Safer Communities in Scotland: Page 4

Safer Communities in Scotland

1 Introduction

A safer Scotland

1.1 The Government is supporting community safety partnerships in developing robust community safety strategies which are:

responsive to community concerns: partnerships are encouraged to develop their strategies in consultation with local communities
evidence based and led: a community safety audit is important in providing a clear understanding of the problems within an area so that partnerships can choose which problems to tackle and set baselines for improvement
outcome focused: partnerships are encouraged to set clear targets and monitor and evaluate the outcomes of their work

1.2 This guidance offers practical advice on how partnerships can best be established and organised to audit local community safety concerns and the associated risk factors, and draw up and deliver a strategy to tackle these issues.

1.3 The process from audit to action has four stages [see Box 1.1] which are described in detail.

Box 1.1 Audit to action process

1 Defining the problem

carry out a community safety audit
ask local communities about their community safety concerns
review existing policy and practice

2 Deciding what to do

prioritise problems
agree objectives
appraise options and develop strategies to achieve the objectives
complete strategy and set target outcomes

3 Implementing the programme

prepare an action plan
agree outputs
allocate single or multi-agency responsibilities
obtain resources
take action
monitor progress

4 Assessing what has been achieved

evaluate outcome
review programme

1.4 Partnerships will need to take account of the ways in which community safety strategies link to other local priorities and strategic partnerships which impinge on community safety. Local authorities will also need to consider how other statutory plans, such as children's services, community care, criminal justice and housing plans, are to take account of the findings of the community safety audit and build community safety in to mainstream service provision.

Chapter 2 suggests that local authorities, in taking the lead in setting up partnerships, take forward the development of community safety strategy as part of a community plan for the local council area.

1.5 Partnerships will need to take account of a number of Scottish Executive initiatives and guidance notes in framing their strategies [see Box 1.2].

1.6 In this guidance:

Chapter 2 identifies ways of overcoming some of the potential pitfalls of partnership working and offers advice on choosing a suitable partnership structure and infrastructure
Chapter 3 provides advice on carrying out a community safety audit
Chapter 4 assists partnerships to determine priorities based on the findings of the audit and outlines a framework for developing a strategy for achieving objectives
Chapter 5 assists with managing the implementation of a community safety strategy and measuring performance and outcomes

Box 1.2 Central government initiatives and guidance notes

Preventing Violence Against Women: a Scottish Office action plan published in December 1998 as a consultative document, underpins the Government's commitment to lowering levels of inter-personal violence, in particular violence against women. The objectives of the action plan are to prevent, remove or reduce the risk of violence, to protect victims and potential victims from repetitive victimisation, and to provide services to deal with the consequences of violence against women. The Government will expect to see action in support of these three objectives as an integral part of strategic planning for safer communities.
Social Inclusion: Opening the door to a better Scotland: sets out the role that social inclusion partnerships will play in promoting inclusion within communities. These partnerships will focus on the most needy groups and individuals, co-ordinate and fill gaps between programmes to promote social inclusion, and seek to prevent people becoming socially excluded. They are likely to be exploring the links between poor housing, drug misuse, truancy and other factors which cause social exclusion and are risk factors for offending.
Working for Communities Programme: provides funding to test new ways of improving the co-ordination of service delivery on the ground. Pathfinder projects are already being established in Easterhouse, Glasgow and Wester Hailes, Edinburgh and a further six pathfinder areas are to be announced.
Towards a Healthier Scotland: the 1999 White Paper recognises the adverse effects of poor social and environmental conditions on health and well-being, and sets out the Government's strategy for improving health in Scotland with a special focus on children and young people.
Tackling Drugs in Scotland: Action in Partnership: the Scottish Office Department of Health guidance sets the framework for delivering Scotland's objectives for tackling drug misuse, including to 'strengthen and protect communities from drug related crime and the fear of drug related crime'. The national framework includes the critical role of drug action teams (DATs) as the focal point for co-ordinating local action on drug misuse among the core partners of health, social work, police, prisons, education and housing. The guidance sets out the responsibility of DATs to lead and co-ordinate local action to deliver good treatment services and the effective development of drug prevention measures.
Towards a Development Strategy for Rural Scotland: the Secretary of State for Scotland's guidance promotes an integrated approach to rural development through partnership.
Report of the Community Planning Working Group: commissioned by the Minister for Housing and Local Government and CoSLA, recognised that a range of statutory plans - such as care in the community and children's services plans - and non-statutory plans are being produced by local partnerships. The working group proposed adopting a community planning framework based on an overall community plan for each council area, topic plans such as 'community care', and planning for communities of interest and local communities. It is expected that community safety will be one of the topic plans in local government areas which have started this process.
Housing and Neighbour Problems: Scottish Office Circular 16 offers guidance to public sector landlords and other agencies in managing the problems of anti-social behaviour.