Agenda item

Members will receive a report providing an overview of the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) with a focus on the programme for 2020/21.

Members will be asked to note the progress to date and the contents of the report.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report providing an overview of the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) with a focus on the programme for 2020/21.

The panel noted that:

·         This was an important piece of work reliant on a Home Office grant given to certain police areas to look at initiatives and cut serious violence in the area.

·         The Home Office prescribed the function and core membership of the VRN and there had been excellent partnership involvement including the voluntary and community sectors.

·         There had been significant progress and developments since the VRN was established in September 2019 with several interventions commissioned including the Violence Intervention Project based in the Emergency Dept at Leicester Royal Infirmary and a Community Grant Scheme aimed at grass root community groups and organisations.

·         The VRN continued to focus on serious violence in public places with a priority on under 25’s, and despite the Covid 19 pandemic progress was still being made, the programme plan for 2020/21 had been drawn from the findings of the Strategic Needs Assessment and the Response Strategy setting out projects, key priorities and activity within each project.

·         The VRN were monitoring the three success measures set by the Home Office which were also monitored centrally although no feedback has been received to date.

There was a brief discussion around continuation of funding from the Home Office in 2021/22 and it was noted that currently there was no indication of future funding. All VRNs had made approaches to the Home Office and were expecting to hear more after the forthcoming spending review. Funding had been secured in the sum of £880k for this year and where possible the VRN were commissioning with sustainability in mind, investing in such things as train the trainer to build capability and become more self-sufficient.

Panel members discussed the report noting the following comments:

·         In relation to planned work with children and young people it was intended to introduce interventions and services across Primary and Secondary prevention as well as tertiary to ensure we reduce reoffending.

·         In terms of seeing the impact of initiatives on reducing crime the first quarter performance report was being compiled for the VRN Board and this could be shared with panel members in future too.

Action: to provide more performance data in future reports.

Action: to share the Young People Involvement Strategy with panel members.

·         Work was ongoing to develop and review progress in relation to known risk factors regarding Young People such as attendance and exclusion rates in schools.

·         A core principle of VRN was to link with others and VRN were seeking to collaborate and strengthen links with projects/services such as Troubled Families and Early Help to avoid duplication.

·         It was planned to spend around £364k on interventions which was more than the Home Office required (set at 20%). It was suggested it would be useful to benchmark that expenditure with other VRN’s.

Action: Grace Strong to explore other VRN expenditure and provide a comparison of units across England/Wales.

There was discussion around the VRN priority focus on crime committed by under 25’s and whether serious sexual crime was included within that as it was suggested a lot of serious sexual and domestic violence crime was harvested in the home. At this stage, the focus was public place serious violence although it was acknowledged that there are links between different types of violence and a link between children experiencing violence in the home and future violent behaviours.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the contents of the report be noted.

2.    That officers provide more evidence in future reports of working with Young People and the impact of that work upon reducing crime.

3.    That the Young People Involvement Strategy be shared with panel members.

4.      That officers explore other VRN expenditure on interventions and provide a comparison of VRN units across England/Wales.