Agenda item

            (Mrs. S. Wylie, Director of Health and Environmental Services, attended in connection with this item.)

 

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

“1         Relevant Background Information

 

1.1       Members will be aware that the District Policing Partnership and Community Safety Partnership ceased operating on 31st March 2012.  In their place the Council is required, under Part 3 of the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2011, to establish the Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) and four District PCSPs (North, South, East & West).  These will be constituted as statutory bodies under the Act.

 

1.2       Guidance on the operation of the partnerships is to be agreed by a Joint Committee of the DOJ and the NIPB.  The Joint Committee will also have an overseeing role.

 

2          Key Issues

 

2.1       PCSP/DPCSPs Membership

 

            The Political Member appointments to the PCSP/DPCSPs were agreed by Strategic Policy and Resources Committee at its meeting held on 17th February.  However, due to delays in recruitment by the NI Policing Board, the Independent Members offer of appointments were only recently announced by the Minister.  A list of the 58 Political and proposed Independent Members of the PCSP/DPCSPs has been circulated.

 

            As the process of appointment of the Independent Members has taken longer than expected the inaugural meetings of the new PCSP and DPCSPs are now scheduled for late-May and early June respectively. 

 

·      PCSP - Thursday, 31st May at 5.45pm in the Conor Room

·      West Belfast DPCSP – Monday, 11th June at 5.45pm in the Conor Room

·      East Belfast DPCSP – Monday, 11th June at 5.45pm in the Lavery Room

·      South Belfast DPCSP – Wednesday, 13th June at 5.45pm in the Conor Room

·      North Belfast DPCSP – Wednesday, 13th June at 5.45pm in the Lavery Room

 

            There will also be an opportunity for Members to attend one of two induction sessions on

 

·      Wednesday, 23rd May from 6.30-9.00 pm in City Hall

·      Saturday, 26th May from 10.30 am-1.00 pm in Clifton House

 

            Formally Designated and Locally Designated Organisations

 

            The legislation requires that each PCSP/DPCSP must designate at least 4 organisations to the Partnership structures.  These designated organisations can be made up of both DOJ designated (formally) and locally designated organisations.

 

            The Department of Justice intends to conduct a formal consultation in the forthcoming weeks in relation to the potential DOJ designated organisations.  As such the initial PCSP/DPCSP meetings will be attended by the Political and Independent Members only; after which it has been suggested that an invitation to attend future meetings will be extended to a list of agreed organisations as an interim measure.

 

            Furthermore, in addition to the statutory organisations that are likely to be designated by the DOJ, the PCSP and DPCSPs will consider which organisations should also be locally designated.   Guidance on this process is yet to be issued by the Joint Committee but it is hoped that a proposal paper will be tabled at one of the early meetings of the Partnerships.

 

2.3       Roles of the PCSP/DPCSPs

 

            The role of the new structures are clearly outlined in the legislation i.e. to:

 

·         make arrangements for obtaining the views of the public about matters concerning the policing of the district and enhancing community safety in the district and to consider fully any views so obtained;

·         act as a general forum for discussion and consultation on matters affecting the policing of the district and enhancing community safety in the district;

·         prepare plans for reducing crime and enhancing community safety in the district;

·         to identify targets or other indicators by reference to which it can assess the extent to which those issues are addressed by action taken in accordance with any such plans;

·         to provide any such financial or other support as it considers appropriate to persons involved in ventures designed to reduce crime or enhance community safety in the district.

 

            However, the legislation is not prescriptive on how these objectives should be achieved.  It is likely that further guidance from the Joint Committee, in the form of a Code of Practice, will be issued for consultation in the coming weeks.  In the interim, however, the Chairs of the PCSP and DPCSPs have held regular meetings and have considered the roles of the various structures and a process to start getting discussions and planning under way. 

 

2.4       Transitional Plans and Finance

 

            The Joint Committee allocated Belfast PCSP and DPCSPs £775,237 towards partnership support costs, operations (i.e. services/projects) and meeting expenses (this excludes Members’ meeting expense payments which will be paid separately). The DOJ and the NIPB have indicated that the Councils need to make provision for the governance, administrative support and financial management of the new PCSPs and have included as in previous years a budget to support this. Further to discussion with the Chairs of the PCSP and DPCSPs it has been proposed that £500,000 of this allocation (as equivalent to previous years project and programme budget allocation) should be made available to support service delivery.  Aspirations have also been expressed by the Chairs to ensure that DPCSPs have as much influence as possible over how this money is spent locally.

 

            The Council also continues to make a commitment to the Partnership through its revenue estimates.  This is for staff to support the projects and services and for programmes such as alcohol enforcement, wardens etc.  These estimates have previously been agreed through the appropriate committees.  In addition to this, the Joint Committee (DOJ and Policing Board) is likely to require the Council to provide match funding of 20% towards the money they have allocated.  This has also been allowed for in the Revenue Estimates.

 

            Until such time as the PCSP is fully operational, the Joint Committee has requested that transitional plans are put in place for a period of up to 6 months.  To support this process the Chairs of the PCSP and DPCSP undertook a review of good practice to date and agreed to allocate interim funding towards a number of services over the first few months to ensure continuity of service.  A breakdown of the funding allocated to date has been circulated.  It is intended that the new Partnerships will begin developing longer-term Partnership Plans during the summer months.

 

            It would be the intention to report to SP&R on the action plans and progress against them.

 

3          Resource Implications

 

3.1       None

 

4          Equality and Good Relations Implications

 

4.1       None

 

5          Recommendations

 

5.1       Members are asked to note the progress to date and are advised that further update reports will be brought to the Committee once the Code of Practice and Financial guidelines are issued by the Joint Committee for consultation.

 

6          Key to Abbreviations

 

            PCSP – Policing and Community Safety Partnership

            DPCSP – District Policing and Community Safety Partnership

            DOJ – Department of Justice

            NIPB – Northern Ireland Policing Board

            Joint Committee – Representatives of the Department of Justice and the Northern Ireland Policing Board”

 

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.