Agenda item
Partner Updates
Minutes:
Police Scotland
8. Inspector Wood advised that the Eildon Area continued to enjoy being a safe place to live, work and visit and an area of relatively low crime. Police Scotland were pleased to announce that recently published crime figures supported this continued trend. Also pleasing to announce was that during the year to date there had been a significant reduction in minor assaults, disturbance and anti-social behaviour across the Eildon Area. This was in no small part due to hard work and dedication of the local officers who continued to work pro-actively to deter, disrupt and detect the catalysts for such crimes, these being alcohol, drug and substance abuse and supply. In relation to drugs in particular, which was often the trigger for these types of crimes, officers in the Eildon Area had removed drugs with a value of almost £70,000 from the community. This illustrated the intention of Police Scotland to leave no stone unturned in their commitment to fighting this scourge on society. In relation to Common Ridings, Gatherings and local festivals, Inspector Wood announced that, with a few exceptions (namely a couple of medical incident resulting from spills from the saddle) events in the Eildon Area passed without any significant incidents of note which was as a direct result of considerable work and input from a number of agencies and individuals working together. Police Scotland along with the SBC Emergency Planning Team were pleased that all the main events were subjected to the Safety Advisory Group or SAG process this year, with obvious rewards. The Licensing Officers, working with the Councils Licensing Dept, reported that having carried out proactive work prior to and during events Licensees responded in a positive manner, resulting in a safe and trouble free environment.
9. The protection of property had seen a slight rise in the number of reported break-ins to both business and domestic properties and as was usual when a trend emerged, Police Scotland reacted to address this by targeting it with resources and local initiatives. As a result of analysis carried out, the local Community Policing Teams were out in the community engaging on a one-to-one basis with householders, distributing information on the security of property and possessions, as well as offering crime prevention surveys on properties by specialist officers. The response officers for their part had been tasked as part of their routine patrols, to give special attention to business premises out-with normal working hours and report any concerns they had in relation to the security of buildings, yards, outbuildings etc. Any such concerns reported results in a letter being sent to the business, outlining the issue noted and again giving crime prevention advice and offering a full premises survey to enhance security. Inspector Wood went onto report that as of the 17th of August, Police Scotland were promoting the National Hate crime campaign. This was scheduled to run for four weeks and would cover different strands. The purpose was to raise awareness on what hate crime was, how it affected victims, families and communities and would include information on the methods available for reporting such instances/crimes. The campaign would run on social media platforms and posters would be distributed in public areas and within schools and more information would be contained on the Police Scotland website. The Safer Communities Dept based within SBC had secured funding to purchase forensic marking kits and these would be distributed in the main to farms throughout the Borders and assistance given to farmers in utilising these kits to mark their property. Scottish Fire & Rescue Service community officers would work alongside police community officers to carry this out. The opportunity would also be taken to give prevention and fire safety advice during these visits. During week commencing Monday, 24 August there was an initiative throughout the Borders to give attention to ‘vulnerable road users’, which would focus on children, cyclists and pedestrians travelling to and from school, including in a vehicle and involved the community and schools officers working together to carry out patrols around schools at the beginning and end of the school day. The student safety campaign would be launched on 31 August 205 and more information would be circulated and publicised via the social media sites and would include a film and quiz.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
10. Mr Langley referred to the five priorities within the Local Fire and Rescue Plan 2014-2017 for the Scottish Borders and gave details of recent activity within the area. He advised that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) community action team (CAT) core work centred on the on-going delivery of the SFRS Home Fire Safety Visit (HFSV) policy. The team continued to expand its partnership working with the key agencies including Police Scotland, Health, Social Care and Housing in order to focus on members of local communities at high risk from fire and achieve positive outcomes in helping to reduce overall numbers of accidental dwelling fires. Mr Langley went on to give details of how this partnership working was operating. This included work with the local Domestic Abuse Advocacy Service and involvement in the Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC).Staff in all local stations provided home fire safety visits all year round. Smoke detectors with a 10-year battery life were provided as part of this free service. The Make It Or Break It programme which targeted 16 to 20 year old drivers with the aim to reduce road accidents and deaths in the age group continued to run in the Scottish Borders with the latest input in July at Scottish Borders College, Galashiels. Wendy Cameron, Employment Development Officer, was working with Galashiels Blue Watch to support the EVOLVE programme which provided personal development opportunities to enable individuals aged 15 to 17 years of age to maximise their full potential in reaching their career choices. SFRS Scottish Borders staff were highly active and effective during the SFRS Week of Action which took place in June and was an initiative targeting resources at those identified as at risk from fire. Fire safety audits provided a targeted examination of business premises and their relevant documents to ascertain how the premises were being managed regarding fire safety. The enforcement officer also engaged with members of staff to confirm their level of fire safety awareness. Unwanted fire signals were being addressed by phased intervention actions which identified premise which were producing ‘false alarms’ and provided guidance on how to reduce a reoccurrence, and could also evoke legislation if occurrences fail to reduce in number (Borders General Hospital had been identified as a high offender through the UFAS Policy. SFRS were working with hospital staff to look as ways of reducing the number of false alarms generated at the premises. SFRS Safeguarding Policy and Procedure for Protection of Children and Adults at Risk of Harm was implemented to link into adult and school protection. The policy had created closer ties with Social Services within Scottish Borders and ensured those people and families which fire crews identified as at risk were brought to the attention of Social Services and had resulted in joint visits to homes to reduce risk to those occupiers. Moving into Autumn the seasonal community safety calendar and thematic action plan would focus SFRS activities on Older/Vulnerable Persons, Student safety/Electrical safety/Chimney safety and Bonfire safety. He advised that a national recruitment campaign was on-going for RDS firefighters at identified stations within the Scottish Borders. Galashiels and Lauder stations were currently recruiting staff. A local initiative was run in partnership with Radio Borders that included acknowledgement to local employers for release of employees to serve their local community. The Multi Ward Operating Plan for Eildon 2015/16 was complete and available within the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Web page.
DECISION
NOTED.
NHS Borders
11. An update on current activity was given by NHS Borders Employee Director, John McLaren. He referred to the media interest in the ongoing review of inpatient services and that NHS Borders would develop a full and robust engagement process. The outcome of a consultation with Community Councils on the Out Of Hours service in NHS Borders had been shared with the Scottish Health Council and was awaiting their feedback. This would result in the business continuity plan approach being put in place permanently. In the meantime a national Review of Out Of Hours service provision was being carried out. Mr McLaren reminded members of the Forum that Accident and Emergency figures were available on the NHS Borders website presented on a weekly basis.
DECISION
NOTED the partner updates.