CABINET Agenda Item: 9

Ward: ALL Portfolio: ALL

Report Kieran Taaffe Author(s): Meeting Date:

SUBJECT: The work of the Mendip Shape One Team Internal Use Only: Please complete sign off boxes below prior to submission to Democratic Services Seen by: Name Date Deputy Chief Tracy Aarons Executive Report Sign off Group Manager Claire Malcolmson Portfolio Holder Nigel Taylor Legal Finance The Shape Mendip One Team is now in its third year of operation and has been cited by its participating agency representatives as a unique resource within the Mendip area for the timely exchange of relevant information. Additionally, a One Team perspective has Summary: been applied to the work of several other groups, as described in the report below.

This is a report on progress and the next steps.

Members are asked to note the positive work of the Shape Mendip Recommendation: One Team

Directly supporting the community by addressing the needs of specific vulnerable or troubled families, using a multi-agency approach and directly focussed responses (where one agency will take a lead role and others will act in support of that initiative).

Indirect positive impact on the local community in Mendip by Direct and/or addressing any potentially harmful or anti-social behaviour issues indirect impact on associated with the concerns above. service delivery to our customers Indirect positive impact on the local community in Mendip by and communities: proactively sharing information regarding socially exploitative phenomena such as County Lines or child sexual exploitation.

Indirect positive impact by making customers and communities aware that the One Team’s proactive multi-agency discussions are an established and effective contribution to the overall safety of the community.

1 Transformation

“Continue to develop Shape Mendip as an exemplar of public service best practice, enhancing the district's reputation as a great place to live and work” Contribution to Corporate Inclusive Growth Priorities: “Use our position as a community leader to influence partners who can in turn deliver outcomes that improve the wellbeing of Mendip residents Work at county, regional and national level to build communities where people live well in good quality homes with a network of support.”

A confidentiality agreement has been signed by One Team participants at every meeting since inception. Tier One and Two

Information Sharing Agreements, developed by and Legal Constabulary and Somerset , have been Implications: circulated to all One Team participant agencies for their

agreement. These documents have been developed in line with GDPR. The salary and on-costs of the Principal Officer post residing within the MDC staff establishment are covered by the three year grant which has been awarded by Safer Somerset Partnership to enable the post holder to develop One Team good practice in line with Financial other One Teams across the County. Implications: Mendip provide administrative support and the use of the Council Chamber or another meeting room for the monthly meeting. This is often reciprocated by other partner agencies such as Aster at no cost.

Savings on resources should be made due to partnership working Impact on Service reducing the duplication of work and improving inter-agency Plans: communication. SEE Partnership Working below

As above, public resources are saved by the sharing of information in a ‘round the table’, immediate setting. This information may Value for Money: otherwise have taken days or weeks to be made known to relevant representatives by using linear communication, or may have not reached the relevant parties at all. Equalities The work of the One Team covers no specific groups but covers Implications: the whole community. Risk Assessment Not Applicable and Adverse

Impact on

Corporate

Actions:

2 Scrutiny None. Recommendation (if any)

INTRODUCTION

Mendip District Council has been facilitating the functioning of the Mendip Shape One Team since 2016. The One Team is a multi-agency forum composed of statutory agencies who can share information and work together on specific concerns around vulnerable families and individuals. In 2017 Safer Somerset Partnership funding was successfully applied for to create a post of Principal Officer for the One Team, who would undertake a coordination and development role. Post holder commenced in January 2018.

This report gives members an update of the progress of the Mendip Shape One Team and very positive work achieved by the partners involved.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of all One Teams (also known as Together Teams) is to convene representatives of police, fire service, health, housing, voluntary sector and organisations so that information can be shared and acted upon, when there is a clear issue which might affect personal or public safety. The One Team model is established within various locations in Somerset (‘local’ One Teams) where the teams meet on a weekly or fortnightly basis. These teams cover a specific area e.g. the Halcon estate in , the Sydenham estate in etc. where there are high indices of social deprivation and a large concentration of troubled families.

The Mendip One Team covers a much wider geographical area due to these same demographic groups being represented in smaller ‘pockets’ within each of the five urban areas and the surrounding rural areas.

Mendip District Council facilitates the One Team meetings to cover:

 Persons of concern. Discussions on referrals where the subject is an individual or family who is known to several of the agencies. The subject(s) may be a person at risk, or less frequently, may be a risk to others. The latter may well cross over to the agenda of the Anti-Social Behaviour Steering Group.

 County Lines. The meeting is also appraised of very specific Child Sexual Exploitation / County Line information by Avon and Somerset Constabulary. This can inform the work of the agencies present and create a robust shared awareness of potential developments, arrests, convictions, locations of activity, even vehicle registrations which have given rise to concern.

 Local areas of concern (hotspots) which may include, for example, where a where minors may be congregating around an address where illegal activity is suspected, or where anti-social behaviour is known to occur.

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Partnership Working within the Mendip Shape One Team

One Team work has included effective liaison between partners which has been commended by members of the community and also the MDC Deputy Chief Executive. Three examples are given below:

 Person (A) was displaying alarming and threatening behaviour towards his neighbours. After an initial complaint to the Environmental Protection Team regarding the condition of his garden, the One Team coordinator was able to link up information from that team, and One Team participants: Police, the local GP surgery (via Health Connections) and the Mental Health Services. The combined information assisted the mental health services in their subsequent Mental Health Act assessment. A was then admitted to a psychiatric ward under MHA Section 2. The neighbours expressed their gratitude via the EP team for the support they received during this time. A remained on the ward as an informal patient. Further support (including financial) to resolve the garden issues was sought during that time, via links made at the One Team. The clearing of the garden objective was pursued not simply as an environmental issue, but as an initiative to help effect a reconciliation between A and his neighbours, and thus an improved community discharge. Following on from this successful partnership work, mental health services increased their representation at the One Team from their existing two teams (Community Mental Health and Adult Social Care) to three, with the Home Treatment Team now attending also.

 Person (B) was someone for whom multiple services had been required to intervene over a significantly long period. B lived in his own property which was a former shop front. Due to a deterioration in his mental health, the property also underwent significant deterioration to the point where the Private Sector Housing Team had to impose a Prohibition Order which prevented further residence in the property. Over a long period B had also set a number of fires within the property. This required the intervention of the police and fire services. B was finally detained under section 3 of the Mental Health Act. His circumstances continued to be monitored by the One Team coordinator throughout his period of treatment, and considerable liaison work took place to address the continuing safety issues within the property, between the CMHT (Community Mental Health Team), the Ward Staff, housing providers and the Housing Options Team. During his period of treatment B began to accept that his property was no longer a viable domicile and arranged to have the property sold by auction. Considerable work was undertaken by various One Team members in partnership to keep a close eye on developments, to explore and recommend options, and to work together, all of which kept his situation under continual scrutiny / priority.

 Person (C). An issue was brought to the attention of the One Team by a councillor who had comments posted on his social media page by C, who was expressing suicidal feelings, due to an ongoing neighbour dispute. As C had stated suicidal thoughts, she was contacted directly by telephone to discuss what was going on for her, and to inquire as to her current state of mind. C advised she had moved on from experiencing suicidal feelings, with the help of friends, although the dispute continued. Concluding the call, C was nonetheless encouraged to disclose all suicidal feelings 4 to her GP. The One Team coordinator subsequently liaised with the Councillor, Police, MDC environmental team and others to build up a picture of the situation. With C’s permission a referral was made to the One Team. All of this exposed an anti-social behaviour component in play, and this was then taken up at the Police ASB meeting

Partnership Working / One Team and Town Councils

 Partnership working with Town Council. Mendip One Team has established links with the local town centre operational meetings at Glastonbury Town Council. The working group on the Anti-Social Behaviour associated with street drinking was expanded to include agencies such as Health Connections (as a result of One Team liaison). The overall objective of this group is to reduce the impact on the local community of this ASB by fostering the development of services in the town which can provide longer term support for the street drinkers in order to better manage their cycles of behaviour. Mental health services, Police, Elim and Somerset Drug and Alcohol Service are involved in these discussions. This complements the MDC / Police enforcement work which is also still in process.

 Partnership working with Town Council. Mendip One Team has also established links with Town Centre Operational Meetings at Shepton Mallet Town Council. Whereas this meeting is mainly concerned with business development and regeneration, issues such as ASB still arise and have an impact. Any such issues can be shared at the One Team so that a joint agency response can be considered.

 Partnership working with Town Council. The One Team has established a link with Frome Town Council to consider the establishment of a local group in Frome. One inaugural meeting was held in July where local agencies including YMCA, social services and education services agreed that there was value in sharing information on local developments and areas of concern. This would include Mendip Shape One Team members but they would be discussing issues which are already in the public domain, rather than sharing and recording personal confidential information on troubled families as with the Mendip meeting.

Gypsy and Traveller Support Needs

 Gypsy and Traveller support needs. The One Team approach has been used to consider potential support needs of gypsy and travellers households in the Glastonbury area. A sub-group was formed for the purpose of identifying households within the Morlands site who were known to agencies such as Children’s Social Care. None were identified. The Somerset Gypsy and Traveller Education worker also provided information.

Child protection

 Operation Topaz. Topaz briefings (child exploitation information) are now shared either at the meeting and /or within a Virtual Meeting Room (VMR) hosted by the SCC Professional Choices web platform. The briefing is initiated at County level following

5 a fortnightly meeting of agencies concerned with victims and perpetrators. The briefing document is held within the VMR. The One Team coordinator will create alerts for relevant members of the One Team to view this and to report back directly through this link to the police Topaz representative

Promotional Work

 Promoting the work of the One Team (1). A presentation was given in June on the work of the One Team at a Get Set partner agency event held at Mendip District Council. This represented the One Team to all the significant agencies within the county who are involved in providing support to children and families.

 Promoting the work of the One Team (2). As a result of the Shaping the Future staff consultations, a media release describing the work of the One Team was published in the local press in September.

Feedback

 Partner Agency Feedback 1. Participating agencies were asked to comment within the second quarter regarding the effectiveness of One Team practice. Exchange of information and networking were quoted as of significant value. The One Team coordinator also received the assurance of the participating Avon and Somerset Constabulary Inspector that the work of the police in the Mendip area is much more effective thanks to its active participation in the One Team. By being able to identify and communicate directly with the appropriate agencies and officers, they are able to achieve better and timelier responses to their own areas of concern.

 Partner Agency Feedback 2. At a mental health mapping event in July, jointly organised by the Somerset Partnership and Somerset County Council, an Avon and Somerset police representative advised the meeting: ‘the One Team is a useful forum for cases to be discussed and agencies to come together to discuss how to best support customers’.

 Partner Agency Feedback 3. A series of County organised workshops to promote the ‘Children are the Future of Somerset / Think Family Strategy’, held throughout the summer, included a good practice example of One Team joint working submitted by the Get Set organisation. This is addended below in the list of background papers.

Next Steps

1. Using IT technology to enhance communications. Work towards the development of a Virtual Meeting Room, with Somerset County Council is ongoing, Work towards 100% participation in the VMR is also ongoing.

2. Widening One Team participation. The two main Housing providers in the area, LiveWest and Aster, are established representatives, but invitations to other Registered Providers in the area are actively being considered. Similarly, whilst there is strong and growing representation from the mental health services, Child and

6 Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are not well represented at any of the One Teams in the County. A recent reporting link to CAMHS, however, has been established by the overall Somerset One Teams coordinator. Additional representation from Somerset Alcohol and Drugs Service has been offered to ensure that there will always be at least one member of that team present.

3. Safe Places scheme. It has been noted that this community scheme to offer support and assistance to vulnerable individuals, has been re-launched by Avon and Somerset Constabulary. Mendip One Team may be part of the promotion and implementation of this initiative, in liaison with the MDC licensing team and Health Connections, following further discussions with the Police service.

4. Linking One Team to NHS Hubs. This strand of joint working was proposed as a result of links with Frome Medical Practice which came about as a consequence of the work done by an officer on a one-year contract with MDC. This officer was engaged using funding from the Housing Options Team and Community Safety; her substantive post being a Mental Health and Well Being nurse at Frome. Her work at MDC was examining the barriers which arise when mental health issues co-exist alongside a housing need, and the operational barriers which arise in that situation. This resulted in a paper which made recommendations for future practice based on the trajectory of an individual who been on the One Team agenda for some time. During the period during she was employed at MDC, discussions took place proposing a potential link between the One Team and the NHS Hubs which are in development. The hope is that information sharing can take place via this route, where there is a clear need to do so.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Members are asked to note the positive work of the Shape Mendip One Team Contact Officer: Kieran Taaffe Extension: 41543 e-mail: [email protected]

List of background Papers:

1. Example of Good Practice submitted by Steve Macabee (Get Set)

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