Annex 1
Woking
Joint Action Group
Review
January 2015
Report and research prepared by Minty Boothman
Crime and Disorder Assistant
Woking JAG Review 2014
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Annex 1
Contents
Page Number
Introduction and Background
3
Methodology
3
Attendance and Membership
4
Chairing
5
Administration and Support/Frequency of meetings/Nomination Forms
5
Sharing Personal Information
6
Problem Solving
6
Performance Monitoring
6
Intelligence Reporting
6
Summary of Recommendations
7
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1. Introduction and Background
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 granted local authorities more responsibility with
regards to strategies for reducing crime and disorder. The Act required that agencies
work together with the local authority in partnership, to combat anti-social behaviour. In
Surrey this work had been taking place for a number of years and led to the formation of
multi-agency problem solving groups such as the Joint Action Group (JAG) and
Community Incident Action Group (CIAG).
JAG is accountable to the local Community Safety Partnership (CSP), which locally is
known as The Safer Woking Partnership, and aims to contribute to the delivery of antisocial behaviour reduction strategies.
The Woking Joint Committee is a newly formed committee of Surrey County Council and
Woking Borough Council, established on 1 June 2014. The Joint Committee has two
sub-committees, which consider and make decisions around community safety and
health and wellbeing in Woking..
JAGs specialise in examining locations in the borough identified as hotspots for antisocial behaviour. JAGs discuss and agree actions to reduce the negative impact that
problem locations have on the wider community. Using the expertise that exists in the
group they identify desirable outcomes and determine what interventions will be used to
achieve this, using partner agencies. Locations are identified through analysis of
intelligence and statistical information and then nominated to the JAG process by one of
the partners or jointly nominated by several agencies.
The Woking JAG is a multi-agency group of partners consisting of Woking BC officers,
Police officers, Surrey Fire and Rescue officers and Surrey CC officers. Officers from
other agencies attend on an ad hoc basis when their assistance is required. For example
an officer from a housing association may attend if their area has been nominated to the
JAG and they can bring expert knowledge to the problem.
The key elements that enable the JAG process to be effective are:
• accurate identification of problem locations within a short time-frame before the
issues enlarge
• accurate minutes
• a robust system for monitoring actions agreed in the meeting
• regular meetings, attended by appropriate partners who have the ability to make
decisions and allocate resources as required.
The aim of the review is to examine whether the stated assumptions in the above
paragraph are correct and if there are any other changes that could be incorporated into
the JAG process which would be of benefit to it. Best practice for the JAG will be
identified and areas for improvement highlighted with recommendations.
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2. Methodology
This review has been undertaken by research, discussion and questionnaire. JAG
meetings have been observed in other boroughs, Waverley, Surrey Heath, Runnymede
and Guildford, to see what could be learnt from them.
The review examined the current mechanisms for administration including membership,
frequency of meetings, chairing, attendance, timescales for items remaining on the
agenda, information sharing, terms of reference, induction pack, nomination forms, police
intelligence reports, anti-social behaviour reports, interventions.
3. Attendance and Membership
The attendance at the JAG meetings was analysed for the period covering April 2011 to
July 2014. There was excellent attendance from the core group of JAG members
comprising Community Safety Officer, Borough Inspector or Neighbourhood Sergeant,
Licensing Officer, Local Partnership Officer, anti-social behaviour caseworker, Children
and Young People Development Officer, Woking Neighbourhood officers.
Some of the agencies who attend are operational and due to this are sometimes called
away from the meetings or unable to attend, but the group did not feel that this had been
detrimental to the workings of the JAG.
Some other JAGs have a wider group of people attending their meetings but this is
because of the nature of the problems at particular locations that are being dealt with
(they are invited to attend on a ‘need to’ basis). We also do this and invite, for example,
Woking Parking officers if a car park is nominated to the JAG or officers from housing
associations if their location is on the JAG.
Guildford JAG sometimes invites councillors to their meeting. Woking JAG will ensure
that councillors are kept informed when a specific area they represent is on the agenda.
Questionnaires were sent out to all JAG members including everyone on the distribution
list (although many of these people are not required to attend the meetings and see the
minutes for information only).
One of the questions was ‘Which agencies do you think it would be useful to have at the
meeting that do not already attend?’
Members of JAG felt that the appropriate people were attending and had no suggestions
for new members. The only suggestion was for the nominated attendee to consider
whether another member of their team may have greater knowledge about a particular
location and could attend instead of them or with them.
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Recommendations
3.1 Woking JAG to keep local and county councillors informed when an area of
interest to them is on the JAG agenda.
3.2 JAG group to consider inviting ad hoc attendees related to their specific
knowledge.
4. Chairing
Chairing of the Woking JAG is shared between the Woking
Officer and the Neighbourhood Sergeant from Surrey Police.
BC Community Safety
One of the questions on the questionnaire sent out to members was ‘would you like the
opportunity to chair the JAG?’
There was no requirement for others to chair the JAG and nobody wanted the
opportunity. It was felt that the JAG was neutrally chaired.
Recommendation
4.1 The current system to remain unchanged.
5. Administration and support/Frequency of meetings/ Nomination Forms
The meeting is noted and subsequently the notes are sent out recording actions from the
last meeting. New nominations and the agenda are circulated several days before the
next meeting to allow partners to research and gather any relevant information. Copies of
all papers are provided at the meeting for partners who arrive without hard copies. The
minutes are sent out within 10 working days of the meeting, if this deadline cannot be
met, which is unusual, then the key actions are sent out to members by email so that
they can begin work on them and the minutes sent later.
JAG electronic files are clearly marked within corporate folders and filed in yearly folders
with sub folders for each separate requirement (nominations, agenda, and minutes),
obviously this will change when we make the switch to Sharepoint system of filing.
Partners were satisfied with the current frequency of meetings at 6 weekly intervals.
A suggestion was made to have the actions from the meeting recorded in one place as
well as after each location on the minutes, to make it easier to determine what actions
were required.
Members returning the questionnaire were content with the minutes, form and content.
The nomination form will be updated to make it simpler to fill in.
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It has also come to light that there is no induction pack for the JAG, which could be
useful especially for new members. It could include the items that the CIAG induction
pack has but relating to JAG.
Recommendations
5.1 Produce Induction Pack
5.2 Produce a table at the front of the minutes with the actions from the meeting.
5.3 The current nomination form will be updated.
6. Sharing Personal Information
Feedback suggests that JAGs can prove to be an effective means of sharing information and
building good working relationships between agencies. All JAG member agencies must be a
signatory of the Surrey Crime & Disorder Information Sharing Protocol. At the beginning of
each meeting everyone present signs an attendance form as a record of who was present at
the meeting. All agencies attending the meeting have a responsibility to ensure they are
signed up to the Surrey Crime and Disorder ISP and an understanding of their responsibilities
under the Data Protection Act.
At the top of the attendance form is the following declaration :
‘We, the undersigned, accept and understand the principles of both the Surrey Information
Sharing Protocol and the Data Protection Act. We understand that the information that is
shared and exchanged within the confines of a JAG meeting is for the specific use of dealing
with crime and disorder issues in the borough of Woking and will be shared in support of JAG
process as laid out in the JAG terms of reference’.
There are no current Terms of Reference for the JAG so there will be a review of the TOR.
Recommendations:
6.1 Ensure that all JAG members are signed up to the Surrey Crime and Disorder
Information Sharing Protocol.
6.2 Members of JAG to undertake ISP training or refresher courses when they are
available.
6.3 Terms of Reference to be submitted to JAG members for agreement.
7. Problem Solving
The process of discussing and agreeing appropriate solutions and interventions to deal
with problem locations on the JAG is working well. Discussion around the table at JAG
meetings was effective at arriving at solutions and interventions. None of the partners felt
that there was any content that was not being covered.
8. Performance Monitoring
The JAG is monitored through the reports that are fed back to the Safer Woking
Partnership. The Community Safety Officer provides a quarterly depersonalised report
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which includes activity on the JAG agenda. When a location is discharged from the JAG
agenda a short assessment is written and recorded on the minutes summing up what
actions have been taken and what interventions worked. It is also clear from the minutes
how long a location was on the JAG agenda before being discharged. The quarterly
reports are sent to all council members, county council members and community safety
sub-committee members.
9. Intelligence Reporting
From the 5 questionnaires 3 people had no comment to make about the intelligence
reports. 1 said there was a lot of paperwork produced which they felt was unnecessary.
Anecdotally people felt that the police intelligence report was useful as it linked to specific
locations on the JAG. The asb reports from other services were felt to be less useful and
1 person suggested that information could be reported from them on an exception basis
at the meeting if there was anything special to report.
10. Summary of recommendations
•
Woking JAG to keep councillors updated re areas of interest to them.
•
Specific NVH housing officers be asked to attend meetings as well as NVH
ASB manager, when a particular location is on the agenda that includes their
housing stock.
•
Update nomination form.
•
Induction pack to be produced.
•
Ensure that all JAG members are signed up to the Surrey Crime and Disorder
Information Sharing Protocol.
•
Members of JAG to undertake ISP training or refresher courses when they are
available.
•
Terms of Reference to be drawn up for the JAG and shown to the JAG
members for Agreement.
Summary
The review concluded that Woking JAG is an effective JAG with good partnership
attendance and multi-agency working practices. It has regular meetings, attended by
appropriate partners who have the ability to make decisions and allocate resources as
required. Woking JAG is able to accurately identify problem locations within a short timeframe before issues escalate further. There is a robust system for monitoring actions
agreed in the meeting.
After measuring best practice against other boroughs, it is felt that the Woking JAG
makes a positive difference with a high standard of successful interventions and problem
solving.
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