Agenda and minutes

Cllr Malpas (Councillor, Chair NBC), Cllr Hill (Councillor, NBC), Anjona Roy (NREC), Pauline Woodhouse (BMESRP), Rachel Packman (Police), Jenny Campbell (Inspiration FM), Anne Frost (Northamptonshire Carers), Dawn Panter (Northamptonshire Careers),  Kerrie Chennell (NPH),  Alice Morgan (NBC), Nisha Mejer (NBC)*

*Took minutes

Apologies: Matthew Torreson (VIN),  Neelam Aggarwal – Singh (IHWO/NIFF/BMESRP), Rutendo Nyatsine (Community Co Chair, Zimwomen Association), John Rawlings

Cllr Malpas welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Cllr James Hill to the forum. Cllr Hill will be taking over from Cllr Malpas in May 2016 and would like to start to attend future meetings.

Minutes were agreed as a true record.

Item to be added: Hate Crime Prevention Awareness Day on 16^th October.

ACTION: Information to be sent out to the forum.

RN was nominated to be Co Chair and this was approved by the forum.

AF and DP gave a presentation about the group Northamptonshire Carers. The organisation supports carers, and in particular people who care for Dementia sufferers. There are approx. 8000 people who suffer Dementia and unpaid carers save the government £11 billion per year.

The remit of Northamptonshire Carers is to support the needs of the carers after diagnosis of the sufferer and to help the families affected. Many services are offered including sit in services, taking patients to hospital appointments. There is a choir, ukulele group, gym membership and holistic therapies as part of the services. Northampton Carers concentrate on the Dementia Care Advice Service and receive lots of referrals from this.

There is a promotional event 24^th Sept 12 -2pm in Provasi Meldon, Wellingborough. This event is to help raise awareness of their service to all communities.

AF stated that the group is struggling to engage with ethnic groups, and is hoping for feedback with other groups as to why they do not come for support.

AR advised that Wellingborough is a good location for the event and advised the group to approach the Supplementary Schools in that area.

The Hindu community will be celebrating Navatri on 13^th October. Suggested that the group to approach the temple to have a stall there at that time. Also advised to contact Wellingborough Inter Faith Forum and to link to the “Wellingborough Spotted” page on Facebook.

JC asked how many BME communities suffer Dementia. AF and DP stated that this was difficult to find out and there is no concrete evidence. JC asked how the numbers are generated. This was not known by AF and DP. JC asked if the numbers are broken down in geographic area. AF and DP stated that they are.

AR offered to put in a Freedom of Information request for a breakdown of the data as the NHS is collecting this but not sharing it.

ACTION: AR and Northamptonshire Carers already work together and will link together to see if they can help each other.

PW: In October BMESRP are having a quarterly meeting at Northampton General Hospital and the meeting will be about Dementia. Northamptonshire Carers were invited to attend.

KC, Tenancy Estate Manager, gave presentation on how to deal with anti-social behaviour for tenants who live in a house owned by NBC. KC defined anti-social behaviour under the Crime and Policing Act 2014.  Often neighbour disputes could be anti-social behaviour too.

ASB can be reported using the following methods:

•      Telephone – you can report an incident by telephoning us on 0300 330 7003 between the hours of 09:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.  Please note that if the incident is of a criminal nature then you should contact the Police on 101 or if appropriate 999 in an emergency

•      By e-mail - asb@northamptonpartnershiphomes.org.uk

•      In writing – you can write to us at the following address:

            Northampton Partnership Homes

            The Guildhall

            St Giles Square

            Northampton

            NN1 1DE

•      In person – you may visit us at the One Stop Shop at the above address

•      Online – you can report an incident on our website northamptonpartnershiphomes.org.uk

KC  explained the response times of incidents:

1 working day  - Hate related crime, domestic abuse, and violence. Other incidents are 3 working days.

Adjustments are made for language issues.

The first meeting between parties is more of a vulnerability check list. It is to support and to fact find and to gain information. Then an action plan is created after the meeting. Anything hate related is reported to NBC so that they can liaise with each other.

RP asked if officers were getting hate crime training. KC answered that they were getting internal training. RP enquired about the level of training that they were getting. KC stated that they need a better system for training.

AR asked if there is a point of contact for hate crime. KC answered no. AR also asked if there is a policy reviewing them. Wondered if there is a corporate one similar one to NBC. Also questioned how the information would be fed to them.

KC   informed the forum that if the incident involves their tenants then they need to contact them via the methods mentioned earlier.

JC questioned what the difference is between this agency and the police. Raised concern that the work that the agency did was duplicating the work of the police. KC explained that if the incident involving the tenant took place at home, then it is within their remit. Can look into the powers of the tenancy agreement.

KC said that they can access notes from the police. It allows them to have a picture and contact the police so that they can work together. RP thought that having a multiagency approach was a good idea.

AR: If someone racially abuses a neighbour there is very little the police can do. But the NPH could do something. Spoke about the Fiona Pilkington case and the difficulties that arose from this as the information was not joined up.

AR asked how many incidents of Hate Crime are reported to NPH.  KC said the figure is in double figures. The biggest stats of incidents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

PW: For Black History Month, we worked on calendar for events. There are workshops on 30 Oct.

ACTION: NM/AM to send out information about this.

For Diwali all forums will have a presence at the event on 7^th November. There will be an arts workshop taking place for all the community forums to come together for Diwali on Monday 26^th October, 11-3pm in the Guildhall. The wider community are also invited to attend.

JC: suggested that this should happen for different events for forums to do this again.

Solar

AM met with volunteer and organisational support is being given.

JC: This is a huge problem. Do you feel that workshops will take place? Money is being used to create data but nothing happens. Can this be passed on to the NHS?

AM could not comment on whether Solar would loom to continue this particular project in the future, but the group is being supported.

Stop search    

JC: Met with young people to find out what can happen.

Hate Crime:

AM has worked with Luisa Jepson from Northants Police on the Hate Crime Survey. A draft was circulated - there are a few amendments to make to this version. Did survey launched at Umbrella Fair but didn’t work in this environment. Online survey would be a more targeted approach.

Will revisit other things at other meetings.

JC: Two incidents which should stay on the agenda but have been removed. AM : individual incidents…cannot have on agenda due to data protection.

JC: There is a concern that there is drop in numbers of people coming to the forum. Hate crime is a situation and questioned how effective the forum is. Agenda items have to appeal to the public.

Cllr Malpas: Cannot recall incident. Find a way to put in on as an action but we must not actually discuss the actual case.

JC: When people see the agenda they should be able to specifically request to try to get the stats to find out who has underachieved. Need to get an update.

ACTION: AM/NM to get an update on this.

ACTION: Education to be put on the next meeting.

Cllr Malpas: Are BME children improved with education? The schools have moved from comprehensive to academy.

JC: would like exact numbers.

ACTION: Historically there would be a statement that young people are underachieving. What is the status now? How has this changed?  Would like a broad picture specific to Northampton Borough.  Had an influx of Eastern European.

Cllr Malpas: What support is there for the Eastern European population?

NM: Northampton Inter Faith Forum is holding a Faith Walk on 20^th September.

PW: Next NGH user group meeting.

Cllr: Weston Flavell Centre Roadshow. Keep children safe event. They praised Inspiration FM. They are there for 4 days.

JC: 25^th Sept: Breakfast show on Inspiration FM talking about stop search. There is a radio phone in about this issue.

13^th October: Free Human Rights Training by the British Institute of Human Rights. 10am – 4pm,

16^th October: Hate Crime event commemorating the experience of victims. All Saints Church 7-9pm.

29^th October: Fundraising event. Bab Myana. 18 Kingsley Park Terrace. £20. 50% of the money going to Care Without Borders to support action on the refugee crisis.  

Thursday 12 November 6.30 – 8.30pm. The Guildhall, The Holding Room

Thursday 12^th November 18:30 -20:30, The Guildhall