Business Case for Area Base Grant
Appendix A
Theme: Safer Lancashire Board
Improvement Indicator Being Proposed
Please identify the indicator being proposed for an improvement target, the
outcome(s) it is expected demonstrate and indicate the frequency and spatial
aspect of measurement for this indicator.
e.g. Outcome: Reducing worklessness in Lancashire
Indicator: Number of Lancashire people moving into sustainable employment and
ceasing to claim an incapacity benefit or lone parent benefit
The Safer Lancashire Officer Group have identified that a significant gap is
communication and information to the public which is aimed at reducing the fear
of crime and anti-social behaviour and improving their confidence in public
services. Findings from the Place Survey indicate that there are specific wards
or areas where perceptions of anti-social behaviour are significantly higher and
confidence in services is lower than the rest of the county.
It is therefore proposed that a system of communication to and with the public is
developed to provide general information as well as target specific areas and
groups where perception is significantly different. Services will be commissioned
in three parts:
1) A series of four countywide campaigns at key times of year will be developed
in conjunction with communications professionals to disseminate key
messages to prevent recurring seasonal trends. E.g. acquisitive crime in lead
up to Christmas, Domestic Violence campaigns, BrightSparx/Bonfire night.
Campaigns will only be developed where there is a gap or where it identified
that they will add value to existing mainstream communication.
2) Development of community/ward level newsletters on a quarterly basis in
targeted areas where perceptions of anti-social behaviour and/or confidence
levels are significantly worse than the Lancashire average. The use of
newsletters is identified in the Casey Review 'Engaging Communities in
Fighting Crime' as the preferred method of communication by communities.
The newsletters will be tailored to ensure the content and logos are specific to
the area, however the design of the newsletter will be uniform to ensure
printing costs are controlled. These newsletters are intended to complement
ongoing marketing activity by individual organisations but provide focussed
information in areas that are determined to need it most. The delivery of the
newsletters is to be agreed but could be provided through community
payback and reparation activities for offenders.
3) Empowerment and consultation activities with 'hard to hear' groups to
improve their input into the development of partnership plans. These are
groups whose views may be subsumed within consultations and therefore
more difficult to understand or, as is the case with young people, do not
participate in many of the surveys used to inform strategic assessments.
Activities would also be planned to capacity build individuals locally to further
improve wider community involvement.
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The LCC Community Safety Team will provide project management of both
elements and support to local communications groups and officers in developing
the newsletters.
Evidence to support prioritisation
 Delivery of Ambition Lancashire Principles and Priorities
The activity proposed will support the achievement of the overarching outcomes
of narrowing the gap and encouraging active and engaged communities. It will
also contribute to the specific Safer outcomes of reducing anti-social behaviour,
crime including domestic violence, offending and re-offending.
The newsletters will also support and contribute to improving mental well-being
and potentially people's feeling of being involved in and influencing decisionmaking as the local newsletters can be used to inform people about PACTs and
other local sessions.
As the newsletters will aim to combat negative media, the activities will also
support more positive images of young people.
 Added value to other key Lancashire plans and strategies
The activity will directly contribute to the Community Safety Agreement,
specifically the outcomes to reassure the public and reduce their fear of crime. It
will also help to contribute to the confidence of the public in the police and local
services.

Consultation responses
(Partners/partnerships which have identified this as a priority. This will also
be cross-referenced with responses to the Ambition Lancashire consultation.)
The Safer Lancashire Board identified the feeling of safety and demonstrating
that local concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime are being tackled as
one of their top priorities for 2009/10. The Safer Lancashire Officer Group and
Network identified that communication and information dissemination was a
service gap as most resources had been targeted to project delivery.
 Survey data
The Place Survey data as shown in the maps below highlight the difference in
perceptions across the county and therefore where the newsletters should be
targeted to provide the additional reassurance.
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Feeling of Safety

Profile and Performance data
The Mental Well-Being impact assessment also demonstrated that activity in this
area was necessary as it would support promotion of participation, resilience and
enhance inclusion.
Contribution to/from other thematic areas
(Please refer to the cross-cutting tables in Ambition Lancashire and feedback
from the LAA Conferences. This area should also be used to highlight potential
conflict with other areas of work which will need to be managed.)
As mentioned above this work will contribute to outcomes in Children and Young
People, Health and Well-Being and People and Communities.
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Focus of improvement activity
(List below the area(s) or group(s) that activity will be directed toward to achieve
improvement and narrowing the gap in performance.)

Spatial Areas (e.g. neighbourhoods, districts, rural areas)
Please indicate specifically if this will be measured at Super Output Area or
below for performance management purposes.
The campaigns would be run on a countywide basis and newsletters targeted at
approximately 20 wards.

Communities of Interest (e.g. single parents, BME, disabled)
Impact Assessment
(The provisional LAA indicators will all be subject to a number of Impact
Assessments to ensure they do not disadvantage any group or area. Please
indicate below any assessment that has been undertaken as part of developing
this proposal. E.g. equality and diversity, mental health, rurality)
This activity has been highlighted as gap in the Mental Well-being and Equality
Impact Assessments.
Performance Management
 Data Source and Baseline
Data will be provided from the Place Survey initially for:
NI17 – Perceptions of Anti-Social Behaviour
NI21 – Perception that police and local agencies are dealing with local concerns
about ASB and Crime
The local indicator being developed to support the British Crime Survey
'Confidence' measure will also be used to show direction of travel.
 Data Provider and Data Owner
Lancashire County Council

Targets proposed/designated (Please give a range for potential
improvement)

Identified Target Lead (Named Individual and their organisation who will
take ownership of target for reporting and coordinating activity)
Deborah Haydock, Lancashire County Council – Target lead for the reassurance
indicator and ASB in the Community Safety Agreement.
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Financial Support
Countywide Campaigns – radio, press, poster, etc £ 25,000
Newsletters for 20 wards (approximately 50,000 households) – £ 50,000
 Design costs for uniform template £3,000
 Cost per newsletter (2-sides of A3 folded) £0.25 -£47,000
Provides 188,000 copies (47,000 per quarter)
Community Empowerment and Consultation £ 20,000
Total: £95,000
Risks and Opportunities

Outline risks and their consequences to achieving target (linked to
activity identified above); identify mitigating actions and/or a
contingency plan for each element of risk
Lancashire is seeing its lowest levels of crime in years; however perception of
crime and anti-social behaviour has not decreased comparatively. There are
also pockets of Lancashire which are still more fearful and less confident in their
service delivery which has an impact on quality of life and their well-being.
Previous experience has shown that without concerted investment into
communications and empowerment the step change to achieve our ambitions will
not be made.

Identify opportunities to further enhance delivery, expand services,
contribute to or provide support to other themes / cross-cutting issues
Date proposal prepared/updated
1 July 2009
By whom
Colleen Martin, Community Safety Manager
Date agreed by thematic partnership (or delegated body)
Date received by Safer Lancashire Officer Group
Date approved by Cabinet Member
Contact Information for Target Lead
Name: Deborah Haydock
Position: Executive Director of Policy
Organisation: Lancashire County Council
Address: PO Box 87, County Hall, Preston
Telephone: 01772 533438 (via Colleen Martin)
E-mail: [email protected]
CDM/20.11.07
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