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‘Keeping Safe’ delivery Group Minutes

Date : 25th April 2014 - 10:30am—1:00pm

Venue : Maidstone Community Support Centre, Marsham Street, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1HH

Who was there?

John Ansell - Kent Police Linda Bailey - Tonbridge & Malling District Partnership Group Sue Bates - Kent Valuing People Partnership Joanne Cunningham - KCC, Kent LD Partnership Coordinator Tony Faulkner - Topaz Community Maria Hedington - Stagecoach Sam Holman - Joint Chair Michelle Hosken - Thanet/Dover/Shepway Alan Kerridge - Tunbridge Wells District Partnership Group

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Welcome and Apologies Sam and Mick welcomed everyone to the meeting and the apologies were read out.

Who was there? (Continued)

Amy Kierans - KCC, Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults Co-ordinator Alex Knight - Thanet District Partnership Group Simon Knight - Southeastern Railway Diana Lovecchio - Canterbury District Partnership Group Jenny Meehan - Topaz Community Laurence Oliver - Topaz Community Tim Pomfret - Stagecoach Tanya Post - Thanet District Partnership Group Charlotte Spirgel-Sinclair - SWK District Partnership Group Honey-Leigh Topley - KCC, Community Safety Unit Philip Willmott - KCC, Safeguarding Adults Coordinator Claire Wratten - Arriva

Apologies

Andrew Dunne - Sevenoaks District Partnership Group Alex Scott - Shepway District Partnership Group James Spink - Tonbridge & Malling District Partnership Group Michael Pastor - Kent Police Lynn Logronio - Mencap

The Ground Rules & Housekeeping The group agreed who would be fire warden and first aider.

The fire warden was Mick The first aider was John

Actions from last meeting

Help points at train stations The help points that are between London and Dartford are 24 hours. The ones nearer the coast are controlled locally and so you may be put through to a call centre. Simon will give telephone numbers for people to call if they have prob-lems with the help points.

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Actions from last meeting (continued)

Mick has spoken with Southeastern Rail and someone will be joining the transport sub-group and will come along to the next meeting to give a presentation. Joanne to add to the agenda.

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We will try and do the work at weekends and bank holidays as these times are not as busy. We will also try to have busses there to help. However, there will be times when they are not able to stop outside the station. The train stations will have posters up showing when work will happen.

Why do all the rail repairs and work always seem to happen at weekends and such times?

These can be found on the platform and are big circular units that have two buttons; one for assistance and one for emergency.

What are the help points?

Actions from last meeting (continued)

The British Transport Police now have a new office on Maidstone West train station and are there to help. If you are at a station and you need to contact the police, dial 101. In an emergency, dial 999

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Yes. We also have emergency phones on some stations and so I will also bring a picture of these. (Simon will arrange this).

Could they bring a photo of the help point so that we can see what it looks like?

If you have problems with the ticket machines board the train and find the conductor.

When the ticket office is closed, how can I buy a ticket as the ticket machines are very confusing?

Feedback from the Transport Group Membership The members of the Transport Group are:

Mick Cronin from Kent Police Claire Wratten from Arriva Maria A rep from Stagecoach Michelle Abbott from Kent Valuing People Partnership Louise Flatman from North Kent Independent Advocacy Scheme A rep from Southeastern Rail will also be joining the group

Journey cards The group have sent around the journey cards for people to use. These cards come from Stagecoach but Arriva al-so have some and we are working with Southeastern to make sure they can be used on trains. These were sent on-line and it was agreed that these cards were useful, not just for people with learning disabilities, but for other disabilities as well. Driver training (Arriva) Claire from Arriva told the group that Transport for London has launched a new training DVD for bus drivers. The DVD looks at issues around access for assistance dogs and mobility scooters. Arriva will be using this as part of their driver training.

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If you get stuck in traffic the journey may cost more. Some drivers don’t use meters any more, they use mobiles. The price of petrol will also make a difference to the cost.

Sometimes the same journey on a different day can be more expensive. Shouldn’t the driver be made to start the meter in front of you?

Feedback from the Transport Group (continued)

Taxis Sevenoaks Planning and Checking Group will email Mick with some issues they have with taxis. Philip said that KCC were doing some work with Contracts to look at how to improve some of the problems reported. It is important that people report any problems they have.

I think that competition is also there as there are lots of different rates. Also, there is a difference in rates be-tween Hackney and private cabs. (Hackney cabs are cabs that can be hailed from the street or can be found waiting at taxi ranks.)

Could we have competition on price?

Feedback from the Transport Group (continued)

The Keeping Safe group talked about some of the bad journeys they had heard about and it was agreed that the journey cards could be useful for taxis.

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Living in Fear Event The Living in Fear event was held in January 2014. Mick asked people for feedback on the day. Comments included:

The room was cold

The event was too long

It was not very interactive

The electronic quiz broke-down

We were asked to answer questions by showing coloured cards. The red and orange cards were so alike we didn’t know the right card to show.

Jigsaw Project Since the research, Colin Guest (from MCCH) is working on a 1 year pro-ject in Medway called the Jigsaw Project.

Anyone can contact Colin but the project is only looking at the two areas of Strood and Gillingham.

Should we contact Colin with our stories?

Living in Fear Event (continued) This project will look at two areas, (Strood and Gillingham) where people will sign-up to be friends and champions of people with a learning disabil-ity. These friends and champions will be able to help with information and guidance on access to care. Colin will update us in 6 to 9 months. (Joanne to add to a future agen-da).

Review actions – One County-wide action

We will look at this item at our next meeting and so we need people to think about ideas. One suggestion was to look at safeguarding in person-al relationships We cover some of this through ‘Mate Crime’ and fami-ly abuse. There is easy read information available but it is getting it to people.

Review actions – One County-wide action (continued)

Louise said that she had done some work in the past and had asked peo-ple what they thought a good relationship looks like. Louise said that people had different ideas and some were quite shocking. It was said that the District Partnership Groups (DPGs) would not be able to find out personal details. However, they may be able to find out what services, support or information is available. Louise said that she had worked with the JIP group and had made videos and other information that may help.

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KCC Cabinet webcast The group were shown the film of Sam at the KCC Cabinet meeting on the 24th March 2014. Sam asked the KCC Cabinet “How will you make sure we are not abused, bullied or suffer Hate Crime?” Sam then told the Cabinet about the shop safe scheme. Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Community Services said that he would like to know more about the scheme.

KCC Cabinet webcast You can see the KCC Cabinet meeting in full using the following link: http://www.kent.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/130244 Since the meeting Sam has written a letter to be sent to Mike Hill. This is to invite him to one of our Keeping Safe Meetings. It was asked if the group would also let Mike Hill know about the librar-ies stay safe scheme and the safe havens on train stations. Simon will bring along a list of stations with safe havens to the next meeting.

Rumours Mike asked the group if anyone had heard any rumours they wanted to share. There were none.

Update from the Learning Disability Partnership

In January 2014 there was a review on how the Kent Learning Disability Partnership Board worked. As part of this review, it was agreed that information should be shared between the Delivery Groups on what items they talked about in meet-ings. Therefore, Joanne has put together a paper showing what the different groups have been talking about, which she handed out to the group. If people would like more information about any of the items, contact Joanne Cunningham on Telephone : 01622 694003 or

Email: joanne.cunningham@kent.gov.uk

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Feedback from the District Partnership Groups (DPGs)

Tonbridge and Malling DPG Tonbridge and Malling DPG is currently finishing projects and looking forward to next year’s plans. Dover DPG Has been looking at issues around using taxis and has held a complex needs meeting. Thanet DPG Has been looking at budgets and has been using the Budget Game to do this. They have also held a com-plex needs meeting. Shepway DPG Has been looking at Mate Crime as well as issues around using taxis and are looking to hold a complex needs meeting in the future.

Feedback from the District Partnership Groups (DPGs) (continued)

Canterbury DPG There has been a careers event and lots of stu-dents came to this. We have also looked at issues around using taxis. Dartford and Gravesend DPGs Have been looking at voting. They have looked at the different political parties and why we vote. Ashford DPG Is looking to hold a complex needs meeting in the future Maidstone DPG Has been doing some mystery shopping with librar-ies

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Any other business Staying safe/safe haven schemes Liz asked if she could be sent a computer version of the stay safe poster. Joanne to arrange. Simon and Louise to talk about linking the rail safe haven scheme with the shop safe scheme. Police call Tony told the group about an incident where someone was knocking on his door late at night. Tony said that he was not happy with how the police dealt with this. As this was personal to Tony, Mick said that he would talk with him after the meeting. Scams Louise told the group about someone she knew who was getting loads of scam letters sent to her. North Kent Independent Advocacy Scheme, (NKIAS) is putting togeth-er some easy read information and would like to know of anyone inter-ested in helping.

Any other business If you are interested, please contact Louise Flatman on:

Telephone 07886 104109 Sandra Cook from KCC, also has some information about how to protect yourself against scams. If you would like a copy of this please contact Sandra on:

Telephone 01622 696368 Carers Event Sue told the group about a Carers Event being held on the 29th May 2014, at St. Paul’s Church, Canterbury, from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm.

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Presentations A copy of all presentations and paperwork from the Valuing People Now Cabinet are available. Please contact Joanne Cunningham. Telephone: 01622 694003 Email: Joanne.Cunningham@kent.gov.uk

Next Meeting

Friday, 18th July 2014

St Mary Bredin Church, 59 Nunnery Fields, Old Dover Road, Canterbury, CT1 3JN

11.00 am to 1.30 pm

Friday, 24th October 2014

Hall 1, Maidstone Community Support Centre, Marsham Street, Maidstone, ME14 1HH

10.30 am to 1.00 pm

Friday, 23rd January 2015

St Mary Bredin Church, 59 Nunnery Fields, Old Dover Road, Canterbury, CT1 3JN

11.00 am to 1.30 pm

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