Agenda item

RESOLVED: To note the report and the appendices

4.1  Samantha Mathys, Late Night Levy (LNL) Manager introduced the report, which provided an update on the Late Night Levy activities during the first quarter of Year 6 (1 November 2022 to 31 January 2023). The levy year ran from 1 November to 31 October.

4.2   The following points were highlighted:

Income

·  The levy continued to return to normal income levels. Officers were in the process of collecting the arrears accumulated during the pandemic. Income circa of 153k had so far been confirmed for quarter 1 which ran from November 2022-January 2023. A full financial report would be presented to the Committee at the first meeting of the Municipal Year.

Expenditure

·  Members were referred to the table at Paragraph 2, Appendix  1 of the report and advised that the expenditure did not include the salaries or enforcement funding which would be outlined in the annual report.

·  The expenditure (£4,320) on the CCTV radio link system included the purchase of additional radios for the venue radio scheme. New licensees  were being signed up weekly to this scheme. Radios remained on designated premises but could be relocated if not in use. Usage was monitored and training was provided to venue staff to encourage more use.

·  It was explained that the mobile messaging system was a giant digital billboard that was driven around the Night Time Economy area(s) from 8pm to 1.00am. Costs for usage was predominantly during the festive period and the 16 day campaign of eliminating violence against women and girls.

·  Costs for policing (£23,251.5) were for August to October 2022.

·  Costs for the redeployable cameras covered moving them around the borough. New cameras had been installed in Lower Clapton and Kingsland High Street, Hoxton.

·  Medical Provision (First Responders) costs included the additional provision for Thursdays (usually Friday-Sunday) during December and other festive periods (£19,121.00).

Training Crime Prevention and Engagement

·  A special pubwatch / WAVE (welfare and vulnerability engagement) training was held with partners in November 2022 prior to the World Cup. This was the  largest yet, with over 100 attendees. 

·  Engagement was at an all time high. This was attributed to the growth of the online portal and its ability to reach and disseminate information quickly.

·  A new revamped and updated program of WAVE training conducted in partnership with the Police and Tower Hamlets had been confirmed until March 2024. This would be held monthly at no cost to licensed premises. Details of what would be covered were set out at paragraph 3.2 of Appendix 1.

·  There had been a rise in the reporting of sexual harassment which was credited to the work of raising awareness and encouraging people to report such incidents.

·  Online training take-up peaked in November and December 2022. Online training was shown to be the most practical method of training and the team will be looking to expand the online training offer during 2023.

·  Hackney Nights’ contribution to the 16 days of action campaign against the elimination of violence against women and girls was highlighted. A high percentage of licensees understood the ‘Ask for Angela’, safety initiative for those feeling unsafe or vulnerable on a night out.

·  The aim was to send the next newsletter out to all LNL premises as well as non-levy bars, pubs and clubs by mid March 2023.

·  The online portal had a total of  244 users. The LNL support officer had visited premises to provide login information and carry out demonstrations. There were a lot of pending accreditation applications that were being worked through. A plan to better advertise the scheme had been devised with the Council’s communication team. There would also be a news spread in Hackney Today.

Policing, Enforcement and Welfare

·  At the LNL Board meeting in October, the police announced that resources would be reduced to:  1 Inspector, 3 Sergeants and 18 Constables  between January to March 2023. The contract for the 2023/24 financial year was being renegotiated. 

·  Additional resources were provided over the festive period which included: the Medical Provision (First Responders) extended to Thursday nights and an additional CCTV operator in the control room.  Both were considered necessary due to increased activity.

·  There had been many interventions from venue staff particularly in relation to the protection of vulnerable women.

·  The partnership between Council officers, medics licensed premises and the police was described as being particularly strong. 2022 was hailed as being a successful year for training with over 1500 nightlife and security staff trained.

·  Going forward, the priorities were: to continue to focus on prevention, promote reporting, for venues to adopt a zero tolerance approach and to raise the profile of the accreditation scheme.

4.3  At the conclusion of the update, Members asked question which were responded to as follows:

·  A digital version of the gender based violence handbook was available to download on the online portal. Plans were in place to circulate to venues.

·  Due to financial incentive (30% discount), some venues were not undertaking the required work and training and so therefore some applications had been refused.

·  The reduced police resource was manageable due to the partnership of key stakeholders.  It was anticipated that the police resource  would be increased over Easter and the Bank Holiday weekends in May.  The decision to reduce police levels had been risk assessed and was part of a wider reduction in the borough. Resources had been transferred to other teams within the borough.

·  The mobile messaging vehicle was seen as useful for bursts of activity that required more awareness and greater reinforcement.

·  Drink spiking was covered in all training delivered to venues, which included best practice (e.g. crime scene preservation, CCTV and detecting patterns in the behaviour of perpetrators).

RESOLVED: To note the report and the appendices