Lancashire Criminal Justice Board - Monthly Update
March 2006
Board Sponsor - Richard Foster
The Lancashire Criminal Justice Board Sponsor, Richard Foster (Ch Exec, CPS HQ, London), attended the March Board meeting at the invitation of Board members. Mr Foster advised that he was pleased with Lancashire's performance in relation to meeting the targets set by the Office of Criminal Justice Reform.
The Lancashire Criminal Justice Board targets for 2006/07, as published in the CJS Business Plan can be seen by following the link below:-
Lancashire Local Area Agreement
The LAA perspective was launched in July 2004 as part of the Government's 10 year vision. Lancashire's agreement has been drawn up by the Lancashire County Council and has four blocks:-
- Safer and Stronger Communities
- Children and Young People
- Healthier Communities and Older People
- Economic Development and Enterprise
and is a key tool to the delivery of community safety strategies.
The agreement took effect from 1.4.06 with final delivery plans being produced by the end of April.
Meeting with Cumbria Criminal Justice Board
The LCJB has been invited to meet with Cumbria Criminal Justice Board to discuss the implications of the merger of Lancashire and Cumbria Police Forces and how this will impact on other criminal justice agencies and Local Criminal Justice Boards. A meeting has been fixed for Monday 10 April 2006.
Legal Advisory Group
The LCJB has set up a new group (Legal Advisory Group) to allow for a consultation mechanism with the defence (i.e. solicitors, barristers, magistrates etc) and to allow them to contribute to discussions on the work of the Board and its initiatives to improve the delivery of justice in Lancashire. The group's first meeting has been set for the 21.9.06.
Conditional Cautioning
Lancashire is one of five project areas involved in the issue of Conditional Cautions. Conditions applied to these cautions include compensation orders, drug intervention assessment, alcohol intervention sessions and personal or written apologies to victims. Future developments to the initiative include creating unpaid work pathways in liaison with the Probation Service.
Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
The Board are keen to work more closely with CDRP's to establish common themes from Community Safety Strategies that could be looked at for closer partnership working. The LCJB are now represented on the CDRP Chairs Group.
Rock FM radio campaign - Youth Offending Team
The LCJB utilised Rock FM Radio to run a week-long campaign (w/c 20 March) which featured the work undertaken by the Lancashire Youth Offending Team to prevent and tackle young offending. The campaign included interviews with young people, parents and victims to get their individual perspective on the impact the YOT's work had had on them and how it raised awareness of the consequences of the crime and helped prevent future offending.