Agenda item

To provide the Committee with an update and summary of the Let’s Work Together (LWT) initiative.

The Committee considered a report from Mark Bailey, Head of Business Improvement & Partnerships, regarding the Let’s Work Together (LWT) initiative, which had been designed to ensure that home visitors were equipped with the basic skills to spot risks in and around the home, and to provide home visitors with the tools to refer such issues to the appropriate organisation. LWT stemmed from the Olive Branch Initiative, where an elderly lady had died in her own home - the death could have been prevented by partners working together.

LWT was officially launched in Newcastle in November 2012 and the first training module took place earlier in the day on 28 February 2013. There were a number of focus areas for the project, including information sharing between partners. A lot of progress had been made with regard to information sharing, including the development of a One Staffordshire Information Sharing Protocol and also the development of software to share data (Patchwork).

This kind of partnership working was considered positively by Members, who felt that it was important for the private and the public sectors to work together. Members had previously asked whether they would have the opportunity to take the Olive Branch training and questioned whether there had been any developments with this. There was the intention to roll out the Olive Branch training to other organisations and there was no reason why Members could not be included. The Chair felt that it should be ensured that Members were given the opportunity to take the training.

The Council’s Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) Co-ordinator gave a summary of the training that had taken place that day, with the training presentation being distributed to the committee. There had been good attendance and discussion regarding what the Council offered for vulnerable people and the action that was taken against the perpetrators. This was module 1 of the training, the attendees had highlighted other people who would benefit from the training and the Council had been requested to conduct another session in April. 85% of the attendees had been satisfied with the training.

The ASB figures contained in the presentation were split into Local Authority Partnership (LAP) areas, and ASB figures would be provided at LAP meetings to ensure LAPs were kept informed. Members considered that there was a difference in the populations across the LAP areas and Newcastle Borough should be considered as a whole in terms of ASB. It was also advised that there were trends with ASB and figures would change from month to month for different areas.

Members felt the 236 cases of ASB that had been received via the Community Safety Team seemed a high figure, and asked if there were comparative figures for other authorities. These would be provided by the ASB Co-ordinator. The ASB Co-ordinator advised that the profile of the service offered by the Council could be raised, as a lot of residents were not aware of it. There were referrals from the Police, who dealt with criminal activity as opposed to the Council who dealt with ASB. Members noted that the ASB figures could be higher than 236 cases as a lot of cases could go unreported. The ASB Co-ordinator concurred and asked for Members to let her know if they were aware of any residents suffering due to ASB.

A report regarding anti-social behaviour would be brought to a future meeting of the Committee. The obvious focus for LWT was for the prevention of incidents; however more modules were being planned to focus on risk areas such as debt, and Members were encouraged to get in touch with the Head of Business Improvements and Partnerships if they had ideas they wished to put forward for this.

The Head of Business Improvements and Partnerships would work with the Scrutiny Officer with regard to holding a Members training session for the LWT initiative.

RESOLVED:                        (a) That the information be received.

(b) That comparative figures for anti-social behaviour be provided to the Committee. 

(c) That a report regarding anti-social behaviour be received at a future meeting of the Committee.

(d) That a Member training session for the Let’s Work Together initiative be held.