Scottish Government

Pillar 2: Integration

"I am delighted to endorse this Antisocial Behaviour Framework. The Framework and its recommendations draw on the best of the good practice which exists across Scotland. The evolution of the Framework benefited hugely from the active contribution of practitioners, policy makers and experts working in the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. As the Chair of the Integrated Services Sub Group, I hope that the Framework and its recommendations will promote, encourage and facilitate cooperation, collaboration and shared solutions amongst the agencies and organisations working in the field of antisocial behaviour reduction."

David Hume, Chief Executive, Scottish Borders Council and Community Safety Spokesperson for the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers

4. Integration

Service - User Case Study 2: Integration

Campus Fire Officer - Irvine Royal Academy, Ayrshire

Irvine Royal Academy in Ayrshire is a non-denominational, comprehensive secondary school which serves Irvine, an area with one of the highest levels of deprivation in Scotland. Between 2005 and 2008, the school took part in an innovative Campus Fire Officer pilot.

Prior to the pilot, there were high levels of antisocial behaviour ( ASB) activity in and around the school, including hoax calls to the Fire Service for fire, vandalism, and heath and grass fires. The disruption had a detrimental impact on the personal development and education of young people in the school and surrounding area. There was also a lack of positive engagement between Strathclyde Fire and Rescue personnel, police, community groups, and young people living in the area.

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue approached North Ayrshire Council with the idea of placing a Fire Officer in Irvine Royal Academy, who would work with staff, pupils and feeder primary schools to implement a community fire safety programme. The school has a history of positive partnership working and was seen as the perfect choice for the pilot project.

The fire officer quickly integrated into the school, working alongside pastoral staff such as guidance teachers. He organised fire safety events and input to certain aspects of the curriculum, including science and citizenship. The officer delivered presentations to pupils on various fire safety issues as well as personal safety, risk-taking and fire service career opportunities.

"I felt safer having the officer in the building."
Irvine Royal Academy pupil

To encourage positive interaction between pupils and fire-fighters, the school participated in a range of experimental learning events and work experience programmes. The fire officer also worked closely with particularly vulnerable pupils on programmes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award and Prince's Trust XL, in an attempt to improve their self esteem and their engagement with their school and local community.

"I was really 'chuffed' that I could do things I didn't think I could, such as first aid."
Irvine Royal Academy pupil

The Campus fire officer had a positive impact on the pupils, staff and local community. Over the course of the pilot malicious fire alarms to the school fell dramatically. In the local community, malicious calls and instances of malicious fire-raising also reduced significantly.

"It made you realise it was stupid to set off fire alarms."
Irvine Royal Academy pupil

There was a marked improvement in attendance, behaviour and results of pupils on the fire reach course. Young people gained an insight into the important role of the fire service and the range of partners with whom they work. This resulted in better relations between the school, pupils, fire and rescue service, local authority and local groups.

"I really learned to respect the fire service"
Irvine Royal Academy pupil

The project also had a positive impact on staff at the school. Irvine Royal Academy headmaster, Stirling T Mackie, said of the pilot:

"I believe that the pilot was a great success. The officer played an important role in improving many pupils' self esteem and confidence, not just by involvement in the Fire Reach scheme, but more generally with the work he did with vulnerable and underachieving pupils. By improving these pupils' engagement with school, he also contributed to raising their achievement and attainment, and thereby their life-chances post school."

The success of the pilot at Irvine Royal Academy has resulted in a roll-out programme which will see fire fighters from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue deliver fire and road safety advice to all mainland school children across North Ayrshire.

KEY POINTS

• There is already a good deal of partnership working between and across agencies and efforts to tackle antisocial behaviour ( ASB) have strengthened such integration.
• A holistic approach based on the revised PIER* Model is needed to ensure tensions between agencies and approaches are overcome.
• The sharing of information and intelligence, resources and outcomes is key to successfully tackling ASB.
• Approaches for tackling ASB should be intelligence-led and based on problem-solving.
• The days of old polarised debates that see tackling ASB as a battle between meeting the needs of the individual and meeting the needs of the community are over - we need to work together to protect everyone in our communities.

Introduction

4.1 Early in the review process it was identified that policy integration and effective partnership working between justice, education, health and other policy areas was critical to success in preventing ASB. A sub-group to the Expert Advisory Group ( EAG), chaired by David Hume, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers ( SOLACE) lead for Community Safety spokesperson and Chief Executive of Scottish Borders Council, was established to consider the issue in greater detail.

4.2 The remit of the sub-group was to develop a set of strategic aims that encouraged good practice to be shared between partners and ensured that local service provision is delivered in a way that maximises local resources and the shared use of intelligence.

Membership of the Integrated Services Sub-Group

David Hume, SOLACE (Chair)

Michelle Miller, Association of Directors of Social Work ( ADSW)

John Flint, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research

Neil Turnbull, Chief Fire Officers' Association Scotland ( CFOAS)

Nadya Stewart, Crown Officer and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS)

Scottish Government ( leads for community safety, youth justice, drugs policy).

What the evidence tells us ¹⁴

• There is already a good deal of inter-agency working to address ASB and enhanced partnership working is leading to more effective operational planning and resource deployment.
• Regular problem-solving and tasking and coordinating meetings hosted by the police and/or ASB units are an opportunity to discuss emerging problems and to share information about perpetrators and 'case management' discussions were credited with opening up new communication lines and options.
• ASB co-ordinators believed that inter-agency working was enhanced by services sharing the same premises and by building up trusting relationships between the professions - something that could be facilitated by consistency in those who attend multi-agency meetings.
• There is still room for improvement in integrated working. Although improvements had been achieved (partly through adopting a more holistic approach in line with the revised PIER Model), the agencies that were most frequently mentioned as yet to become fully engaged were Health, Education, Social Work and Youth Offending.
• The neighbourhood studies evaluation found evidence that the quality of information about ASB being pooled between agencies was improving. Previous barriers, including a lack of trust, fears of breaching Data Protection legislation, and the absence of mechanisms for information exchange, were being resolved. There were still, however, some difficulties arising from the compatibility of electronic databases, and from differing definitions and categorisations of ASB.
• Organisational restructuring and new initiatives aimed at tackling ASB had resulted in some confusion and ambiguity about the roles of local authority level and neighbourhood agencies. The concentration of expertise and knowledge within strategic partnerships and dedicated central ASB units was broadly welcomed. However, many local officers were concerned that there was a risk that frontline staff could become disempowered and lose ownership of local problems.

Good Practice Example: Inverclyde Joint Enforcement Unit

In 2007, Inverclyde Council and Strathclyde Police joined forces to create a dedicated Antisocial Behaviour Enforcement Team ( ASBET) to tackle low-level crime and ASB in Inverclyde.

Since its introduction, recorded crimes of vandalism in Inverclyde have dropped by 16% and 'youth disorder' related calls to the police have reduced by 35% against the five-year average. There has also been a significant improvement in the public's perception of the frequency of ASB in Warden-patrolled areas in Inverclyde. In 2007, 16% of respondents in a Council survey said they felt very worried about ASB compared to 3.7% after ASBET's introduction.

The Team has received support at a senior level in the council and the police. Chief Superintendent John Harkin, Divisional Commander for Renfrewshire and Inverclyde said that performance results showed "a sustained reduction in violent crime, significant rises in detections for antisocial behaviour offences, downward trends for vandalism offences and the best reduction in acquisitive crime rates anywhere in the force". He has since approached Renfrewshire Council to ask for funding to establish a similar team there.

Strategic Aims

4.3 The EAG agreed the following three key Strategic Aims, which are designed to help people navigate and join up what at first glance appears to be a fragmented and cluttered organisational landscape.

STRATEGIC AIM 1: Better information sharing.

Integrated services require the effective sharing of information and intelligence which allows policy implementation and intervention to take place on an evidence and intelligence-led basis.

STRATEGIC AIM 2: Better sharing of resources.

Integrated services require the flexible and effective use of staffing, finance and property free from the constraints and limitations imposed by organisational and bureaucratic boundaries.

STRATEGIC AIM 3: Clear shared outcomes.

Integrated services require commitment to the achievement of agreed and common outcomes across all partner agencies and stakeholders.

4.4 Strategic Aim 1 is intended to develop information sharing to aid partnership working and, in turn, deliver positive outcomes for communities. While there is obviously a need to respect an individual's right to privacy (under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights and Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and protect data (under the Data Protection Act 1998), good information sharing is a useful tool to allow crime and disorder trends and patterns within an area to be profiled and ensure action to tackle ASB is intelligence-led.

Good Practice Example: Glasgow Community And Safety Services' Strategic Assessment

The Glasgow Community Safety Strategic Assessment was commissioned to provide the Community Safety Partnership (which consists of representatives from the local authority, police, fire, community planning partnership, Glasgow Community & Safety Services, NHS, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, and the Violence Reduction Unit) with strategic analysis of key safety priorities in the city. It brought together a wide range of information from the partners including police crime and incident data; NHS data on hospital admissions for accidental injury, road accidents and assaults; as well as fire data on deliberate and accidental fires.

One of the priorities highlighted by the Assessment was ASB and it showed the priority areas within the city for action. Analysis also showed that alcohol was a significant factor in incidents.

The Glasgow Strategic Assessment is a good model of partnership working and has helped the Partnership make informed decisions about how to successfully tackle ASB.

Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, David Martin, who is Chair of the Glasgow Community Safety Partnership commented:

"The evidence presented by this analytical product identifies areas of priority, quantifies the scale of antisocial behaviour and establishes precisely what the key safety related issues are for the city. It is an invaluable resource, which allows evidence based decisions to drive service delivery across the agencies involved in the Community Safety Partnership."

4.5 Under Section 139 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 ('the 2004 Act') any person has the power to release information to a relevant authority where that is necessary for the purposes of any measure in the 2004 Act or any piece of legislation which relates to tackling ASB. Clearly this includes exchanging information in relation to Antisocial Behaviour Order ( ASBO) investigations, applications and other relevant matters. The relevant authority means a local authority, a chief constable, the principal reporter, a registered social landlord, and any authority managing Housing Benefit.

4.6 The first step to ensuring that information sharing is robust and legitimate is the preparation of an information sharing protocol. As this is an agreement between local partners it should be prepared locally to reflect local circumstances but should include the following sections:

• signatories;
• processes for disclosure and storage of different kinds of information (non-personal, depersonalised, personal, sensitive);
• data sets covered;
• names of designated liaison officers for the responsible authorities; and
• review dates for the protocol.

Good Practice Example: South Ayrshire Problem-Solving Approach

A problem-solving approach is being used by South Ayrshire Community Safety Partnership ( CSP) to help reduce ASB in Prestwick. The multi-agency problem-solving group, made up of police, fire services, community development and voluntary agencies, was established after a series of complaints about large groups of young people congregating at the Oval area in Prestwick. Complaints centred on ASB such as vandalism, high noise levels, underage drinking and littering with broken bottles.

The group developed a programme of diversionary activities to encourage young people to use the area positively. Activities included an environmental clean-up, shrub planting, a BMX time trial and a 5K running event. The approach successfully engaged both young people and the wider local community. For example, a local woman donated money to provide sports equipment for young people to use in the area. The initiative has resulted in an 84% reduction of ASB complaints and a 57% reduction in police complaints.

4.7 The Scottish Government, COSLA and the other partners on the EAG believe all should sign up to information sharing protocols, including health partners. To aid the development of information sharing, the Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners will review provisions, including the use of information sharing protocols, with the aim of producing guidance for local partners to help them improve practices in this area. This guidance will be informed by consultation, research and legal analysis as necessary. As above, it is recognised that information sharing protocols are the first step and need to be accompanied by long-term changes in culture, systems and practices to encourage practitioners to share information appropriately and securely on the basis of informed professional judgement.

Good Practice Example: Unight

UNIGHT is a partnership between 41 nightclubs in Edinburgh, which aims to promote a zero-tolerance stance against drugs, assaults, weapons and ASB. With full support from Lothian and Borders Police, it has been in operation for over a year and is working hard to champion a safe and secure environment in Edinburgh's nightlife.

Varying levels of bans are imposed for different offences, for example possession of drugs results in a 3 month ban and assault results in a ban of up to a year. When a member of the public is barred from one club, they will automatically be prohibited from entering all other 40 clubs in the partnership. UNIGHT members hold regular meetings to exchange information, including CCTV footage of banned individuals.

Since its creation, there has been a 21% reduction in crime in participating nightclubs, the number of serious assaults has halved and drug offences have dropped dramatically, from 284 to 128.

Lothian and Borders Police have provided support and guidance to UNIGHT members on legal matters and specific criminal offences. Constable Mark Pickavance, Edinburgh Licensing Standards Initiative, Lothian and Borders Police commented:

"There is a real willingness amongst licensees and club owners to recognise the impact their business has on the local community. UNIGHT members are taking appropriate and responsible action to reduce crime for the benefit of local residents and members of the public."

4.8 Strategic Aim 2 calls for services to be located together and for resources to be shared. The benefits of doing this are greater than just resource efficiency, important though this is: by locating services together agencies will be better able to prevent and tackle ASB. Some of the benefits of locating together include:

• early identification of emerging problems, allowing faster intervention;
• better communication and information exchange;
• prompt, coordinated and expert advice to the public;
• more effective targeting of resources;
• prompt support for victims;
• more effective case referral and management; and
• Best Value through shared accommodation and overheads.

4.9 The Scottish Government, COSLA and the other EAG partners believe that services related to tackling ASB should consider locating together to realise the benefits outlined above when they next undertake a strategic review of services. In furtherance of this, the Scottish Government and partners will develop national guidance on partnership working.

4.10 Strategic Aim 3 is about different services and agencies developing shared outcomes and working together effectively to deliver them. We want services and agencies to move away from seeing themselves as representing different interests from their partners and instead see themselves as representing everyone in their communities. If services and agencies have shared outcomes they are far more likely to deliver successful results. No one agency can tackle ASB alone and much strength is delivered through partnership working. Community Planning Partnerships ( CPPs) and CSPs provide a useful means for bringing partners together and for developing shared outcomes. NHS Boards and Community Health Partnerships have an important contribution to make to such groups.

Good Practice Example: Fife Safer Neighbourhood Team's Shared Location of Services

Fife Safer Neighbourhoods Team ( SNT) is an intelligence-led partnership initiative that uses the PIER Model to co-ordinate the delivery of Fife's ASB strategy. It consists of an ASB help-desk, analysts, a police team, an investigation team and victim support staff. The SNT includes over 50 staff from a range of organisations including Fife Council, Fife Constabulary and Fife Fire and Rescue Service, who share open-plan offices at the Safer Communities Centre. This enables staff to communicate regularly and effectively.

An essential element of the partnership is its ability to exchange and share information, enabling the early identification of vulnerable victims and communities and the opportunity to develop associated intervention and enforcement programmes. The approach has led to faster intervention, more effective case referral and prompt support for victims of ASB.

The Chair of Fife Police Fire and Safety Committee, Councillor George Kay, commented:

"Tackling antisocial behaviour is for everyone's good and is a key priority for Fife Council. It's been proven that when problems are resolved, the confidence, morale and spirit of communities is boosted."

Good Practice Example: Street Pastors

Street Pastors are volunteers from local churches who offer help to late-night city-centre revellers who may have become separated from friends or may just need someone to speak to. They are on hand for everything from distributing space-blankets and flip-flops to women in high heels, to arranging taxis for those too drunk to get home.

The scheme began in London, pioneered by Revered Les Isaac. It now operates in cities throughout the UK, including Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen and Perth. It is estimated that in some areas where they operate crime has fallen by 84%. The pastors undertake a 12-week training programme covering issues like drug awareness and first aid.

Street Pastors are now working in Dunfermline as part of the city's Seasonal Safety Initiative. In partnership with the local police, they are already proving successful in their mission to bring reassurance and practical support to the people of Dunfermline.

Chief Inspector Scott McCallum from Dunfermline Police said of the Pastors:

"The Street Pastors are not employed by the Police however, there is a common purpose to our roles. They have already proved to be an asset to city-centre users and we look forward to working with them in the future."

National Actions and Local Recommendations

4.11 There follows five National Actions and seven Local Recommendations for integrated services, contributing to the 25 National Actions and 25 Local Recommendations across the entire Framework.

National Actions

1. Guidance on Partnership Working:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners, will produce shared strategic guidance on partnership working on ASB by the end of 2009. The guidance will set ASB within the context of the National Performance Framework and will build on guidance and advice on Single Outcome Agreements ( SOAs). This guidance will address how partnership working can best be achieved through the sharing of information, resources and outcomes. The guidance will address the links between ASB, community safety, education, social work, health, Community Justice Authorities and, specifically, will advise partnerships on how to achieve partnership working through the use of the National Intelligence Model ( NIM) and multi-agency groups. It will address the strategic infrastructures required nationally and locally to deliver the revised PIER Model and improve links between partners.

2.Guidance on Strategic Assessment:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners will produce shared guidance on the use of strategic assessments and other analytical tools by the end of 2009. This guidance will address how to take an evidence-led approach to business, which will allow partners to use analysis to assess and prioritise their needs. The Scottish Government will, through its own recently strengthened analytical capacity, support local authorities and their analysts.

3.Guidance on Criminal Antisocial Behaviour Orders ( CRASBOs):
The Scottish Government, in conjunction with COPFS and other partners, will publish guidance by the end of 2009 clarifying the procedure to be used to aid the drafting - and inform the granting - of criminal ASBOs by the courts. This guidance will be informed by the good practice used within the Scottish Borders local authority area.

4.Review of Information Sharing:
The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners will, during 2009 review information sharing practice in relation to ASB, which will include considering the use of information sharing protocols ( ISPs). They will, through further consultation, consider the potential role of other partners such as General Practitioners within ISPs. On conclusion of the review of these practices, the Scottish Government will produce guidance, which will respond to the findings and recommendations of that review.

5.Housing Allocation Policy:The Scottish Government will work with housing stakeholders to conduct a review of housing allocation issues during 2009, and expect to publish revised guidance for local authorities and Registered Social Landlords on allocations issues. The review and the guidance will be aimed at assisting social landlords to navigate the different statutory requirements and policies in this area, from use of the Short Scottish Secure Tenancy ( SSST) to general allocation issues. The review will also consider ASB issues with a view to providing guidance on the role allocations can have in supporting social landlords to minimise and manage ASB in their communities.

Local Recommendations

6.Annual Strategic Assessments:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that local partners should develop, annually, a joint strategic assessment to aid them in prioritising their local needs and deploying their services appropriately and proportionately. This should allow partners to jointly allocate resources to areas of most need based upon intelligence. This will assist agencies fulfil their other reporting requirements and ensure meaningful performance management information is available.

7.Multi-Agency Groups:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that local partners should establish a multi-agency group consisting of not only traditional partners such as the police but also including non-traditional partners from the health and education sectors. These groups should meet monthly and should use an intelligence-led assessment approach to manage the appropriate delivery of services.

8.Problem-Solving Approach:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that all local partners adopt a problem-solving approach. Implementing such an approach should allow partners to identify the appropriate lead agency in each case and react to emerging issues. We recommend that all partners within the CPP are trained in and conversant with a problem-solving approach and that they adopt this approach when tackling ASB issues.

9.Review Statutory ASB Strategies:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that local authorities and the relevant Chief Constables should review and update their ASB strategies in line with this Review by 2010. Such reviews should be informed by consultation with local partners and consideration should be given to linking ASB strategies with wider community safety priorities.

10.Information Sharing Protocols ( ISPs) and Referral Procedures:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that all local partners should sign an ISP to aid the speedy sharing of information, resources and outcomes. This will strengthen their referral procedures to ensure people receive appropriate education and support.

11.Information Sharing Standards and Training:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that, to underpin any ISP, partners support and promote information sharing by ensuring the use of effective standards and training on the gathering, recording, monitoring and sharing of information. Where possible and practicable, we recommend that partners link in with each others' IT systems to aid this process.

12.Shared premises:The Scottish Government, COSLA and other national partners recommend that as part of a strategic review of local ASB services, specific consideration should be given to sharing premises with other services that might aid the tackling of ASB. Local authority departments should integrate better to coordinate links with external partners to achieve effective joint working.

Conclusion

4.12 By sharing resources, information and outcomes, services aimed at tackling ASB will deliver better results for individuals and communities. It is inevitable that there will be tensions between different services but, while this can bring a healthy balance between different perspectives, we want to see partners overcome these tensions. The days of old polarised debates that saw tackling ASB as a battle between protecting the needs of individuals and the wider community should be consigned to history. Every individual is part of a community so the distinction between the two is both unnecessary and unhelpful.

4.13 Different agencies and departments should work together to agree shared outcomes that are in the best interests of everyone in their communities. If they do this by sharing information and premises, they are more likely to adopt an intelligence-led approach and deliver positive outcomes for everyone in their communities.

Further information

• Further Good Practice Examples on integrated services can be found at Annex F.
• The results of a local authority service mapping exercise can be found at Annex G.

Please note annexes are available in a separate document - see www.scotland.gov.uk