Leicester Community Safety Partnership

As Chair of the Safer Leicester Partnership (SLP), I have overseen the review of our partnership plan for 2021–2024 and the setting of the priorities for the City.  I want Leicester to be a place where people can go about their daily lives feeling safe, wherever they are and I believe that our plan reflects the needs and concerns of the City.

I will ensure that the partnership continues to engage and involve communities, but that we go further than before and communicate often using our web-site and social media about the great work we undertake to make Leicester a safe place and how we look out for and protect children and adults who are vulnerable.

Some of our effective partnership work during 2020 includes;

• Developing our innovative person centred approach to working with those with street lifestyle issues i.e. beggars, street drinkers and rough sleepers.
• Over-all crime decreased between January and December 2020 by 6% when compared with 2019 and public place serious violence decreased in the same period by 11.3% when compared to 2019.
• A community lead consultation on a Knife Crime & Serious Violence Strategy

There are also a number of up and coming national priorities that will impact on the community and the partnership during the life of this plan, in particular;

• The Domestic Abuse Bill 2021 which introduces a statutory framework for delivery of support to victim of domestic abuse and their children in safe accommodation
• The Police, Crime, sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 which will require local authorities to work together with specified agencies to formulate an evidence based analysis of the problems associated with serious violence in Leicester, and then produce and implement a strategy detailing how we will respond to those particular issues.

The above are key developments, but are challenges that I do not underestimate.  Our partnership has gone from strength to strength, despite the challenge of covid-19 we have continued to see great work taking place and I am confident that working together we will achieve our community safety plan priorities.

- Cllr Piara Singh Clair

The Safer Leicester Partnership (SLP), Leicester’s community safety partnership aims to serve all of its communities effectively.  Our renewed Community Safety Plan for 2021 – 2024 sets out our strategic priorities and delivery themes and how the partnership brings together people, agencies and resources to make Leicester a safer place to live, work and visit.  

The Safer Leicester Partnership priorities have been updated after consultation with the community, the Safer Leicester Partnership Executive members, ward councillors and key partners/ stakeholders.  Many of the delivery themes are similar to those outlined in our 2018-2021 Plan, that said, we have updated the plan in line with local and national concerns.

The Safer Leicester Partnership Executive has a statutory requirement to:

1. Produce an annual assessment
2. Prepare and implement a partnership plan
3. Establish information sharing agreements
4. Establish Domestic Homicide Reviews

The Safer Leicester Partnership will work together to reduce crime, disorder and vulnerability so individuals and communities in Leicester feel safe and are safe in their homes, on the streets and the places they go.

The partnership: Responsible authorities/attendees

• Leicester City Council - Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner
• Leicestershire Police - East Midlands Ambulance Service
• Leicester Fire & Rescue Service - Voluntary Sector
• National Probation Service (merged with CRC) - Violence Reduction Network
• Leicester Clinical Commissioning Group

Co-operating bodies

• Integrated Offender Management
• Turning Point
• Prison Service
• Local Children’s Safeguarding Board
• Children & Young Peoples Services
• Adult Social Care
• Adult Safeguarding Board
• De Montfort & Leicester University

We expect our Safer Leicester Partnership Partners to:

1. Align relevant service delivery to the priorities
2. Manage threat risk and harm via a process of regular review and challenge
3. Identify, support and deliver programmes of activity that have direct impact on individuals, families and communities
4. Ensure value for money through cost effective delivery of projects funded by the Safer Leicester Partnership having regard to evidence based needs assessments, equality and sustainability.
5. Ensure cross-cutting themes are included throughout workstreams
6. Have regard to the Police and Crime Plan for Leicester

The SLP presides over a number of different work-streams, operational groups and Joint Action Groups (JAGs) whose actions are driven by the priorities that have been identified.  Funding is available from the SLP to support these groups and organisations which provide a clear link between the funding required and the outcomes needed to support delivery of a priority.

The theme lead for each priority area reports into the SLP upon delivery using a template document for consistency which includes our cross cutting themes.  There is also a requirement to provide key performance data so that we are able to view and measure success and work with the theme lead to tackle any challenges they face in delivering their area of work.

Partners within the SLP are committed to communicating its success, outcomes and results publicly through social messaging, press, radio and other media.

Communications officers from our partner organisations will continue to work with strategic leads to ensure messages are shared and they will actively support work in the priority areas.  Engagement takes place in numerous forums throughout the SLP, locally at ward meetings and then with more specific focus in open Community Gold meetings where relevant subjects are discussed and feedback sought with a wide range of community representatives.

The Safer Leicester Partnership will undertake a review of priorities annually to ensure that we are able to recognise and respond to emerging themes or issues.

The priorities for 2021 have been identified using the expertise of the community, SLP members, elected members and key stakeholders alongside reviewing key data sets.  The 4 strategic priorities for Leicester are:

1. People experiencing multiple disadvantage
2. Serious violence and exploitation
3. Localities
4. Community cohesion

Underneath each of these priorities there are a number of delivery themes.  These are the mechanisms and measurements we will use to monitor our outputs, progress and success identifying areas for development or intervention.

Each theme has an allocated lead officer who will complete the monitoring form and the local statistics required to ensure that the partnership can effectively scrutinise performance.

Delivery themes

Domestic and sexual violence

• Repeat victimisation
• DHRs

Serious violence

• Knife crime
• Public place serious violence

Community Safety and ASB in localities

• ASB
• Community Safety Tactical Group
• People Zones
• Women’s safety

Prevent and counter extremism

• Prevent Steering Group

Street lifestyle

• Street Lifestyle Ops Group
• Street Lifestyle Enforcement Team

Serious organised crime

• Drug dealing
• Child Criminal Exploitation (County Lines)
• Modern Slavery

Night time economy

• On-street sex work

Community engagement

• Communications
• Campaigns
• JAG
• Community Gold
• Ward meetings

Hate crime

• Black Lives Matter
• Islamophobia including in educational settings

Each lead officer also has to ensure that their theme is delivering across a number of strategic cross-cutting themes.  We know that these cross cutting themes are key components in the tackling of crime and anti-social behaviour and support vulnerable adults and children.

Cross cutting themes

• Prevention and early intervention
• Reducing re-offending
• Mental health
• Substance misuse

Our partnership plan has allowed us to identify and listen to, involve and act on the concerns of the people in Leicester and their representatives.  In addition to ensuring that we monitor progress on our priorities we will be spending the next 12 months reviewing our processes so that we can continue to act on what matters to local people and use statistics to target resources where it is most required.

During the life of this plan, the SLP drive forward a new focus on wider communication so that the work undertaken by the partnership is shared openly and often and that will include campaign material, review of our web-site and use of social media by the partnership.

Our partnership is strong and working together and engaging with our communities, we will seek to identify concerns early and act to tackle, reassure and tell communities what we have done to make a difference to them.