel Members, together with the details of the funding provided to the Aspire Project through the gate programme [Action: PCC]

In relation to the Pandemic, there was a general problem of getting all people back into work, not just Re-Offenders. The major challenge has been around financing, as most of the organisations which were worked with, were Charitable organisations. There had been good support from the Ministry of Justice, but it was acknowledged that the Pandemic had caused some challenges.

Aspire were working towards having dedicated mentors for individuals who provided support even after the individual has found a job to ensure they had the continued support to help them stay on course.]   

(4)      What part is technology playing in the management of reducing re-offending and how successful is it?

[The Panel was informed that this had been touched on in previous questions, however, reference was made to the virtual campus platform which was an on-line facility for offenders to input their information, their data, their stories etc. This enabled the provision of services for offenders to be better and easier.

Reference was made to the monitoring work, which served two purposes. There was lots of disquiet over the length of some people’s sentences not being long enough which affected the publics’ confidence on sentencing. Electronic tagging of recently released offenders for a period decided by judges was important and would improve the publics’ confidence and more importantly, play an important role in rehabilitation.]

(5)      In relation to the pilot scheme which has taken place in Aylesbury Crown Court with Judge Sheridan, whereby domestic abuse cases were fast-tracked, could an update be provided on progress of this and whether the scheme would be rolled out across the Thames Valley?

[The Panel was informed that this was a good scheme with support from Judge Sheridan. The challenge had been getting the CPS to adopt it, although the Deputy PCC said he would be just happy with it being rolled out across the Thames Valley. There was to be a new Crown Prosecutor for Thames Valley so discussions would take place on the CPS taking this forward as, although fast tracking cases was resource intensive, there were major benefits to the scheme.]

RESOLVED – That the report and the information contained in the report be noted and the PCC be requested to provide the information required by the Panel.