Progress report on Pan London Working Group on (Race) Hate Crimes

Report: 6
Date: 15 November 2001
By: Clerk

Summary

Following the presentation of a paper by Peter Herbert (Deputy Chair, MPA) to the full Authority on 8 March 2001, members agreed that the Authority should further develop this area of work. This Committee was delegated the responsibility for progressing the recommendations outlined in Peter Herbert's paper and considered the paper on 24 March 2001. Recommendation two of the report proposed that the MPA and MPS should 'facilitate a London wide multi-agency approach to hate crimes' to involve a range of agencies in order to 'ensure there is a uniform approach to tackling hate crimes across the capital' At its inaugural meeting on 14 June 2001, the group decided that the initial focus of the Working Group should be on race hate crimes, and that the learning developed should then be cascaded to other forms of hate crimes. 

The Working Group has held three meetings, and is currently in the process of drafting a set of protocols, that could be used by key organisations and agencies represented on the Working Group, to ensure the sharing of information under section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1988.

A. Recommendation

1. That members note the progress in the work undertaken by the Working Group.
2. That members note the draft plans for the seminars outlined in paragraph 10.

B. Supporting information

1. There is currently no forum, group or organisation that has the responsibility for co-ordinating the thirty two different approaches that the differing Crime and Disorder partnerships, Local Authorities (social services, education, housing etc), Probation Service, voluntary sector (housing etc) or other agencies have in place for dealing with race hate, and other hate crimes. The MPS collects hate crime data that is made available to it, but such data cannot be accessed by the voluntary sector, which is usually outside the partnerships arrangements of the statutory bodies. The type and level of data collected vary widely.

2. The Association of London Government (ALG) has for some time administrated a Racial Harassment Group meeting for officers from the different boroughs, but this group is largely a forum for exchanging views and sharing practices. There is little decision making and some of the stakeholders in the field of hate crime is not included in this officer level meeting.

3. Although the Crime and Disorder Partnerships set targets for addressing race and other hate crimes, there remain deep concerns that the achievements of such targets remain unmonitored at a pan London level. The Working Group propose that the MPA, as a 'cooperating body' in the Crime and Disorder Act, should have a legitimate role to play in ensuring such coordination across the 32 boroughs, and the MPS, by working in partnership with the other key stakeholders, including the voluntary sector, probation, health, prison service, judiciary, Magistracy and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Home Office, to ensure Ministerial priorities for achieving this area if development are achieved.

4. This committee also has a commitment to ensure the implementation of the key recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report; relating to policing are progressed.

5. The paper presented to the Full Authority meeting in April 2001 identified the grave inefficiencies in the current provisions and proposed that the MPA and MPS should play a key role by working with and through key partners to bring about the changes required to ensure a more co-ordinated approach to dealing with Race (and other hate crimes) on a Pan London level. Since the inaugural meeting in June a number of actions have been progressed, some of these are outlined below:

Membership

6. The Pan London Working Group on race hate crimes, chaired by Peter Herbert and attended by other members of the CDO Committee has attracted the support of and involvement progressing the terms of the Group. A list of the organisations in attendance at the meetings is attached at Appendix 1. This represents the key organisations roles at strategic policy making levels as well locally based practitioners who play a day-to-day role in addressing race hate crimes.

7. Representation from the ALG, and the Government Office for London is important and invitations have been sent for their attendance at future meetings. A representative from the Home Office will be presenting details of the draft Home Office Toolkit on Racial Harassment at the forthcoming meeting of the group on 14 November.

Terms of Reference

8. Draft terms of reference of the group have been developed and will be discussed at the meeting of the group on 14 November. A finalised version will be made available to all MPA members for information. Members of this Committee, however, may wish to play a more active role in commenting on the draft terms of reference and will have the opportunity to do so.

Draft Protocols

9. The Working Group has reviewed a range of protocols developed by local authorities and their partners. These have informed the development of the draft protocol which will be presented to the 14 November meeting, with proposals for the extensive consultation which will need to be carried out with stakeholders , partners and government departments in order for it to be implemented on a Pan London basis.

Proposed seminars on Hate crimes

10. The Working Group has considered the proposal to host three separate day seminars with different audiences to explore approaches and seek to achieve consensus in partnership working. It is currently proposed that the first of these seminars will be held in February/March 2002, with the further two being held in the summer and autumn of 2002. The Working Group will be considering these proposals in great detail at the 14 November meeting.

Events post 11 September

11. The recent events of 11 September has highlighted the general public awareness of the potential of racially motivated crimes. The increased reported incidents affecting the faith communities have been acknowledged by the Group's membership and discussions are being progressed on actions that can be taken by the Pan London bodies on issues such as for example language and the misinformation prevalent in the media about sections of the Muslim community.

The Home Office Racist Incidents and Harassment Toolkit

12. This is currently in draft form and is expected to be published in the near future. The draft document covers a number of key aspects aimed at assisting the local Crime and Disorder Partnerships to be more effective in tackling crime and disorder and creating safer communities. The Working Group will be working closely with the Home Office to see how it could contribute to the current draft document, to enhance the Pan London co-ordination rate. Meetings have been arranged for the Chair of the Working Group and the GLA senior co-ordinator Mary John-Baptiste, who was instrumental in developing the toolkit prior to joining the GLA, to meet with the senior Home Office officials to progress these discussions on behalf of the Working Group.

C. Financial implications

The activities of the Working Group will be contained within the allocated budget (£15,000) for the current financial year and a proposal has been made for a similar small budget allocation for 2002/03.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Julia Smith, MPA.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: Membership of the pan-London Working Group on (Race) Hate Crimes

1. Peter Herbert, Chair, MPA Member
2. Cindy Butts, Deputy Chair, CDO
3. R.David Muir, Chair CDO Committee
4. James Riches-Walker, Head of Race and Criminal Justice, NACRO
5. Judy Clements, Prison Service
6. Tim Pagan, Assistant Chief Probation Officer, Probation Service
7. Brian Richardson, Race On The Agenda
8. Sylvia Carter, ALG
9. Norma DeVaille, Southwark Racial Harassment Unit
10. Yasmin Rehman, Lewisham Racial Harassment Unit
11. Jaqui Thomas, Private Sector Housing Unit
12. Sherone Carter, UGIMA
13. Caroline Molloy, Circle 33
14. Raj Joshi, Society of Black Lawyers
15. Laurence Gouldbourne, Crime and Prosecution Service
16. Monica Daley, Borough Solicitor, Southwark Legal contract Services
17. Hassan Bokhari, Racial Harassment Co-ordinator, Hammersmith and Fulham Borough
18. Irene Crisp, Magistracy
19. Mary John – Baptiste, GLA
20. Dr Richard Stone, The stone Ashtown Trust
21. Reeva Bell, National Black Crown Prosecution Association
22. Steve Lovelock, MPS

MPA officers

• Julia Smith, MPA
• Celine Thomas, MPA

Invitees

• Commission for Racial Equality
• Chartered Institute for Housing
• SOLACE
• Refugee Housing Association
• Cathy Rees, DfEE, Teachers Unit Section
• Leslie Longstone, Divisional Manager, School Division, DfEE

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