Agenda item

Objective : To update O&S on the work being carried out by the Cheltenham Community Safety Partnership in response to the “Your experiences, your voice – Life in Cheltenham for young women” report and event.

Information/Briefing note from Safeguarding and Partnerships Manager – Tracy Brown and Head of Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships – Richard Gibson.

 The Head of Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships introduced the briefing note along with Councillor Jamieson (Cabinet Member for Safety and Communities) and the Safeguarding and Partnerships Manager.  He stated that he was only bringing a briefing note to the committee at this stage as there was still a work to be done to complete an action plan

The Chair highlighted the presentation that was made in 2024 when the St. Giles Trust were commissioned to assist with understanding the exploitation of children and young people in the borough, particularly young women and girls.  She stated that when she attended the presentation hearing directly from young people and the issues they are faced with on a daily basis was very impactful.

The Head of Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships explained that the report illustrates that children and young people feel unsafe after dark, and feel that there are multiple barriers to seeking help.  Another big issue for the young people was that there was nothing to do or safe places to be.  Though he did mention that there is now a youth café at Smokey Joes every Thursday with an average of 40 young people attending every session.

The online survey that was carried out had 177 responses, it is not known what the response rate was unknown, but it does give a rich picture of the issues facing women and young girls in the town, that will be abel to be shared in more detail  due course.  50% of young women who responded had felt harassed and only 16% felt heard.  NCLB are committed to working with the community safety partnership to develop a robust action plan in response. The Cabinet Member is also working with safeguarding domestic abuse champions.

Members had submitted questions ahead of the meeting, these were published ahead of the meeting and there were no further questions based on the answers already provided.

The committee were then invited to ask any questions, the responses of which were as follows:

-        The full report and action plan will come back to the committee as an update.

-       With  regards to women and young girls voices continuing to be heard,  the NCLB team are constantly checking and monitoring any feedback via Youth Voice and that will ensure what is being done will make a difference.

-       There is work being done through the Police to ensure that young people feel safer during race week for example the porta-loos have been moved away from Pittville School.  The Council has engaged with the local police, met with girls who attend the school and the headteacher, which ensures that girls are feeling heard.

-       The council are working with the St Giles Trust with regards to boys and young men, there is work being done on a safeguarding review around exploitation and harassment for all children.

A Member commented with regard to a recent case that had been in the press, a lady was abused in Winchcombe Street by 8-10 teenage males.  She reported it to the police, who closed the case after 3 days after taking no further action.  She then posted on TikTok and the police admitted their mistake and reopened the case and appealed for more information, this case demonstrates that there is still a long way to go in dealing with these cases.

-       The information that has been gathered by the survey so far has been shared with the police and this will be filtered down into the constabulary.

-       There is a teacher representative on the NCLB board who feeds back to all the schools.

The Head of Communities, Partnerships and Wellbeing explained to the committee that there is no reason why they can’t ask questions and hold the police to account.  He did note that the Council enjoys a good working relationship with the police but acknowledged that their resources can be stretched at times

The Safeguarding and Partnerships Manager explained that there has been some bystander training for professionals, particularly those involved in the night time economy.  She also confirmed that there is a link with the Purple Flag plus NCLB is connected to national organisations such as  St Giles and also the Children’s Society, through this there could be an opportunity to get funding for work in Cheltenham.

The Chair thanked the officers and the cabinet member for attending and hoped that the matter would come back to the committee in due course.