To receive a presentation on national and local governance of antisocial behaviour (ASB), the scale and types of ASB seen in Manchester and the factors identifying how safe people feel in the city.

The Task and Finish Group considered the presentation of the Strategic Lead Officer for Community Safety that provided an introduction to crime and antisocial behaviour issues in Manchester.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• Providing a background to antisocial behaviour;
• The number of antisocial behaviour (ASB) incidents reported to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) between 2020-2023, noting that this reduced slightly between 2021/22 and 2022/23;
• The number of deliberate fire incidents reported to Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) between April 2020 and March 2023;
• Data on the number of service requests made to the Antisocial Behaviour Team (ASBAT) and the hotspot areas for these calls;
• Actions identified through ASB case reviews; and
• Perceptions of crime and ASB in Manchester, with information from the GM Policing and Community Safety Survey.

Some of the key points that arose from the Task and Finish Group’s discussions were:

• The perceptions of crime, ASB and personal safety of those within the LGBTQI+ community;
• Whether there were any differences in perception of safety within different areas in South Manchester;
• Recommending that the Old Moat and Withington Youth Outreach group be invited to a future meeting;
• The need to assess the tools and powers available to authorities in tackling ASB, and how authorities can utilise GM-wide funding schemes;
• The need to understand current perceptions and feelings of safety to ensure that the Council’s community safety strategies remained fit-for-purpose, noting that the GM Policing and Community Safety Survey only provided data from previous quarters;
• The difference between crime and antisocial behaviour and whether this could be categorised;
• What learning was taken from the data and what was causing the reduction in the number of incidents reported to GMP;
• How GMP promoted their successes in tackling ASB;
• Noting that there was not a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing ASB; and
• The need to identify what works well in different areas of the city and how this could be rolled out into other communities.

In response to members’ queries, the Strategic Lead – Community Safety explained that there were not enough responses to the GM Policing and Community Safety Survey to enable a better understanding of perceptions of safety within the LGBTQI+ community and smaller areas of city.

It was confirmed that the Task and Finish Group would review the powers awarded to Manchester City Council and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to tackle antisocial behaviour at its next meeting and that the Group could also look at ways of utilising GM-wide funding schemes for this.

In response to a point raised by the Chair regarding the need to understand current perceptions and feelings of safety, the Director of Communities advised that she had previously raised this with the Council’s Communications and Performance, Research and Intelligence (PRI) teams in order to understand feelings of safety within the city.

The ASB Lead committed to providing further detail on different examples of crime and antisocial behaviour and the reporting mechanisms for these, following a member’s request.

The Superintendent of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

Members are invited to review the Terms of Reference and agree the Work Programme of the Subgroup.

The Task and Finish Group considered the terms of reference and future work programme and were invited to make any amendments.

Some of the topics and areas that members indicated they wished to look into further included the challenges and barriers faced when reporting ASB incidents; signposting opportunities; hate crime; the work and powers of housing providers; and the different kinds of prevention tools.

Decision:

That the Terms of Reference and Work Programme be noted and approved.

To consider and agree a schedule of meetings for the duration of the Task and Finish Group. The following dates are proposed:

Ø  Tuesday, 17 October 2023, 5:30pm

Ø  Tuesday, 14 November 2023, 5:30pm

Decision:

That future meetings of the Crime and Antisocial Behaviour Task and Finish Group be held on 17 October and 14 November from 5:30pm.