Bi-Annual Update-
Community Safety Plan Delivery and Partnership Working
September 2025
1.0 Purpose of this Report
1.1 To update on the partnership working around the priority areas agreed and implemented by North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership.
1.2 The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 places a statutory duty on local authorities to create multi-agency partnerships to tackle crime, disorder, anti-social behaviour and other behaviours adversely affecting the local environment and to reduce re-offending. The world of community safety continually changes and the need for partners to work together is essential.
1.3 Since the last update in March 2025, this report focuses on updates from across the priorities, including
· Community Safety Hubs- further cross directorate development, consistent approaches to ensure effective performance and reporting to Area Constituency Committees
· Serious violence- revised strategic needs assessment
· Domestic abuse- findings from a Joint Targeted Area Inspection. Publication of a Domestic Homicide Review ‘Ellie’
· Hate crime- multi-agency conference and monitoring of community tensions
· Prevent- Home Office annual assurance exercise of local arrangements. Revised national guidance following Southport.
· Protect and Prepare- implementation of new legislation (Martyn’s Law).
2.0 North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership Strategic Priorities
(2024-2028) NYCSP Strategy Plan 2024-2028.pdf
2.1 Community Safety Hubs (operational delivery of statutory duties) Dealing with crime, fear of crime, anti-social behaviour (ASB), community tensions and creating safer communities through a problem-solving approach.
2.2 Preventing and reducing serious violence (statutory duty) Implementation of the Serious Violence Duty to prevent and reduce serious violence, including identifying the kinds of serious violence that occur within our communities. North Yorkshire and York Serious Violence Strategy 2024-2029
NYY-SVD-Strategy-2024-29-v1-FINAL-1.pdf
2.3 Domestic abuse (statutory duty) Deliver on the North Yorkshire and City of York Domestic Abuse Strategy 2024-2028. (Statutory duty) North Yorkshire and City of York Domestic Abuse Strategy 2024-2028
2.4 Standing together to tackle hate crime, radicalisation and extremism (statutory duty) The Prevent duty aims to stop people from becoming terrorists and supporting terrorism, and community cohesion plays a vital role in this by fostering strong, positive relationships between people from different backgrounds. Prevent | North Yorkshire Partnerships
3.0 Community Safety Hubs
3.1 The 7 Hubs across North Yorkshire have focused on a number of key priorities.
· Consistent approaches across the Hubs (problem solving, intelligence led, early intervention, community engagement, enforcement when needed)
· Review of roles and responsibilities of core Hub staff (police and local authority roles), ensuring uniformity, sharing of good practice, effective delivery
· Working alongside Neighbourhood Policing Teams and other partners, strengthening the Hub model. Ensuring linkages with other appropriate services, when engaging with an individual or a community
· Increased awareness of the tools and powers available
· Performance reporting, demonstrating the effective work of the Hubs, including case studies.
The Community Safety Hubs host regular MAPS (Multi Agency Problem Solving meetings), following referrals which may be person/ locational specific and identify clear actions and outcomes. These cases are usually complex in nature and require a robust multi-agency approach. Since the last update further action and discussions have taken place with senior colleagues in Health and Adult, Children and Families Services and Public Health to ensure our cross-directorate arrangements are effective and the correct teams and leads are involved. Appendix 1 includes a Hub case study that highlights the complexity of the cases in the Community Safety Hubs and the need for effective collaboration.
3.2 This report focuses on the work of the partnership, but North Yorkshire Police provide data and statistics to the public, to give assurance around the tackling of local crime.
Performance for North Yorkshire Police | Police.uk
3.3 Staff in the Hubs (Local Authority and Police) use a shared case management system, Orcuma, to record ‘enquiries’ and ‘cases’ with clear oversight and outcomes.
3.4 With support from the Performance and Strategy team, the Hubs are developing a mapping tool using ‘Local Insights’ which visually represents the areas of heightened activity e.g. ‘hotspots’ and mapping the multi-agency interventions that have been introduced to mitigate the activity e.g. Project Spotlight.
3.5 An Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Policy is currently being developed and will be used as a framework for the Community Safety Hubs. The ASB delivery approach is based around known individuals, locations and the continued multi-agency intelligence approach. Project Spotlight in Harrogate Town Centre is an example of a targeted model where joint awareness, disruption and enforcement are utilised to manage locations and individuals. Spotlight on crime and anti-social behaviour in Harrogate | North Yorkshire Police
3.6 During 2025 community safety updates jointly from the Local Authority and Neighbourhood Policing have been presented at all of the Area Constituency Committees (ACC). These reports have been received well and provide detail and performance from a local perspective. This will continue, alongside regular meetings with the ACC chairs and vice chairs.
4.0 Preventing and Reducing Serious Violence
4.1 The Serious Violence Duty, introduced in 2023, requires specified authorities to work together to share information, target interventions, where possible through existing partnership structures, collaborate and plan to prevent and reduce serious violence within local communities. The government also amended the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, to ensure that serious violence is an explicit priority for Community Safety Partnerships and that a local strategy is in place to tackle serious violence.
4.2 A North Yorkshire and York Serious Violence Duty Working group leads on the implementation of the duty, all specified authorities are represented, and the group is chaired by a senior officer from North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. Since the introduction of the duty the partnership has undertaken 3 Strategic Needs Assessments, the most recent for 2024/25 (April to September) can be found via Serious Violence Duty - York & North Yorkshire Office for Policing, Fire, Crime and Commissioning
4.3 Between April and September 2024, 3 people lost their lives to violence in York and North Yorkshire. In the same period there were 3,101 serious violence offences committed.
4.4 North Yorkshire Headlines- Strategic Needs Assessment
· North Yorkshire is the 4th least affected local authority in England for overall crime according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation Score (York is 12th)
· 83% of children cautioned or sentenced for a serious violence offence had ever been suspended and 16% had been excluded
· North Yorkshire has seen an overall reduction in violence with injury figures comparing April- September figures to the same period the previous year
· There has been an increase amongst the most serious crimes (Homicide and GBH), rape and serious sexual offences has seen a decrease
· The largest increase in possession offences was seen in Scarborough. Harrogate saw a decrease in offences, this could correlate with multi-agency Organised Crime Gang (OCG) targeted operations and knife bin installation
· Police data shows that there has been a reduction in weapon possession amongst young people.
|
Offence category |
2022/23 Q1 & Q2 |
2023/24 Q1 & Q2 |
2024/25 Q1 & Q2 |
Difference |
|
Arson |
15 |
17 |
19 |
2 |
|
Homicide |
4 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
Possessing weapons |
198 |
194 |
216 |
22 |
|
Rape offences |
272 |
209 |
166 |
-43 |
|
Serious sexual offences |
337 |
339 |
268 |
-71 |
|
Violence with injury |
3168 |
2671 |
2429 |
-242 |
|
|
3994 |
3430 (-564) |
3101 |
-329 |
4.5 The Serious Violence Response Strategy 2024-2026, in response to the Strategic Needs Assessments can be found via North-Yorkshire-and-York-Serious-Violence-Duty-Strategy-2024-26.pdf. The strategy focuses on 5 strategic priorities.
1. Awareness raising and public perception
2. Children and young people
3. Possession and use of weapons
4. Alcohol, violence and night-time economy
5. Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
4.6 The Working Group monitors the interventions on a regular basis, to assess the impact and effectiveness of the projects, alongside reviewing data linked to serious violence, to maintain a collaborative approach. One of the interventions has been the knife bin roll out across North Yorkshire, following a successful pilot in Harrogate. It allows for members of the public to safely dispose of knives, bladed articles, or sharp tools. The intervention is delivered by Community Safety Hubs and North Yorkshire Police within localities, and they are responsible for finding a suitable location, engaging with communities, consultation and promotion, as well as the maintenance and emptying of the installed bin. This link provides detail of the knife bin locations across North Yorkshire North Yorkshire Police knife bins – Google My Maps
5.0 Domestic Abuse
5.1 Since the last update
· North Yorkshire has recorded a 12% decrease in reported crimes
· Scarborough has the highest rate of offences at 6.2 per 1000 of the population, second was Selby at 3.7, which is the same level as York
· Assault without injury and with injury were the 2 most common crimes, followed by stalking and coercive behaviour
· Offences are high between current partners, which highlights the continued need for effective support services.
5.2 A wide range of services are jointly commissioned with the Office of Policing, Fire and Crime Commissioning, North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council, including
· Services for adult victims and survivors
· Services for children impacted by domestic abuse, including therapeutic support services
· Safe accommodation, refuge and dispersed accommodation and close working arrangements with housing to ensure victims can remain safely within their own properties
· Services for perpetrators who wish to engage in behaviour change programmes.
5.3 A Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) took place for North Yorkshire in January/ February 2025. The inspection focused on the multi-agency response to unborn children and those aged 0-7 who are victims of domestic abuse. It was a large-scale inspection and included inspectors from Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP). The final inspection report was published at the end of March 2025. NYSCP
5.4 Headline findings include “The implementation of the North Yorkshire Domestic Abuse Strategy 2024-2028 heralds a dynamic approach that exemplifies the required overarching, yet granular, solution. Mature and reflective partnerships are delivering high-quality services focusing on prevention and early identification and community wide support.”
5.5 Strengths were identified, these include
· The mature and respectful relationships between statutory and community partnerships in the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership, Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board and the Community Safety Partnership
· The quality of direct work with children to help them understand what is happening to them and their family
· The early identification of potential risks to unborn children from perpetrators of domestic abuse
· How partner agencies identify and respond to the vastly different communities across North Yorkshire without losing sight of the strategic priorities for the county.
5.6 The inspection identified some areas for improvement
· How the experiences of child victims of domestic abuse aged 0-7 are consistently captured across the partnership
· The extent to which children are recognised as victims of domestic abuse in their own right across the partnership
· The timeliness and consistency of information sharing across the partnership to inform risk assessments and safety planning
· The accessibility and take up of multi-agency domestic abuse training by practitioners.
5.7 A multi-agency action plan in response to the inspection has been shared with the inspectors and there are joint scrutiny arrangements for the plan in place across the Community Safety Partnership, Safeguarding Children Partnership and the Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board.
5.8 Domestic Homicide Review (DHR)- Ellie Since the last update the partnership has published a statutory review ‘Ellie’. Ellie, a 39-year-old woman died by suicide in June 2023. Concerns about domestic abuse and coercive control in her relationship with her partner, ‘Mary’, led the Community Safety Partnership to commission a DHR. The published overview report and executive summary is available via Exec summary North Yorkshire Ellie.pdf
5.9 Ellie had a history of trauma within her previous abusive relationships. In her relationship with Mary she experienced escalating abuse, including non-fatal strangulation, and was increasingly isolated from her family. Despite multiple high-risk incidents and police involvement, Ellie died by suicide shortly after Mary was arrested following an assault on Ellie.
5.10 Good practice was identified in the review
· Support services meeting victims in neutral locations to avoid control by perpetrators
· GP triage improvements-practice now allows for more flexible engagement with concerned relatives
· Clare’s Law disclosure, prompt action to inform Ellie of Mary’s abusive history.
5.11 Ellie’s death followed a pattern of escalating abuse and control. Despite multiple agency contacts and high-risk indicators there were still some gaps in the response and support offered to Ellie. The review highlights a number of recommendations and action to improve multi-agency coordination, proactive management of serial perpetrators, and tailored responses for LGBT+ victims. A multi-agency action plan has been developed with management and scrutiny by the Domestic Abuse Local Partnership Board and the Community Safety Partnership.
6.0 Standing Together to Tackle Hate Crime, Radicalisation and Extremism
6.1 A large scale multi agency conference is being planned with York colleagues for the 15th October (national hate crime awareness week). The Inclusive Communities sub group, led and chaired by the Community Safety Service, has arranged the event. Confirmed speakers include
· ‘A Generation on from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry- The Impact on Hate Crime Services’ (Paul Giannasi OBE, The National Police Advisor Hate Crime Lead)
· Hate crime in North Yorkshire (North Yorkshire Police Hate Crime Team)
· Involving our communities to build trust and confidence (York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, Independent Scrutiny and Overview Board and North Yorkshire Police Race Action Plan Team)
· Disability hate crime: experiences of everyday hate and opportunities for resistance (Dr Leah Burch, Senior Lecturer in Social Services, Senior Academic Advisor, Liverpool Hope University)
· Ok to hate? Gypsy and travellers perspective on hate crime (Violet Cannon, CEO, York Travellers Trust)
· Faith, fear and fabrication: dismantling the roots of anti-muslim hate (Abba Najib, CEO, Better Communities, Bradford)
· North Yorkshire Youth Commission ‘Inclusivity’ (Emily Blavins, Leaders Unlocked).
|
Hate Crime Category |
1/4/2024- 31/8/2024 |
1/4/2025-31/8/2025
|
% increase reduction |
|
Entire NYP Force area |
549 hate crimes |
622 hate crimes |
13 % increase (73 crimes) |
|
North Yorkshire |
339 hate crimes |
376 hate crimes |
11% increase (37 crimes) |
|
Racial Hate Crime |
190 hate crimes |
235 hate crimes |
24% increase (45 crimes) |
|
Sexual Orientation |
49 hate crimes |
71 hate crimes |
45% increase (22 crimes) |
|
Disability
|
35 hate crimes |
23 hate crimes |
34% reduction (12 crimes) |
6.3. Hate Crime headlines
· Friday and Saturdays are still the busiest reporting days for hate crime.
· The most prevalent time though has shifted to 1600-2000hrs for the 2025 period compared with 0000hrs -0400hrs for 2024 period.
· It has been a dry, warm summer overall and as such we do see a rise in ASB / Alcohol consumption in people (particularly at weekends) which may explain the shift in timings.
· Whilst we have seen an increase in most areas of hate crime, this is in line with national reporting from other forces too given the current political landscape around issues such as immigration. NYP have also formed a strong connection with the Refugee Council who support those living within our communities and we attend drop-in sessions at locations including Harrogate, Ripon, Catterick, Pateley Bridge and Scarborough as we look to support them and ensure that they feel safe within their new community.
· Despite hate crime targeting people’s sexual orientation having increased, NYP remain committed to working with our LGBT communities closely and were present at Scarborough Pride and had a really productive day with some great engagement taking place.
· The NYP Hate Crime Team have been working closely with the MIND charity who support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities by attending drop-in sessions they host in Harrogate on multiple dates as well.
6.4 Following the tragic event in Southport in August 2024, the Prevent system nationally has been under significant pressure with the number of referrals increasing substantially, this trend has been seen locally. Part of the reason for this has been a lack of clarity on the thresholds within which Prevent operates, particularly in relation to cases related to ‘fascination with extreme violence or mass casualty attacks.’
6.5 Early September the Home Office published ‘Key Principles of Prevent’, which brings existing guidance into one document, alongside FAQs and case studies. This has been shared widely with the Prevent Partnership Board (which reports directly to the Community Safety Partnership). Prevent’s core aim is unchanged: to stop people from people becoming terrorists and supporting terrorism. It is, and always has been, an early intervention programme, designed to offer timely support to those at risk of being drawn into terrorism.
6.6 Effective relationships exist locally with Counter-Terrorism Policing North East (CTPNE). The Channel Panel chaired and led by the service continues to meet on a monthly basis, supporting a number of people across North Yorkshire. Channel is a voluntary, confidential programmes, which safeguards people identified as being drawn into terrorism. It is a multi-agency process, involving partners from the local authority, police, education, health providers and others.
6.7 Annually local authorities have to undertake a Prevent benchmarking exercise with the Home Office. In May 2025 the findings of the assurance process were shared with Richard Flinton, Chief Executive. Our Prevent arrangements were assessed against 8 benchmarks. Feedback included “The assurance process identified best practice across a number of benchmarks, and North Yorkshire has been scored as ‘exceeding’ in some areas. This is an impressive outcome for an area that does not receive dedicated funding from the Home Office for Prevent.”
6.8 Although not a partnership priority (currently), the service is leading on the implementation of new legislation ‘The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025- Martyn’s Law’. The Act aims to ensure public premises and events are better prepared for terrorist attacks. The Act follows the Manchester Arena Inquiry and London Bridget Inquest, both of which called for the introduction of legislation to protect the public, and the tireless campaigning of Figen Murray, whose son Martyn Hett, was one of the 22 people killed in the Manchester Arena attack. Government guidance is available for premises Martyn’s Law Factsheet – Home Office in the media
6.9 Any premises that is mainly used for one of the purposes listed in the Act (e.g. retail, education, places of worship, venues) and reasonably expect that at least 200 individuals may be present at the same time, at least occasionally, will have to comply with Martyn’s Law. Premises with a reasonable expectation of having between 200 and 799 people present at the same time will be in a standard tier, whereas those with an expectation of 800 or more will fall into an enhanced tier. Venues that are subject to a specific security regime (e.g. airports) or are freely accessible outdoor spaces, such as public parks and gardens where no checks are carried out on entry, are not included.
6.10 A new regulatory function established within the Security Industry Authority (SIA) will enforce the legislation. Whilst they will take action in cases of serious or persistent non-compliance, they will provide support, advice and guidance in the first instance. We area awaiting the statutory guidance from the SIA, to share across the networks.
6.11 The service is leading on arrangements ‘internally’, and internal strategic ‘Protect and Prepare’ group has been introduced, ensuring cross directorate awareness of the Act as it has implications for a number of services. At a local, operational level 3 Protect and Prepare groups (west, central and east) exist for North Yorkshire. These groups are also led and chaired by the service, with support from Counter Terrorism Security Advisors (CTSAs)
6.12 26th September 2025, with support from the CTSAs the service has arranged a large-scale event at Harrogate Convention Centre, aimed at partners and the business sector, to raise awareness of the legislation. We have been fortunate to secure Figen Murray as a key note speaker.
6.13 Over recent months community tensions have escalated across the country. In response the service has been working closely with partners and specifically North Yorkshire Police. This responses focuses on community intelligence being shared across the Hubs, service and with partners so effective responses can ‘be stood up’ if required e.g. community engagement, additional police patrols.
7 Recommendations
7.4 For members to consider the content of the report and to identify any areas for clarity and potential future action.
7.5 For members to identify partnership priorities and duties, that can be a focus for future updates and reports to the committee.
Author: Odette Robson, Head of Community Safety and CCTV (Public Space), North Yorkshire Council
Appendix 1 Community Safety Hub Case Study
The Hub became aware of C due to reported begging and causing ASB in the local community. She is a survivor of domestic abuse and had come to the town from another Local Authority.
C had allowed a ‘friend’ to move into her property, this individual was allowing nominals into her property to use drugs and take over the flat (cuckooing).
Action
Multi-agency visits were made to the property and neighbouring area (‘Operation Community’). C engaged and safety measures (target hardening) were placed on the property by the Hub and landlord. These included a door safety chain, change of locks, CCTV camera, lock to the communal gate so non-residents could not gain access to the property. Referrals were made to partner agencies, Horizons (substance use), IDAS (domestic abuse), Crossroads (women’s diversion services) and safeguarding teams.
As C’s vulnerabilities were being supported, enforcement powers were considered around C’s ASB, including begging. Statements were obtained from businesses and a Community Protection Warning (CPW) was issues to C with certain conditions around her behaviours, including begging and giving the impression of being homeless for financial gain.
Outcome
Reports continued around C’s behaviour and the ‘Warning’ was escalated to a Community Protection Notice (CPN). Businesses reported since the implementation of the ‘Notice’ C stayed away from the area and stopped begging.
With assistance C moved into supported accommodation and eventually moved out of the area to be closer to family support.
The multi-agency visits to the area identified a wider community impact, with reports of ASB, drug use, dealing from the property and the targeting of vulnerable individuals. This led to neighbours feeling unsafe in their own homes. The wider community engagement, further support instigated action to support community needs.