PAPER B

REPORT TO POLICY COMMISSION FOR SAFER COMMUNITIES

Date : 2 NOVEMBER 2006

Subject : CORPORATE ENFORCEMENT (Saf4/05)

Report of : ROB OWEN, HEAD OF CONSUMER PROTECTION

SUMMARY/PURPOSE

1. This report is to update the Commission on the outcomes from the Corporate Enforcement Workshop which was held on 17 October 2006.

ATTENDANCE

2. Those in attendance at the workshop were as follows:

3. Cllrs Williams, Wood, Ward, Hunter-Henderson, Joyce, Scoccia, Pugh, Wells, Humby, Abraham, Churchman, Tuson, Sutton.

4. Officers: Joe Duckworth, April West, Vanda Niemiec, Rob Owen, Ian Sandbrook, Sarah Mitchell, Richard Stone, Warren Haynes, Steve Cornwell, John Lutas, Steve Boswell, Alan Barnes, Pete Griffiths, Steve Milford, Heather Lovell, Alex Hicks, Paul Street, Alec Southcott, Steve Apter.

PRESENTATIONS

5. An introduction to the workshop was provided by Cllr Andy Sutton and Joe Duckworth. Presentations on enforcement describing activity in different areas of the Council were then provided by:

· Ian Sandbrook – Children’s Services

· Steve Boswell – Environment and Neighbourhoods

· Steve Cornwell – Planning

· John Lutas – Building Control Manager

· Warren Haynes – Environmental Health

· Richard Stone – Trading Standards

· Heather Lovell – Safer Communities

· Steve Apter – Fire and Rescue

· Pete Griffiths – Housing

GROUP WORK

6. Those present at the workshop then split into 4 groups, based on a four block approach to enforcement, to discuss the advantages/disadvantages of current working practices; whether there were new ways of working which should be considered; what other enforcement activities could sit within that block; what were the barriers to new ways of working; and how enforcement activity can generally be improved.

7. The four blocks are as follows:

· Planning and Building Control

· Premises Based Enforcement

· Environmental Crime

· Highways, inc. De-Criminalised Parking

GROUP WORK FEEDBACK

8. All four groups reported back the following areas as issues/suggestions for improvement:

· Sharing of data between departments needs to be improved. The introduction of a corporate GIS system onto which all enforcement data could be downloaded, would assist effective targeted enforcement through the identification of high risk premises/hot spots.

· Clear protocols which detail enforcement responsibilities being developed; this will assist in informing which department is responsible for which enforcement area.

· Internal and external communication clarifying which department is responsible for which enforcement area being improved (inc. Parish and Town Councils).

· Explore the overlapping licensing / permitting functions across the authority in order to be more effective.

· Establishing a clear contact point for the public, elected members and staff to use to report incidents that may require enforcement action (based on SNEN).

· Resources.

9. Staff involved in enforcement activity should continue to specialise in their service area, but the sharing of information is essential.

10. Other suggestions included joint training, in particular on the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The in-house prosecutors’ forum could assist with this.

Date: 24 October 2006

Contact Point : Rob Owen, Head of Consumer Protection ' 826388, email [email protected]