The Sutton Council Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to meet on 24 September 2025 to discuss crime, policing and community safety in Sutton, and to receive an update on national NHS changes and the commissioning of health services. The committee will be held at the Civic Offices in Sutton. Councillor Edward Joyce, Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, will welcome those present.

Crime, Policing and Community Safety in Sutton

The committee is scheduled to discuss community safety arrangements in Sutton, including the relationship with the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), local strategies and initiatives relating to violence reduction and violence against women and girls, and developments within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) over the last year. A representative from the Metropolitan Police is expected to present the Sutton Ward Crime Data Analysis Aug 24-July 25.pdf. Representatives from Sutton Neighbourhood Watch and Sutton Women's Centre have also been invited to the meeting.

According to the report pack, one of the functions of the Scrutiny Committee is to carry out the council's responsibilities for scrutiny as stated in the Police and Justice Act 2006.

The Safer Sutton Partnership, Sutton's Community Safety Partnership, aims to create A Safer Sutton for All . The report pack states that Sutton had the third lowest volume of total notifiable offences and the lowest rate of offences per 1,000 of the population across all 32 London boroughs in the last financial year (2024-25).

The Safer Sutton Partnership Strategy 2025-28, which is included in the report pack, sets out the strategic priorities for the partnership over the next three years. These priorities include:

• Creating safer spaces and places
• Empowering communities to promote greater cohesion and resilience
• Challenging domestic abuse, sexual abuse and violence against women and girls
• Protecting the vulnerable from violence and exploitation
• Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour through targeted partnership problem solving responses

The crime priorities for London are set by the Metropolitan Police and MOPAC. The Police and Crime Plan 2025-29 sets out four key aims: reducing violence and criminal exploitation, building safer communities, supporting reform of the Metropolitan Police Service, and improving the criminal justice system and supporting victims.

MOPAC distributes funding to Community Safety Partnerships through the Local Crime Prevention Fund (LCPF). Sutton's current MOPAC LCPF funded projects are: tackling anti-social behaviour and promoting community safety, Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) & Perpetrator Panel Coordination, management of Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA) Service, tackling hate and promoting social cohesion, and Sutton Youth Outreach & Diversion.

The council is also expected to discuss the Serious Violence Duty, which requires authorities to work together to prevent and reduce serious violence. The definition of serious violence agreed locally is:

Any violence and exploitation affecting young people under the age of 25, domestic abuse, and sexual violence. Within the context of these types of violence, it encompasses homicide, grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm, rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, personal robbery, threats to kill and violence against property caused during the commission of one of these offences.

Sutton's Violence Reduction Action Group (VRAG) is responsible for implementing the duty's requirements and overseeing the Violence and Vulnerability Action Plan.

The Sutton Domestic Abuse Support Services (Sutton DASS), led by Cranstoun, manages the overall service and provides Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs), DA One Stop Shops, and the Men and Masculinities perpetrator programme, in addition to management of the Refuge. Other providers include: Sutton Women's Centre, The Limes College, and Jigsaw4u.

Sutton Women's Centre also provides the Identification & Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS) service in Sutton, identifying and supporting victims in GP surgeries.

Sutton is one of the national pilot sites for the new Domestic Abuse Protection Notices / Orders (DAPNs / DAPOs). These new orders came out of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and the pilot has been operating since November 2024.

The report pack also notes that policing in Sutton is organised under the South Area BCU, which brings together policing resources for Croydon, Bromley and Sutton. Budgetary constraints have resulted in the removal of Safer Schools Officers, being replaced with Designated Ward Officers- Children & Young People (DWO- CYP), and the dispersal of Sutton's dedicated Town Centre Team (TCT) to different wards across Sutton. The Leader of the Council has written to the Police Commissioner to express their concern about these changes.

Update on National NHS Changes: Commissioning of Health Services

The Scrutiny Committee is scheduled to receive an update on national NHS changes and the commissioning of health services. The report pack states that on 1 April 2025, NHS England wrote to ICB and NHS provider leaders outlining the NHS 2025/26 core priorities and laying the foundations for national NHS reform. The South West London (SWL) Integrated Care Board (ICB) is facing rapid major change and transformation.

NHS England has worked with ICB leaders to co-produce a draft 'Model ICB Blueprint' that clarifies the future role and purpose of ICBs, recognising the need to build strong strategic commissioning skills to improve population health and reduce inequalities, and focus on the delivery of the three strategic shifts set out in the NHS ten year plan: sickness to prevention, hospital to community, analogue to digital.

Under this new model, ICB's will become strategic commissioning bodies focused on core functions such as population health management and strategic planning and purchasing, whilst some of their wider functions will be transferred to other bodies or organisations.

The report pack notes that the Council considers the proposed changes to health functions to be substantial and would welcome more clarity on the planned arrangements for consultation and engagement with local authorities about the proposed changes.

The report pack states that in mid-March the Government announced significant changes to the NHS including the abolition of NHS England and the refocusing of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) as 'strategic commissioners'; with a 50% reduction in staffing, running and programme costs to be completed and implemented by quarter three of 2025/26.

The rationale set out for these changes is to provide greater alignment and accountability at the centre, to place the NHS on a more sustainable financial footing and to help ensure delivery of the 10 Year Health Plan; and in particular the three strategic shifts set out within the plan: hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention.

The report pack identifies a number of key challenges and risks for The Council as a local delivery partner, including uncertainty, the local impact of budget reductions, joint funding, property ownership and estates, and the delivery of neighbourhood health services.

Despite the risks and challenges, the report pack notes that there could also be some opportunities for The Council under the future model, including a focus on place-based leadership and more multi-agency working at a local neighbourhood level by building on the integrated neighbourhood team (INT) model.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The committee is scheduled to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2025. At that meeting, the committee discussed Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, and corporate parenting for children looked after and care leavers in Sutton.