Committee details

About Scrutiny Panel Meetings.

Scrutiny Panel meetings are usually held in public. They give elected members not on the Cabinet an opportunity to examine, discuss and make recommendations about significant issues and decisions.

Scope of the Review

1.      Purpose/Objectives of the Review

To ensure that the approach to dealing with hate crime is embedded and responded to within Northampton Borough Council (NBC)

2.    Outcomes Required

• Increased use of NBC reporting mechanisms
• Continue to raise awareness at all levels within the Council
• Ensure there are competencies to deal with issues of hate crime at all levels within the organisation
• Increase awareness in communities of hate crime/incidents and how to report
• Provision of an Annual Report

3.    Information Required

·        Details of NBC Policies and Procedures

·        Baseline data such as reporting statistics

·        Evidence from Northants Police

·        Hate Crime reporting mechanisms external to Northampton

·        Witness Evidence

4.    Format of Information

• Officer reports/presentations
• Baseline data such as:

Ø      Policies and Procedures

Ø      Statistics

• Published reports such as:

Ø      NBC Cabinet report of 13/10/10 – Hate Crime Policy

Ø      Cross Government Action Plan

• Evidence from the Portfolio Holder (Community Engagement), NBC
• Evidence from the Leader of the Council, NBC
• Evidence from Inspector H Pritchett, Community Safety, Northants Police
• Evidence from M Tunnicliffe, Force Policy Officer, Northants Police
• Evidence from Victim Support
• Evidence from a variety of victims
• Evidence from Officers who have attended the Awareness Training
• Awareness Training for this Scrutiny Panel
• Expert advice from dedicated Anti-Hate Crime Groups such as Stop Hate and Ben Cohen
• Reporting mechanisms external to Northampton
• Witness interviews/evidence

5.    Methods Used to Gather Information

• Minutes of meetings
• Desktop research
• Site Visits to `Hard to Reach Groups’
• Officer reports
• Presentations
• Examples of best practice external to Northampton
• Witness Evidence:-

Ø      Northants Police

Ø      Key Officers

Ø      Portfolio Holder (Community Engagement) – Northampton Borough Council

Ø      Leader of the Council – Northampton Borough Council

Ø      Victim Support Hate Crime Officer

Ø      AbardiArmad, Somalia Co-ordinator, Northampton

Ø      Anjona Roy, Chief Executive, Northampton Race Equality Council

Ø      Equalities Officer, Northampton Borough Council

6.    Co-Options to the Review

None

7   Equality Impact Screening Assessment

• An Equality Impact Screening Assessment to be undertaken on the scope of the Review

8   Evidence gathering Timetable

July 2011 to February 2012

·        21 July 2011 - Scoping Meeting

·        7 September – Evidence gathering

·        3 October  - Evidence gathering

·        28 November  – Evidence gathering

·        19 January 2012 – Evidence gathering (if required)

·         6 February  – Approval of final report

Various site visits will be programmed during this period if required.

Meetings to commence at 6.00 pm

9                    Responsible Officers

Lead Officers          Steve Elsey, Head of Public Protection

                                Debbie Ferguson, Community Safety Manager

Bill Edwards, Neighbourhoods, Licensing and Support Team Leader

Co-ordinator              Tracy Tiff, Scrutiny Officer

10   Resources and Budgets

Steve Elsey, Head of Public Protection, Debbie Ferguson, Community Safety Manager and Bill Edwards, Neighbourhoods, Licensing and Support to provide internal advice.

11     Final report presented by:

Completed by 6 February 2012.  Presented by the Chair of the Panel to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and then to Cabinet.

12     Monitoring procedure:

Review the impact of the report after six months (September/October 2012)