Issue - meetings

Following a Children, Adults and Wellbeing Scrutiny Day in January 2021 to consider local readiness, national guidance for the introduction of a Serious Violence Duty was eventually issued in December 2022. This report presents an update on arrangements being made for the Local Authority to fulfil the Duty.

The Head of Young People's Prevention Services introduced the report to the Panel and gave them a presentation. The presentation will be attached as an online appendix to the minutes and a summary is set out below.

Serious Violence Duty

·  On 31 January 2023, the Duty commenced under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022

·  Requires specified authorities (Local Authorities, Fire and Rescue, Probation, Police, Youth Offending Teams and Integrated Care Boards to collaborate to prevent and reduce serious violence

·  Makes tackling serious violence an explicit priority for Community Safety Partnerships

What is already in place?

·  Avon and Somerset ‘hub and spoke’ Violence Reduction Unit - Police and Crime Commissioner working with 5 Local Authorities - Focusing mainly on so-called ‘street crime’

·  B&NES Youth@Risk Strategy and 6 Protocols (2019)

·  Delegated funding until March 2025

·  Multi-agency meetings under the B&NES Community Safety and Safeguarding Partnership

What does the Duty require?

·  By 31 January 2024, a multi-agency strategy to prevent and reduce serious violence 

·  A public health approach, based on a theory of change and including clear lines of accountability

·  Annual review and monitoring and evaluation of impact

·  Some particular expectations – Local Authorities to support prevention and early intervention activities

What is a public health approach?

·  Violence is preventable

·  No one sector has the solution

·  Focus on root causes

·  5 Cs – collaboration, co-operation, co-production, counter-narrative, community concerns

How will we measure success?

·  The three national metrics are:

o  Homicide rates

o  Hospital admissions for knife or sharp object assault

o  Police-recorded knife crime

Next Steps

·  17th March: Review model and funding and roles and responsibilities of hub and spokes

·  23rd March: Update Serious Violence Steering Group

·  31st March: Notify Home Office of preferred approach

·  4th April: B&NES Community Safety and Safeguarding Partnership Executive review definition and governance

·  Ongoing: Promotion of the Duty, working with Crest Advisory, continuing work of the Violence Reduction Unit, updating Youth@Risk Strategy and strengthening children’s and community participation.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked if with the introduction of the Serious Violence Duty for local authorities in January 2023, will Banes make any changes to its strategies towards violent crime. She said that in the report, it states it will build on existing arrangements and asked if these could be explained.

The Head of Young People's Prevention Services replied that the only relevant strategy we have at present (B&NES Youth@Risk Strategy 2019) will need to be updated to become an all-age strategy in light of the Duty, although a focus on children and young people remains. She added that the Duty really challenges us on what it means to embed a Public Health approach and so we will need to take a longer-term view, probably across generations.

She said that although peer on peer (or child on child) violence remains a concern, we need to strengthen our contextual safeguarding approaches in the face of exploitation and embed trauma informed and trauma recovery work. She added that we are also challenged to co-produce our  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87