Background

Community Safety Partnerships were set up under Sections 5-7 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. They are made up of representatives of local 'responsible authorities' with the aim to work together to protect their local communities from crime and to help people feel safer. They work out how to deal with local issues including antisocial behaviour, drug or alcohol misuse and re-offending. They annually assess local crime priorities and consult partners and the local community about how to deal with them.

Changes to child safeguarding legislation announced in 2018 has meant that all local authorities were required to make arrangements to replace their Local Safeguarding Children Boards by September 2019. Instead, each locality must have access to a team of Safeguarding Partners who work together to support the safeguarding system. In Bristol this meant that the Bristol Safeguarding Children Board was replaced by the Keeping Bristol Safe Partnership which also manages the functions of the local Safeguarding Adults Board and Community Safety Partnership. The Keeping Bristol Safe Partnership now takes on the function of the Community Safety Partnership, with most work delegated to the Keeping Communities Safe (KCS) Business Delivery Group. The KCS is a multi-agency group accountable to the KBSP Executive Board with the purpose of driving the delivery of the Strategic and Business Planning in relation to, but not limited to Duties and responsibilities as defined by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to ensue local arrangements are in place to keep communities safe from crime and anti-social behaviour.

Role of KCS

The KCS objectives include ensuring that partners in Bristol work together to safeguard and promote the welfare of communities in Bristol as set out in the relevant national guidance, (particularly The Crime and Disorder Act 1998), as

Some of the responsibilities of the KCS include:

• Undertake a Strategic Community Safety Needs Assessment and identify key Community Safety Priorities for Bristol
• Maintain a Business Plan, based on identified Community Safety priorities and respond to relevant actions / activity to deliver the Board strategic priorities.
• Monitor progress against the action plan and report to the Board by exception
• Supply a Keeping Communities Safe submission to the Board’s 12 monthly report
• Provide assurance to the Board in relation to issues relating to Community Safety and Crime and Disorder by undertaking through local assurance processes (audit and consideration of evidence) as required
• Collaborate with the Regional Independent Scrutineer to ensure a complete safeguarding assurance picture is available for the Bristol IS and Regional IS Annual Report to the Board.
• Ensure agencies meet their responsibilities and arrangements for Section 175 and Section 11 audit requirements

Another responsibility of the Community Safety Partnership is to undertake Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR). The KBSP Executive group is responsible for the decision making around agreeing and commissioning DHRs and the KCS develops and delivers against the appropriate actions from national and local reviews. You can read more about these reviews on the DHR page.

Relevant documents

The requirements for the Safeguarding Partners laid out by the government are provided in the Crime and Disorder Act (1998).

The KCS should also have regard to the relevant sections of the Police and Justice Act (2006); Crime and Disorder Regulations (2011); and Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004); 

The KCS Business Plan will be published here once available.