Introduction
Cllr Smith welcomed all to the meeting, particularly Dr David Gordon from NHS Lanarkshire who leads the NLP Information Sharing Group.
Minutes of the Last Meeting
These were agreed as an accurate record.
Matters Arising
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A letter has been sent to the FE College Principals regarding representation on the Board as agreed.
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The NLP Community Engagement Strategy Action Plan has yet to be finalised by the Officers Group
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The Chronic Disease Management report had been submitted to the Scottish Executive on completion.
Item 1: Community Safety Theme Progress
Chief Superintendent Neilson gave a presentation (copy attached) on the partnership's activity to date and outlined the way forward for this key theme.
Although the crime statistics appeared to indicate poorer outcomes against the initial targets, there have been major improvements in the recording system used. A high proportion of phone calls were not formally registered previously. All calls with reports from the public were now recorded as a crime. He was confident that the figures next year for violent crime for example would reduce.
The target for fire fatalities had shown a huge excess due of course to the one tragic incident at Rosepark Home. This showed the difficulties in selecting certain indicators. A great deal of good work was in place such as the Safer Homes project which had had a major impact.
He reminded the Board of the succinct priorities and targets in the Community Plan. Baseline information had now been developed for this difficult area but warned that by its very nature it was likely that indicators would show increases before reduction. As encouraging the reporting of crime was a specific priority this would have an impact on the figures. He outlined an improved structure for managing the theme's activities and noted that strong links would be needed between this and other partnership work including the Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) strategy and Children's Services planning.
The Chair thanked him for his presentation and asked how Neighbourhood Watch was encouraged as part of the overall ASB activity. Ch. Superintendent Neilson commented that the Police usually responded to demand but these depended on local people establishing and maintaining these. It was noted that every resident believed that CCTV was the most effective deterrent to ASB.
D Pigott welcomed the combined efforts on domestic abuse and also the focus on alcohol. He felt that the issue of licensing was at its core. It was acknowledged that there were problems with this due to the legal processes involved which resulted in major delays before action could be taken. The Police intended to introduce a package of measures that would help achieve more rapid results however.
M Castles referred to the Anti Social Behaviour Act that was now in force. The hotline will go live on Monday and a leaflet is being widely distributed. Calls from the public will be routed through the NLC's Contact Centre increasing reported incidents. The ASB strategy is being prepared for submission to the Scottish Executive by the end of March as required.
G Whitefield noted that the performance against targets does not adequately reflect the progress that is being made. The partners have a joint responsibility for action and there are many positive stories. In reporting to the public there will be media issues to address so that we ensure a balance. He proposed that NLP links in to support the process.
M Castles suggested that a joint communication strategy is needed for all partner services.
L Gold noted that despite the aspects of good news, it was always difficult to get the media to respond to anything but where performance appeared to miss targets.
In concluding, Chief Superintendent Neilson emphasised the need for improved data sharing between partners that would assist everyone to do their jobs better.
The Chair thanked him for his presentation, and the Board noted the Community Safety theme progress.
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