The Public Health & Community Safety Cabinet Panel are scheduled to meet to discuss a refresh of the Hertfordshire Public Health Suicide Prevention Strategy, a Prevent update, the Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service annual performance report, an HMICFRS inspection update and a Trading Standards update.

Hertfordshire Public Health Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-30 Refresh

The panel will be asked to note and support the refreshed Hertfordshire Public Health Suicide Prevention Strategy 2025-30. The strategy is a refresh of the current 2020-2025 strategy.

According to the report pack, local authorities have statutory duties for suicide prevention, including developing local suicide prevention plans and working with partners to implement them.

The five focus areas for the refreshed strategy are:

• Suicide attempts
• Children and young people
• Groups requiring focused support
• Addressing common risk factors for suicide
• Individuals bereaved by suicide

These focus areas are supported by four cross-cutting core principles:

• Data collection, research and monitoring
• Training and education
• Holistic approach and respect for the individual
• Working together as a system

The report pack states that between 2021 and 2023, the Hertfordshire Coroner Service recorded 230 people in Hertfordshire as having taken their own lives. It also notes that Hertfordshire's rate of death by suicide in 2023 (8.1 deaths per 100,000) is lower than both the regional average for East of England (9.5 deaths per 100,000) and the national average for England (10.7 deaths per 100,000). The report pack also notes that there are inequalities in suicide rates within Hertfordshire, with the highest rates being recorded in St Albans (8.17 deaths per 100,000), Three Rivers (7.99 deaths per 100,000) and Hertsmere (7.67 deaths per 100,000); and the lowest rates recorded in Watford (4.08 deaths per 100,000) and Dacorum (4.87 deaths per 100,000).

The report pack states that risk factors for death by suicide are multifaceted, with many individuals experiencing a complex mix of factors. It notes that 73% of individuals had a mental health condition recorded by their GP, and 36.1% were known to a mental health service at the time of their death. Other prominent risk factors include family and relationship problems (46.1% of cases), physical health (38.7% of cases), drug and alcohol problems (32.6% of cases) and bereavement (23% of cases).

The report pack also references the Department of Health and Social Care's 5-year Cross Sector Strategy for Suicide Prevention in England¹ and the Hertfordshire Public Health Strategy 2022-27².

Prevent Update

The panel will receive an annual update report on the County Council's Prevent programme, delivery and performance. The report also gives details of the recently published Lord Anderson report Lessons for Prevent which was commissioned in response to the murder of Sir David Amess MP in 2021 and the murder of three young girls in Southport.

According to the report pack, local authorities and the Prevent partnership have a critical role to play in countering terrorism at a local level and ensuring that people who are susceptible to radicalisation are supported.

The report pack states that in February 2025, the Home Office conducted their annual assessment of Hertfordshire Prevent delivery and found that Hertfordshire is 'exceeding' across all seven areas assessed³. The assessment highlights that Hertfordshire is performing particularly well in relation to its work to reduce permissive environments.

The assessment contains a recommendation to further develop the approach to local Communications and Engagement, which is now being taken forward following a successful bid to the Home Office to create additional resource for this work.

The report pack states that in Hertfordshire, referrals into Prevent continue to come in from a wide range of partners, with the Education sector remaining the highest referrer, followed by Local Policing. This reflects national statistics. It also notes that the ideologies present in Prevent referrals over the past year (October 2024 - October 2025) across Hertfordshire reflect the national trends, including Islamist, Extreme Right Wing, Incel and Violence Fixated Individuals.

The report pack also references the UK's Counter-Terrorism Strategy CONTEST⁴ and the new Prevent duty guidance for England and Wales⁵.

Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service Annual Performance Report 2024-25

The panel will receive a report on the performance of Hertfordshire Fire & Rescue Service (HFRS) in 2024-25 against a suite of indicators.

The report pack states that the new Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) which came into effect at the beginning of April 2024 set out a very clear set of objectives with maintaining and improving performance at the heart of this new document.

The report pack also notes that sickness absence has been a chronic issue over a number of years in the service but, in line with the focus on people, as set out under the Excel strategic priority of the new CRMP, this has been the focus of considerable work this last year which has had real impact in reducing the days lost to sickness absence and supporting staff to return to the workplace.

The report pack states that in two out of four metrics, the Service met its response-time targets, however, in the case of first and second fire engine attendances, performance fell below target.

The report pack also gives particular attention to the strong work undertaken by the Youth Engagement and Volunteers team. It notes that this last year has seen continued strong delivery in respect of a variety of youth engagement activity where the work of the Team continues to have real impact on those young people with whom they work and support. Moreover, the revitalisation of the Volunteer arrangements has resulted in a very significant increase in the number of hours which the Fire Service Volunteers have contributed in 2024-25, increasing the reach of the service and the positive impact it can have on communities.

The report pack also highlights the continued success of the Service's fire-fighter apprentice scheme where, once again, high levels of achievement were evidenced in the End Point Assessments (EPA), undertaken in July and December and maintaining Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue's 100 per cent pass rate since starting the programme in 2019.

The report pack notes that the service continued to see a steady increase in the number of Home Fire Safety Visits. Addressing an area flagged in the HMICFRS Accelerated Cause of Concern (ACOC), by the end of the year, over 80% of all HFSVs met the 'targeted' criteria.

The report pack also sets out a wide range of examples of service improvement and how a suite of initiatives and additional investment has resulted in increases in productivity as well as efficiency across HFRS.

HMICFRS Inspection Update – Accelerated Cause of Concern

The panel will receive an update of progress made in addressing the recommendations contained in the Accelerated Cause of Concern issued by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in October 2024.

The report pack states that following the 'Round 3' inspection, which was carried out between July and September of 2024, HMICRS issued an 'Accelerated Cause of Concern' (ACOC), in relation to how Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) assesses vulnerability and targets its prevention activity to those most at risk.

The report pack notes that HFRS submitted a detailed action plan setting out how it intended to respond to the recommendations made by HMICFRS and that a Strategic Oversight Group, chaired by the Executive Director of Adult Care Services, and including three members of the Public Health & Community Safety Cabinet Panel, was established and has been meeting on a monthly basis to provide oversight for delivery of the plan.

The report pack states that in July, a small team from HMICFRS spent four days in service to assess progress on addressing the recommendations contained within the ACOC and the implementation of the previously submitted action plan.

The report pack also references the Accelerated Cause of Concern Letter from HMICFRS and HFRS's initial response to the letter⁶.

Trading Standards Update

The panel will receive an update on the current priority areas for the Trading Standards service. The report also provides a summary of recent activity and successes as well as an overview of the resourcing levels for the service.

The report pack highlights the increasing demands placed on the Trading Standards Service including a number of new legislative areas with duties for the service to enforce. It notes that these new duties generally come without any long-term funding and so the service is increasingly having to prioritise work, focusing on those areas of most harm.

The report pack states that the priority areas for the service are currently as follows:

• Doorstep Crime & Rogue Trading
• Scams and Scam Prevention
• Food Allergens and Food Fraud
• Product Safety
• Illicit Tobacco and Vapes
• Animal Health & Disease Prevention

The report pack also highlights some of the recent successful enforcement actions undertaken by the service, including the outcome of a lengthy Crown Court trial in which three defendants were convicted of fraudulent trading relating to a complex wine fraud, following an investigation by the Trading Standards team.

The report pack also provides details of the current funding levels for the service and a high-level breakdown of how this is allocated.

The report pack references the Hertfordshire Better Business for All Charter⁷ and the service's published Formal Actions Policy⁸.