This meeting was scheduled to involve a review of the Scrutiny Committee's past work and forward plan, before moving on to presentations and discussions on the Council's civil protection arrangements and the 'Home Streets' initiative.

Scrutiny Work

The Committee was scheduled to review the recommendations it had made at its previous meeting, and the responses officers had made to them. It was also scheduled to note an update on the actions that had been requested at previous meetings. ¹ The Committee was also scheduled to review its draft forward plan for the rest of the 2024/25 municipal year, which had three further meetings scheduled.

Civil Protection

This item was scheduled to provide the Committee with an overview of the Council's emergency planning and incident response arrangements.

The Committee was scheduled to hear from officers about how they coordinate with the emergency services and other responders. The report pack notes that:

As part of the arrangements the Council has in place to fulfil its duties under the Act, there are a set of defined roles undertaken by officers within the Council to deal with situations as they arise.

It was scheduled to receive a presentation about the different phases of the council's response. The most significant phases of this response are Level 3 and Level 4 incidents, which require a multi-agency response.

The Committee was also scheduled to receive a summary of the response to a recent far-right protest that took place in Walthamstow.

Home Streets

The Committee was scheduled to receive a presentation about the 'Home Streets' initiative. This initiative builds upon the existing Safe Streets pilot. ² It seeks to reduce crime and the fear of crime through hyperlocal data collection, and working with the Met Police and voluntary sector organisations.

The Committee was also scheduled to receive a presentation from Saira Begum from PL84U AL SUFFA, who was scheduled to discuss her charity's work in tackling violence against women and girls.

The Committee was scheduled to discuss a draft scoping document that had been prepared to guide its work. This document includes the following objective:

To gain an understanding of the complex crime patterns in the borough through looking at a variety of data and other information sources, identifying where extra resources are required.

The document sets out how the Committee will investigate the topic, which will involve hearing from expert witnesses. It also sets out its intended outcomes, which include a set of measurable indicators of success, and recommendations that the Committee can make to the Council's Cabinet.