Issue - meetings

The Chair of the Scrutiny Task Group, Councillor Barbara Driver, will present the report.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety will then present his response to the report which is attached.

RESOLVED THAT

1. The Cheltenham Safeguarding Forum consider the task group report at its meeting on 26 April 2013 to discuss how it might support the recommendations.
   
   
2. Similarly the task group report be considered by the Positive Lives Partnership at their meeting on 23 May 2013.
   
   
3. The Designated Safeguarding Officer collate the responses and bring a report back to Cabinet. 
   
   
4. The Chief Executive forward the scrutiny task group report to the Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and the Police and Crime Panel inviting any comments.

The Chair of the Sex trade in Cheltenham Scrutiny Task Group, Councillor Driver, was invited to address Cabinet. She gave a brief overview of the report which had been endorsed by Council on 22 February 2013 and was now being forwarded to Cabinet for approval.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety thanked Councillor Driver and the task group for its report. The task group had recognised that combating sexual exploitation was not a primary role for the council and that there were multi-agency issues that require partners to work together to achieve the best outcomes for the people of Cheltenham. Whilst CBC had a Designated Safeguarding Officer particular reference was made to the Cheltenham Safeguarding Forum, the Positive Lives Partnership and the voluntary and community sector. The Cabinet Member therefore found it difficult that the Cabinet was being asked to agree specific actions for the council outside of the multi-agency approach. He suggested that the Safeguarding Forum consider the report at its meeting on 26 April, the Positive Lives Partnership at its meeting on 23 May and that the Safeguarding Officer collate the responses and bring a report back to Cabinet. He also suggested that the Chief Executive forward the task group report to Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and the Police and Crime Panel inviting any comments.

The Leader of the Council thanked the working group. He said that whilst Cheltenham did not have a specific problem, a problem did exist and it was therefore appropriate to ask the relevant bodies to examine the report and this would then be fedback to Cabinet.

The Chair of the scrutiny task group then requested that these multi-agency bodies also be asked to look into the grooming of young people as the scrutiny task group had not been able to cover this issue.

The Cabinet Member agreed to take this forward. In addition the Chief Executive explained that one of the strands of work of the Police and Crime Commissioner was a “safe days and nights” group which could cover the issue of grooming of young people. There was also an area of activity on countywide domestic abuse and the Chair of this group was the Executive Director, Pat Pratley. Councillor Driver was therefore invited to feed into this group via this means.

RESOLVED THAT

1. The Cheltenham Safeguarding Forum consider the task group report at its meeting on 26 April 2013 to discuss how it might support the recommendations.

2. Similarly the task group report be considered by the Positive Lives Partnership at their meeting on 23 May 2013.
   
   
3. The Designated Safeguarding Officer collate the responses and bring a report back to Cabinet. 

4. The Chief Executive forward the scrutiny task group report to the Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and the Police and Crime Panel inviting any comments.

A report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee - to be introduced by the Chairman of the committee, Councillor Duncan Smith who will ask Councillor Barbara Driver as chair of the scrutiny task group to introduce their report

Councillor Smith, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee invited Councillor Driver as chair of the scrutiny task group to introduce the report. 

Councillor Driver explained that the issue of the sex trade in Cheltenham was first raised as an issue in June 2012 due to its high profile in the media. The scrutiny task group was set up to investigate the matter and as a result determined that Cheltenham did not have an excessive problem but nonetheless a problem existed. She wished to thank everyone involved for their input including the Police, Social Services and the BBC.

The Mayor referred to the updated recommendations as tabled and

Upon a vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that

1.      The recommendations of the Scrutiny Task Group set out at 7.1 of the Scrutiny Task Group report (and below a-e) be endorsed and forwarded to Cabinet for approval :

a)     That the council should work with the Police, Public Protection Bureau and voluntary organisations to identify emergency facilities where vulnerable people can be housed safely for a short period. This will allow for victims to receive appropriate emotional support from trained professionals whilst also allowing the Police a sufficient period of time to interview them and build a case for prosecution.

b)      That all Councillors should attend awareness sessions on safeguarding issues, particularly to learn about the warning signs that children, young people and vulnerable adults often exhibit if they are being abused or exploited. As community representatives with local knowledge and local intelligence, Councillors are in a good position to contribute towards this agenda.

c)      That the council assist the Police and Public Protection Bureau in producing, promoting and distributing information to those who may be at risk of sexual exploitation or already be victims of it, to let them know where they can go for help and assistance. The task group recognises the challenges involved in making this information accessible to those who are fearful of authority or many not speak English as a first language. 

d)     That the council support the work of the Public Protection Bureau in raising awareness of prostitution and potential sexual exploitation. One issue focuses around making hoteliers more aware of the potential for their premises to be used for prostitution and exploitation purposes, and in response the task group recommends that the council use its links to the Cheltenham Hoteliers Associate to raise awareness of this issue, particularly in relevant periods such as the run up to ‘race week’. 

e)     That a greater focus should be placed on producing high quality quantitative data on the scale and nuance of sexual exploitation in Cheltenham, and Gloucestershire as a whole. The task group recognises that the Police are already taking steps to address this issue, however as an intelligence-led area of policing, the importance of understanding the true scale of the issues we face so that we can work together with as partners to coordinate appropriate levels of response, cannot be underestimated. 

2.      The Chief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10