Commissioning Annual Report

Victim Services Contracts

I have several contracts that have been commissioned to provide essential victims services over at least three years. The contracts are commissioned at different times and are all subject to performance and contract management by my team, including formal monthly and quarterly meetings.

Victims Support (£1.1m)

I continue to fund my core Victim Referral service provided through Victim Support. This service enables victims to seek help and support regardless of whether they have reported the crime or not. Over 109,567 referrals were received during 2021/22 with 92% of victims saying they were satisfied with the service. This contract also includes funding for a Stalking Advocate dealing specifically with the victims of stalking and a Hate Crime Advocate specifically for hate crime victims.

Restorative Justice (£0.2m)

Restorative Justice can be a very powerful tool in reducing reoffending. It enables victims to tell offenders the real impact of their crimes, get answers and possibly receive an apology. It also gives offenders the chance to understand what they have done, take responsibility for their actions and consider ways to make amends for their behaviour.

218 referrals were received by our provider Restorative Solutions with 407 victims of crime in Kent being offered support. The impact of COVID 19 has been felt acutely by the service due to restrictions which limited face to face engagement and engagement with the prison establishment. However, the service has continued to be agile in its response and increased contact by telephone, email and online.

Independent Sexual Violence Advisor Service (£0.45m)

My ISVA service supports victims of rape and sexual violence and is run by Family Matters a Kent based organisation. They received nearly 1,517 referrals and 60 % of those completing the distant travelled survey showing improved wellbeing and health.

Crime Reduction Projects

Violence Reduction Fund

This was borne out of my Violence Reduction Challenge in 2018 to look at the nature of violent crime in Kent.  One of the recommendations was to allocate part of my commissioning budget to create a Violence Reduction Fund, which was a 3-year fund open to statutory organisations and voluntary groups and charities.  The following organisations received their last funding allocation under this 3-year funding in 2020/21:

Organisations	Project Brief	Funding amount
Total Insight Theatre	My Choice Matters: A 60-minute drama performance about knife crime for young people aged 12-15 years old.	£9,507
Crimestoppers Fearless	Fearless: Educating 11–16-year-olds by increasing their awareness of weapons, street crime and child sexual exploitation.	£35,000
Rising Sun	Guiding Lights: Support for girls aged 11-16 who are at risk of child sexual exploitation or from being in coercive and controlling relationship	£35,000
Uprising Youth & Community	Knife crime awareness campaign in East Kent.  Aimed at reducing violent crime through the engagement of young people, parents and communities.	£32,000
Folkestone Youth Project	The Shed: Social, emotional and physical support for young people who have made unhealthy and                     negative life choices.	£7,850
Reform Restore Respect	I Didn't Know That: 90-minute workshops delivered to Year 6 pupils around gang violence and knife crime.	£10,000
Forward Trust	V                                                                     Violence Reduction mentoring programme for clients accessing their East Kent Community Drug and Alcohol Services	£34,780
Mini Cadets	Nine-week programme delivered in schools, with a social act project to conclude.	£36,814

 

Positive outcomes achieved during 2021/22 include,

Total Insight have delivered to 30 different settings reaching 1,810 young people. Workshops are fully engaging explaining the issues and consequences of carrying weapons in an interactive way.

Crimestoppers Fearless exceeded targets delivering to 17 schools and reaching 3,550 young people delivering prevention messages on topics such as hate crime, bullying, gangs, county lines and exploitation.

Rising Sun Guiding Lights supported 115 girls for their 10- week programme; all reported improved resilience and awareness of risky behaviours.

Forward Trust had 59 referrals to its mentoring scheme and delivered 123 mentor sessions during the year. 7 have gone on to be recruited onto the peer mentor scheme, 5 have gone into full time employment, and 6 were working towards a mentoring qualification. 

Uprising delivered 10 sessions in educational settings reaching 1,417 young people and 1 professional session and mentoring support provided to 20 young people.

Folkestone Youth Project, The Shed returned to open access sessions reaching 75 young people, as well as 1:1 sessions to 15 young people. The project is a place where young are encouraged to improve their social skills, build resilience whilst engaging in positive activities such as photography, gardening and activities.

Reform Restore Respect delivered face to face inputs in educational settings and delivered to 23 schools reaching over 1,200 young people.

Kent Police Mini-Cadets has been piloted in a North Kent school and the aim is to reach two further schools by October 2022.

St Giles Trust - Violence, Vulnerability and Exploitation Project - £68,800.50                 

I have funded St Giles Trust since 2017. The service originally consisted of separate projects, but these were aligned during 202/21 and became known as the Violence Vulnerability and Exploitation Project (VVE). 

The VVE Project provides outreach for those young people identified as at risk of criminality and case work for young up to the age of 25 who are involved in Gangs and County lines activity. The project provides support to help them re-engage with the community, parents, carers, education and set them on a positive path away from criminality.

Over the 12-month period, the project has supported 204 young people and on average have 35 fully engaging with the service at any one time.  All those engaged have reported positive outcomes ranging from improved physical and mental well-being, increased self-confidence, increased engagement with statutory services and a decrease in the number of missing episodes. Other outcomes reported include linking in with employment, housing education and positive activities.

The school aspect of this project focuses on preventative and educational sessions tackling subjects such as gangs, county lines, weapons awareness and child sexual exploitation.  During the 12-month period, they have delivered inputs to 52 schools and mentored an average caseload of 12 young people per quarter supporting equating to over 215 mentoring sessions. In addition, 13 professional, parent / carer sessions have been delivered reaching over 410 professionals, parents and carers.

Case Study – Client X has been engaging with 1 to 1 mentoring sessions for 10 weeks. At first, they were not very engaged and was guarded and closed off. I was able to relate to client X through lived experience and created a sense of trust. Client X was on bail for supply of class A drugs and had a negative peer group. They refused to engage with services to help with their drug use. Together we developed a support plan and discussed realistic targets to make positive lifestyle changes. Over time Client X became more engage and there was a change in their thinking and behaviour. They secured a job, and they were able to buy their own transport. They stopped using drugs, their confidence grew along with their independence and pride.

Amelix “Is it worth it” - School Tours - £50,000

The Amelix Schools Tours have been in place since 2009 and I took over the management in 2017. The tours were originally focused on anti-social and risk-taking behaviour, but they now focus on cyber-crime and e-safety.

The tours are delivered in collaboration with the music industry, who provide the match funding (alongside other funding sources) and performers. This is a unique offer provided by Amelix and this enables the tours to be delivered in an engaging format which captures the attention of the young people attending. This helps to increase the likelihood of the content having a greater impact than the traditional delivery of preventative messages in schools.                                                                                                                                                          

Positive outcomes achieved during 2021/22 include,

28 schools visited delivering 84 sessions and reaching over 13,600 children aged 11-14 years old.

76% enjoyed the tour and there was a 17% increase in the number of young people who would report online bullying after seeing the tour. Most of these would tell their parent (91%) with 50% telling a teacher or if online reporting it to the app they were bullied on and 51% telling a friend.

Young people have reported that they are more aware of online bullying as a result of seeing the tour, have a greater understanding on what they are sharing online, aware of the (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command) CEOP app and that bullying online can result in a criminal record.