The Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee were scheduled to meet to discuss hate crime, drug and alcohol misuse, community protection services and the council's performance against strategic objectives. The meeting was also scheduled to include a review of the minutes from the previous meeting.

Combating Drugs and Alcohol

The committee was scheduled to receive an annual update on the Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Programme in County Durham for 2024/25. The update included the progress against the delivery of the Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Delivery Plan.

The report noted that drug and alcohol misuse has wide-ranging impacts on society, contributing to poor health, family breakdown, domestic abuse, child neglect, crime, antisocial behaviour, reduced productivity and poor educational outcomes for young people.

The County Durham and Darlington Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Delivery Plan has three strategic priorities:

• To break the supply chain
• To deliver world-class treatment and recovery systems
• To achieve the shift in demand for recreational use

The report highlighted that County Durham has a high level of drug and alcohol needs, with 16.5% of the population deemed income-deprived. It was noted that deprivation is strongly correlated with drug and alcohol use.

The report also included data on alcohol-specific deaths and hospital admissions in County Durham, which are statistically worse than England as a whole.

In 2023, alcohol-specific mortality, in County Durham, for all persons was 23.4/100k. This was statistically significantly worse than England (15.0/100k) and statistically similar to the North East (25.7/100k). This related to deaths that are specifically attributable to alcohol e.g. alcoholic liver disease.

It was noted that the North East now has a higher rate of alcohol-specific deaths than Scotland.

Regarding substance misuse, the report stated that the substance misuse-related death rate per 100,000 population in County Durham is higher than the all-England figure over time and has increased at a faster rate than the national increase.

The report provided updates on progress made in County Durham by all partners to work towards the strategic priorities, including:

• Neighbourhood crimes
• Homicides related to alcohol and drugs
• Number of county lines closed
• Number of moderate/major disruptions
• Volume and number of drug and alcohol seizures
• Continuity of care
• Numbers in treatment for alcohol and drugs
• Unmet need for alcohol and drug treatment
• Inpatient detoxification
• Successful completions
• Numbers in Individual Placement Support¹

The report also detailed work with Balance, the regional alcohol office, to promote opportunities to change the culture around alcohol.

The report recommended that the Safer and Stronger Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the progress made by all partners across County Durham in delivering the Combatting Drugs and Alcohol Delivery Plan for 2024/25, endorse and support the continued strong focus on tackling alcohol-related harm in County Durham, and endorse the commitment to ensuring that the voices and lived experience of service users are central to shaping and guiding efforts to tackle drug and alcohol-related harm in County Durham.

Hate Crime

The committee was scheduled to receive a presentation from Inspector Karl Lowe, Durham Constabulary, providing an overview of hate crime.

The presentation defined hate crime as any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity. It was noted that a victim can experience more than one type of hate crime.

The presentation also covered non-crime hate incidents, which are behaviours motivated by hostility or prejudice that do not amount to a criminal offence.

Examples of hate crimes include physical assault, verbal abuse, criminal damage, harassment, murder, sexual assault, theft, fraud, hate mail, online abuse, displaying discriminatory literature, graffiti, and arson.

The presentation outlined how hate crime can be reported to Durham Police via 999 in an emergency, 101 when it's not an emergency, or online via the force website.

The Joint Hate Crime Action Group works in partnership to agree and implement a coordinated approach to issues associated with hate crime, including collecting and analysing intelligence, taking a zero-tolerance approach, ensuring meaningful consequences for perpetrators, and commissioning support for victims and witnesses.

The presentation included statistics on recorded hate crime in County Durham.

Community Protection Service

The committee was scheduled to receive a presentation on enforcement and intervention activity by the council's Community Protection Service.

The Community Protection Service consists of Environmental Health, Trading Standards, Licensing and Safer Places.

The presentation was scheduled to provide an overview of the regulatory activity undertaken by the service in relation to Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing.

Trading Standards is responsible for protecting consumers and legitimate businesses by inspecting businesses, providing advice and guidance, investigating complaints, issuing fixed penalty notices and prosecuting where appropriate. Their work is prioritised based on risk to health and wealth.

Environmental Health is responsible for food hygiene and food standards, health and safety at work, air quality, private water supplies, and regulation of 'body art'.

The Licensing team is responsible for administering and enforcing regulations related to the sale and supply of alcohol, entertainment, late-night takeaways, taxis, gambling premises, street trading, and charity collections.

The presentation was scheduled to highlight challenges for 2025, including Licensing Act fees not having increased since 2004, the need for a new tobacco licensing regime, and potential new licensing systems for funeral directors and 'body art'.

Quarter One Performance Management Report

The committee was scheduled to receive the Quarter One, 2025/26 Performance Management Report, which informs members, senior managers, employees and the public of the council's progress towards achieving its strategic ambitions and objectives.

The report noted that Reform UK was elected as the new administration for the council in the May council elections. The interim ambitions, objectives and political direction of the administration were set out in a paper to Cabinet on 21 July following the end of quarter one, 2025/26.

The report marks the beginning of the transition towards aligning the council's performance and reporting arrangements with its new ambitions.

The report contains the most recent performance data available on 30 June 2025, alongside contextual information of activities and events taking place in the first quarter of the 2025/26 financial year (April to June).

The report stated that the council is showing strong performance across its five key strategic ambitions.

For Building Better Communities, 65% of the private sector rented properties covered under the selective licensing scheme are fully licensed, have licences in progress, are exempt or have legal proceedings instigated. The rate of anti-social behaviour incidents across selective licensing areas is better than target.

The report recommended that the Safer and Stronger Overview and Scrutiny Committee note the overall position and direction of travel in relation to quarter one performance (April to June) and the actions being taken to address areas of challenge.