Safer Ealing Partnership
The Safer Ealing Partnership (SEP) is the community safety partnership (CSP) for Ealing. The group meets quarterly and coordinates and monitors the combined actions of all agencies in tackling both the causes and impact of crime and anti-social behaviour.
The Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) brings together partners who work to a shared community strategy. The SEP works to promote the Ealing LSP, and specifically, the Future Ealing priority of making the borough a healthy, great place to live.
The list of board members includes the chief executive of the council and the cabinet member for tackling inequality (chair); senior executives from partner agencies including the police west area BCU commander; directors from social care and public health; representation from the Fire Brigade, Police and the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), probation, drugs and alcohol teams, and representatives from the voluntary and community sector.
The Police and Justice Act 2006 gave local authorities the function of scrutinising the work of the CSP and with the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, scrutiny bodies were given a wide remit to look at the work of other partners in carrying out their work. Section 19 of the above Act states:
- “Every local authority shall ensure that it has a committee (the “crime and disorder committee”) with power to review or scrutinise decisions made or other action taken, in connection with the discharge by the responsible authorities of their crime and disorder functions.”
and
- “The crime and disorder committee is to be an overview and scrutiny committee of the authority (within the meaning of Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000).”
In Ealing, the CSP recognises that good scrutiny:
- Provides a ‘critical friend’ to decision makers
- Enables the voice and concerns of the public to be heard
- Is directed by independent councillors who lead and own the scrutiny process
- Drives improvement in public service
- Has an effective knowledge base in evaluating and making recommendations.
A new SEP strategy for 2020-2023 was agreed by the SEP in March 2020. The renewed strategy has a strong focus on tackling vulnerability and building resilience across Ealing’s communities through four key strands:
- Tackling drug and alcohol misuse
- Preventing exploitation and victimisation
- Effective management of spaces
- Strengthening intelligence and information sharing.