Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Alessandro Georgiou, Cllr Margaret Greer (Vice-Chair), Peter Glass (Chief Executive Officer, Age UK Enfield), and Chandra Bhatia (Enfield Racial Equality Council).

It was noted that Cllr Georgiou had submitted his apologies for this meeting as he was required to attend the Finance & Performance Scrutiny Panel meeting which was also taking place this evening. Therefore, Cllr Reece Fox was substituting for Cllr Georgiou.

The Chair agreed to amend the running order of the agenda to accommodate the request of Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety as she needed to leave the meeting early, therefore agenda item no:5 was taken first. However, for clarity the minutes are shown in the order of the published agenda.

Members of the Board are invited to identify any disclosable pecuniary, other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests relevant to the items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest registered in respect of any items on the agenda.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2022.

AGREED the minutes of the meeting held on 15 June 2022 subject to the following amendment:

Attendance Details:

Community Representatives: Pastor Nick Chanda, Enfield Faith Forum

To update the Board on school police officers, safeguarding protocols and training.

RECEIVED the report of Chloe Pettigrew, Enfield Children’s Safeguarding Partnership Manager.

NOTED

1.    The report provides an update on the Enfield Safeguarding Children Partnership’s work on Child Q through its recently established Task and Finish Group.

2.    The purpose of the safeguarding work is to protect children, young people, adults at risk and their families so that they can all thrive in the borough. The Partnership’s approach to safeguarding focusses on well-trained staff who can effectively engage and manage the risks that may be present.

3.    The update from Supt. Rhona Hunt and Detective Superintendent Sebastian Adjei-Addoh highlighting the work that has taken place within Police and Education settings. This included detailed information on the role of the Safer Schools Police Officers and how this had been strengthened over the past few months by posting more Officers into schools to deal with this hugely important and challenging role.

4.    The Safer Schools Officers (SSOs) are there to develop positive interactions with school-aged children and/or college/sixth form students. The aim is to ensure that the time these Officers spend in schools is spent in the very best way and can be as effective as possible. Therefore, consultations are taking place with Headteachers and Teachers in order to find out what they want the role of the School Officers to be and what areas, if any, can be improved on.

5.    In response to Members’ questions regarding Stop and Search in schools, Supt. Hunt advised that previously there had been a lack of guidance for School Officers around this issue. However, there were now clear processes and policies in place regarding this.

6.    In response to a question on how policing in Enfield schools has changed since March 2022, it was advised that things have changed massively; engagement with young people has improved greatly which has ensured that their voices are being heard and what they want from the school officers is taken on board without judgement.

7.    The Safeguarding Ambassadors, who are a group of young leaders, have met with Detective Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh to share their life experiences with police and how they would like to contribute to practice development of police and improve support to children and young people. An area of motivation is particularly around children and young people understanding their rights regarding stop and search.

8.    Following this initial meeting the Safeguarding Ambassadors have developed a wider plan on how the work with the police can be replicated across the partnership to include the Local Authority, health and schools.

9.    The key area that the Safeguarding Ambassadors wish to focus on is how the voice of a child or young person can be heard by frontline practitioners to help develop and improve practice. Reverse mentoring is an example of how this will be implemented.

10. A key area for practice improvement is always found in the voice of a child or young person. The lived experience that children and young people can provide is invaluable to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To update the Board on progress on achieving our equalities objective.

RECEIVED the report of Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety and Sujeevan Ponnampalam, Prevent Lead.

NOTED

1.    The verbal introduction by Councillor Gina Needs, Cabinet Member for Community Safety & Cohesion.

2.    Key points of the report highlighted by Andrea Clemons, Head of Community Safety. Members were invited to raise questions and comments.

3.    In response to Members’ queries regarding the definition of Hate Crime its was explained that it is any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic. Their characteristic includes disability, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and trans identity.

4.    Tackling Hate Crime is a Priority within the new Community Safety Partnership (Safer and Stronger Communities Board) Plan 2022-25, which is currently being finalised.

5.    The latest figures were provided within the report detailing the various categories of Hate Crime and their respective changes. Members were advised that this information reflects reported crime.

6.    In response to concerns regarding the reporting of Hate Crimes, it was advised that although the reporting of Hate Crime is actively encouraged it is recognised historically that there are some groups of people who are not comfortable in reporting such incidences to the police therefore other avenues have been set up, such as third party community based reporting sites where volunteers are able to assist with online reporting to the police which is often a valuable service.

7.    In response to Members’ questions regarding this data officers advised that in Enfield, the highest proportion of hate crime recorded was racist and religious in its nature. In the borough, this portion of hate crime recorded an increase of 6.4%. Homophobic hate crime increased by 50.8%, however, disability hate crime reduced by 20% and Transgender hate crime remained the same.

8.    In response to Members’ questions regarding the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on Hate Crime, officers explained that Hate Crime, similarly to Anti-Social Behaviour, rose significantly during lock down periods by over 50% at some points. In June 2019 (prior to lockdown) the figures reflected 104 incidents in just one month and by June 2021 it was still 5.5% higher than the previous 12 rolling months. The category that increased by the greatest amount was racist hate crime.

9.    Officers explained the remit of the Enfield Hate Crime Case Management Panel which meets every two months to discuss reported cases of Hate Crime. The panel, which is made up of statutory partners and local community organisations ensures a victim centred approach is given to each case and that the best possible outcome for the victim is achieved. The panel may also escalate cases to the Hate Crime Forum who oversee Hate Crime interventions in Enfield.

10.  Officers provided further information on the Hate Crime Forum and explained that it is also responsible for provision of training for professionals including community organisations as part of the action plan delivery.

11. In response to Members’ queries  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note that the next meeting of the Equalities Board is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 17^th January 2023 and will be held in the Conference Room at the Civic Centre.

NOTED the dates of future meetings as follows:

·         Tuesday 17 January 2023 – Council Chamber, Civic Centre

·         Thursday 30 March 2023 – Conference Room, Civic Centre

These meetings will commence at 7:00pm.