Audit Commision Reports
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Inspection report August 2005 Community Safety West Dorset District Council p 2 - Community Safety Contents Summary 3 Scoring the service 4 Recommendations 6 Report 8 Context 8 The locality 8 The Council 8 Community Safety – context of this inspection 9 How good is the service? 10 What has the service aimed to achieve? 10 Is the service meeting the needs of the local community and users? 11 ce delivering value for money? 19 Summary 20 What are the prospects for improvement to the service? 20 What is the service track record in delivering improvement? 20 How well does the service manage performance? 22 Does the service have the capacity to improve? 24 Summary 25 Appendices 26 Documents reviewed 26 Reality checks undertaken 26 List of people interviewed 27 Focus groups 27 Improving public services 29 - Community Safety p 3 Summary 1. West Dorset District Council is a largely rural district with a large area of outstanding natural beauty and includes the towns of Dorchester, Sherborne, Bridport, Lyme Regis, Beaminster and Chickerell. 2. The population of the district is growing and is currently 95,000. A higher than average number of people are of pensionable age. 3.3 per cent of the population are non-white or non-British. Unemployment is low, but average earnings are also low and house prices high. 3. The Council comprises 48 councillors – 26 Conservative, 12 Liberal Democrat and 10Independent. The Council is ...
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| Publié par | Vowyar |
| Nombre de lectures | 18 |
| Langue | English |
Extrait
Inspection report
August 2005
Community Safety
West Dorset District Council
p 2 - Community Safety Contents Summary Scoring the service Recommendations Report Context The locality The Council Community Safety context of this inspection How good is the service? What has the service aimed to achieve? Is the service meeting the needs of the local community and users? Is the service delivering value for money? Summary What are the prospects for improvement to the service? What is the service track record in delivering improvement? How well does the service manage performance? Does the service have the capacity to improve? Summary Appendices Documents reviewed Reality checks undertaken List of people interviewed Focus groups Improving public services
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Summary 1.West Dorset District Council is a largely rural district with a large area of outstanding natural beauty and includes the towns of Dorchester, Sherborne, Bridport, Lyme Regis, Beaminster and Chickerell. 2. A higher thanThe population of the district is growing and is currently 95,000. average number of people are of pensionable age. 3.3 per cent of the population are non-white or non-British. Unemployment is low, but average earnings are also low and house prices high. 3.The Council comprises 48 councillors 26 Conservative, 12 Liberal Democrat and 10Independent. The Council is governed by a politically balanced executive. The Council employs 446 staff and its net budget for spending on services in 2005/06 is £11.5 million. 4.Community safety is a key responsibility for all councils, who must be mindful of crime and disorder prevention when planning and delivering services. Crime and disorder is relatively low in West Dorset. The Council is a member of the Western Dorset Crime and Reduction Partnership (CDRP) which includes key partners such as the police and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. This inspection is focused on the contribution of West Dorset District Council to community safety within this partnership context, and does not comment directly on the work of other partners.
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Scoring the service 5.We have assessed the Council as providing a good two-star service that has promising prospects for improvement. Our judgements are based on the evidence obtained during the inspection and are outlined below. Scoring chart1 Dorset District Council Community Safety: West Prospects for improvement? Poor Fair Good Excellent Excellent
Promising Uncertain
a good service that has promising A goodrospects for service?improvement
Poor 6.The service is good because: crime and disorder is low in West Dorset and the district is relatively a very safe place to live and visit when compared nationally; the Council is clear about its broad aims for community safety which are appropriate for a low crime area; the Council provides a good quality of service and a range of activities and initiatives related to community safety; good use is being made by the Council of anti-social behaviour remedies and in addressing town centre crime; some good progress has been made by the Council in mainstreaming community safety within its services; the Council maintains the quality and cleanliness of the district and is aware of the key link of this to community safety; and the Council works well in partnership to deliver community safety. 7.Areas still to address include: community planning is still in its early stages in West Dorset and is not yet fully effective or linked with the local Crime and Disorder Partnership; the Councils impact on reducing the fear of crime is not known and it does not yet have baseline data to measure fear of crime adequately or to understand the reasons for it; and
1The scoring chart displays performance in two dimensions. The horizontal axis shows how good the service or function is now, on a scale ranging from no stars for a service that is poor (at the left-hand end) to three stars for an excellent service (right-hand end). The vertical axis shows the improvement prospects of the service, also on a four-point scale.
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the Councils impact in assuring that positive messages on community safety are given to the public is mixed. 8.The prospects of the Council improving the service are promising because: the Councils track record in delivering community safety improvement initiatives is generally good; the Council responds positively to legislative change and to external inspection and audit; performance management is developing and the Councils corporate, service planning, monitoring, reporting and review cycle is established; the Council has improved community safety staffing capacity; and external capacity is used effectively through good partnership working, shared funding, and joint posts. 9.Areas still to address include: service planning arrangements have been inconsistent in assuring mainstreaming across the Council; target setting and arrangements for addressing the fear of crime and an effective communications and media strategy are not yet in place; the Council learns from its own experience, but does not yet make full use of consultation and complaints to inform its work; councillor engagement with, ownership and knowledge of community safety are under-developed; and community safety training for staff or councillors is not regularly provided.
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Recommendations 10.To rise to the challenge of continuous improvement, councils need inspection reports that offer practical pointers for improvement. In this context, the inspection team makes the following recommendations for the Council to improve its community safety services to the public: Ensure that the revised community plan includes indicators of performance and has clear links to other key strategies - not least the Dorset Crime and Drugs Reduction Strategy - and addresses medium and longer term aims. Evaluate the full extent to which each service supports community safety, addressing any gaps and ensuring that such mainstreaming opportunities are consistently identified and refreshed. to support community safety is monitoredEnsure that action by all services for timely delivery through the service planning and review processes in the Council both at director and group levels. Develop local performance indicators and evaluate and report the impact, including value for money of all initiatives to reduce crime and disorder. Improve work on reducing the fear of crime by establishing a baseline, analysing and using data more effectively, setting and implementing a strategy and creating challenging and SMART targets. Improve communication to the public to improve the perception of fear of crime. Improve the level of councillor awareness of community safety issues and their responsibilities. Provide training for all staff, including induction training and refresher briefings, to ensure that all staff understand community safety and the Councils eyes-and-ears policy from the outset.
11.We would like to thank the staff of West Dorset District Council and all the people who participated in the inspection, particularly members of the community safety team and all those who participated in our interviews and focus groups. Kelvin Pattison Susan Pepper Inspectors Dates of inspection: 20 to 24 June 2005 Email: k-pattison@audit-commission.gov.uk s-pepper@audit-commission.gov.uk
For more information please contact Audit Commission Southern Region Westward House Lime Kiln Close Stoke Gifford Bristol BS34 8SU www.audit-commission.gov.uk Telephone: 0117 988 7700
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Report Context 12.This report has been prepared by the Audit Commission (the Commission) following an inspection under Section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999, and issued in accordance with its duty under Section 13 of the 1999 Act. The locality 13.The population covered by West Dorset District Council is approximately 95,000. It is not densely populated at 87 people per square kilometre, compared to 380 on average for England. When compared to national figures, the district has an above average number of people of pensionable age (28 per cent, the national average is 18 per cent). Within the population 3.3 per cent are non-white or non-British. 14.and 78 per cent of the district is subject toWest Dorset is a rural area environmental designations, including areas of outstanding natural beauty and 38 km of World Heritage status coast. The district attracts more than 5 million visitors per year. The district includes the town of Dorchester where most of the Councils officers are based and the towns of Sherborne, Bridport, Lyme Regis, Beaminster and Chickerell. More than one half of the districts residents live in these towns and the remainder live in small villages and some relatively isolated rural areas. 15.Unemployment in West Dorset is low at less than 1 per cent compared with the national average of 2.5 per cent. The Council reports that 34 per cent of the households in the district have at least one person with a serious health problem or disability. Average earnings within the district are £346 per week, below the national average of £402 per week. House prices are high at an average of £211,496 compared to an average of £163,693 for England and Wales. 16.According to Home Office figures, crime is low in West Dorset at 61 crimes per 1,000 population (2003/04). This is lower than Dorset County as a whole (64 crimes/1,000) and less than half the national rate for England and Wales (113 crimes/1000). The Council 17.The Council comprises 48 councillors 26 Conservative, 12 Liberal Democrat and 10 Independent. The Council is governed by a leader and an executive which is balanced politically. The remaining councillors make up the three overview and scrutiny committees. 18.The Council is managed by a Chief Executive and three directorates - Corporate Resources, Planning and Environment and Community Services. The Councils Community Protection Division has primary responsibility for community safety and this sits within the Councils Community Services Directorate. The Community Protection Division includes building control, housing, environmental health, community safety, licensing and response to civil contingencies (emergency planning). 19.The Councils priorities as listed in its 2005-2009 Corporate Plan are: achieving a balanced housing market; protecting and enhancing the environment; increasing prosperity;
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improving the safety of communities; promoting recreation and community fulfilment; promoting healthier communities; championing local transport needs; and ensuring a well-managed Council. 20.The Councils aims for community safety in its Crime and Disorder Reduction Implementation Plan 2005-06 include: investigating and tackling anti-social behaviour; monitoring incidents of discrimination; addressing the fear of crime; targeting domestic violence, violent crime, burglary and vehicle crime; and considering crime and disorder implications across all its services. 21.The Councils planned net spending on services in 2005/064 is £11.5 million. The Council employs approximately 446 full time equivalent people (FTE). The Councils budget for community safety for 2005/06 is £130,0002. Community Safety context of this inspection 22.The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced new statutory requirements and powers for councils and police forces, designating these bodies as responsible authorities with specific legal obligations. Later legislation extended this to include police authorities, primary care trusts and fire authorities. Sections 5 and 6 of the Act require responsible authorities to develop and implement a crime and disorder reduction strategy based on a local audit of crime and disorder and public consultation. The audit and strategy are reviewed every three years. The responsible authorities are required to establish crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) to deliver their strategies. 23.A Western Dorset CDRP covers the areas of West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. The County has recently published its third strategy - Dorset Crime & Drugs Reduction Strategy 2005-2008 - and this includes the strategy for the Western Dorset CDRP. The Dorset Crime and Drugs Reduction Strategy 2005-2008 has the following shared priorities and these are adopted by the Western Dorset CDRP as its priorities: reducing the fear of crime; tackling anti-social behaviour and criminal damage; tackling violent crime including alcohol related crime and domestic violence; tackling discrimination; reducing the harm caused by the misuse of drugs and alcohol; and tackling domestic and commercial burglary, vehicle crime and theft. 24.Community safety and the prevention of crime and disorder is a key responsibility for all councils. Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 requires that: Without prejudice to any other obligations imposed upon it, it shall be the duty of each authority to exercise its various functions with due regard to the likely effect 2This is mainly the cost of the staff directly employed by the Council in community safety and does not include spend on initiatives such as CCTV.
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of the exercise of those functions on, and the need to do all it reasonably can to prevent crime and disorder in its area. 25.mindful of crime and disorder reduction whenThis means that councils must be planning and delivering each core service and this has become known as mainstreaming. Councils should ensure that activities within their communities take into account reduction and prevention of crime and disorder, anti-social behaviour and fear of crime. Councils are also expected to work with relevant local groups, such as businesses and voluntary organisations as well as their formal partners in the CDRP, Drug Action Team, and Youth Offending Team to tackle crime and disorder. 26.The Act also created new orders, for example provision for councils to obtain an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) when a person aged ten years or over has been behaving in an anti-social manner and where it is necessary to protect others from further unreasonable behaviour from that person. These are imposed for at least two years and any breach constitutes a criminal offence. 27.In addition to the Crime and Disorder Act, the CDRP must also comply with other national policy and legislation, including: the Race Relations (Amendment Act) 2000, the Police Reform Act, the National Policing Plan 2002 and more recent government strategy on reducing anti-social behaviour, on drugs and alcohol related disorder and in addressing prolific and priority offenders (PPOs). 28.This inspection is focused on the community safety service provided by West Dorset District Council within its partnership context. To help inform and guide this, the Council completed a self assessment of its community safety service in May 2005. How good is the service? 29.We have assessed the extent to which the Council delivers a good community safety service using three key questions. What has the service aimed to achieve? of the local community and users?Is the service meeting the needs Is the service delivering value for money? What has the service aimed to achieve? 30.In working to reduce crime and disorder the Council is clear about its broad aims. Improving the safety of communities is one of the Councils eight corporate priorities. 31.The aims of the Councils Community Protection Division are clearly linked to the Councils overall priorities. For example, as well as improving community safety, the service aims to increase prosperity of the area by encouraging private sector investment and tourism, to ensure people feel safe in their communities, to protect and enhance the environment and promote recreation and community fulfilment. 32.The Council successfully balances local needs and national priorities in its aims. The Councils community safety service aims are appropriate for a low crime area and reflect local needs and support the priorities of the Western Dorset CDRP as stated within the Dorset Crime and Drugs Reduction Strategy 2005-2008. These aims are based on consultation with the public. The Councils community safety implementation plan includes focus on the six main national crime types (violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, domestic burglary, theft of a motor vehicle and theft from a motor vehicle) and the Council and the CDRP has a shared target to reduce these by 15 per cent by 2008.
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33.The Council ensures good strategic links with the CDRP aims, its corporate plan, across its individual service plans and within other associated strategies all of which include community safety aims. For example, community safety aims are clear in the local plan for the district and within the Councils housing and homelessness strategies. This cohesive thread of aims through the CDRP, crime reduction strategy, other strategies, the Councils corporate and service plans helps the Council to maintain a clear focus on community safety. 34.Community planning however is still in its early stages in West Dorset and is not yet fully effective or linked with the CDRP. The West Dorset Partnership, the local strategic partnership (LSP) produced its first community plan for 2004-2005. The plan is basic and short term. Although some objectives for safe communities are included, they do not include SMART targets or arrangements for monitoring and reporting success. The community plan is not clearly linked to the Western Dorset Crime and Drugs Reduction Strategy. As a result it is not clear what the role and impact of the community plan is in reducing crime and disorder and the fear of crime, or its medium and longer term aims for community safety. The community plan is currently under review. 35.aspects of the Councils community safetySpecific aims and targets for some work and to reduce the fear of crime are not clear. Fear of crime is disproportionably high, compared to the actual level of crime in the area and reducing the fear of crime is a priority for the CDRP. However, neither the CDRP nor the Council sets clear and challenging aims and targets to reduce this. The Council does not set targets for all its community safety activities and initiatives. The Council is therefore unable to demonstrate its impact, or the effects of activities and initiatives in reducing crime and disorder and fear of crime. Is the service meeting the needs of the local community and users? 36.We have assessed the extent to which the Council meets the needs of the local community for community safety by looking at the following areas: the quality of service provided by the Council in community safety; the mainstreaming of community safety within the Council; the impact the Council has on reducing crime and disorder and fear of crime; how the service meets the needs of all sections of the community; and how the Council works within the CDRP and with other partners. The quality of service provided by the Council in community safety 37.The Council provides a good range of activities and initiatives related to community safety and a high quality of service to its stakeholders and residents. 38.crime and disorder and fear of crimeIn activities designed to reduce the level of the Council either provides, supports financially or delivers through partnership working a good level of service. This is especially evident in its support for CCTV and in its emphasis on reducing anti-social behaviour. 39.The Council provides part-funding for a 24 hour CCTV scheme in Bridport, which will extend to Dorchester this summer. The scheme is provided in partnership with Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and is effectively monitored from a CCTV monitoring station in Weymouth. The CCTV scheme in Bridport is linked to local pub and shop watch systems, some local council employees, for example car park attendants, and the police. The scheme is of a high quality and has been
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