The Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board is scheduled to convene to discuss community safety, review its work programme, and consider updates from scrutiny chairmen and lead members. A key focus of the meeting is to consider the annual update on Worcestershire County Council's statutory duties in relation to community safety, with a specific overview of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). The board will also discuss and comment on the Cabinet Forward Plan.

Here's a breakdown of the topics on the agenda:

Community Safety Update

The Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board is expected to receive an annual update on community safety from Worcestershire County Council. The report pack includes a specific overview of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), prepared in partnership with key stakeholders.

The report pack states that the Worcestershire Safer Communities Board (SCB) has a duty to provide strategic co-ordination and support to community safety and criminal justice activity. The SCB produces an annual Community Safety Agreement and action plan and has oversight of several priority areas including domestic abuse, substance misuse, reducing offending and Prevent and Prepare (violent extremism).

The report pack highlights several areas of community safety activity in 2025:

• Trading Standards: The council's Trading Standards service enforces legislation covering weights and measures, food and animal feed, product safety, animal health and fair trading. Priorities include doorstep crime and scams, illegal tobacco, product safety, protecting animals and the food chain, and high value incidents of consumer detriment. The team has reportedly removed a substantial quantity of illegal tobacco and vaping products from the marketplace and issued closure orders against five premises that were persistently offending. According to the report pack, in 2024/25, the Trading Standards team, working closely with police colleagues, helped remove 321,660 cigarettes and 160.75 kilograms of hand-rolling tobacco from the marketplace. The team also worked with volunteers to carry out test purchases targeting underage sales of vapes and alcohol. The report pack states that failure rates remained high - around 29% for alcohol and 34% for vapes - figures broadly in line with the national average. The report pack states that using pooled funding from the Council, the PCC and Bromsgrove and Redditch councils, the Trading Standards team has worked closely with the District Council legal team to utilise the deployment of closure powers¹.

• Drugs and Alcohol: The report pack states that the council has a responsibility for commissioning drug and alcohol treatment services. Worcestershire's Drug and Alcohol Strategy focuses on prevention, treatment, and recovery. Cranstoun delivers an integrated treatment service across Worcestershire. The report pack states that access to drug and alcohol treatment services in Worcestershire has grown markedly in recent years. Between October 2024 and September 2025, 3,174 people engaged with treatment, compared with 2,147 during the same period in 2021/22. With additional funding from the PCC, the treatment options related to Opiate Substitution Therapy (OST) have been enhanced. This has enabled the rollout of Buvidal, a long-acting drug, which reduces dosing regularity from daily to weekly or monthly. Individual placement and support (IPS) is a relatively new service which consists and of a dedicated team, integrated into the treatment service which supports people receiving treatment back into work by engaging employers across the county.

• Domestic Abuse: The report pack states that VAWG has been identified as a national emergency. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 included a statutory definition of domestic abuse and placed a range of new duties on local authorities, including a requirement to deliver accommodation-based support and the publication of local strategies. The council commissions a wide range of support services for victims of Domestic Abuse, including the Domestic Abuse Advice and Support Service (DAASS), which is delivered by West Mercia Women's Aid. The Drive Project aims to reduce abusive behaviour and safeguard victim‑survivors by working with individuals assessed as posing a high risk of serious harm to partners or family members. The report pack states that although a significant majority of victims are female and domestic abuse is predominantly gendered, men are also affected. Therefore, it is important that services remain inclusive and responsive to their needs.

• Counter Terrorism Strategy – CONTEST: The report pack states that CONTEST is the UK Government's counterterrorism strategy, which sets out responsibilities for local authorities to help prevent radicalisation, safeguard public spaces, and strengthen community preparedness for potential incidents. The Worcestershire Prevent Strategy Group, which oversees local delivery of the duty, undergoes an annual benchmark assessment by the Home Office. The Terrorism (Protection of premises) Act, also known as Martyn's Law, received royal assent in Summer 2025 and requires public venues and local authorities to strengthen security and preparedness against terrorism. The Protect and Prepare Board, supported by Counter Terrorism Security Advisors, will oversee local activity and alignment with the duty.

• Youth Services: The council has a statutory duty to secure access for young people to a sufficient quantity of youth services. Public Health leads and oversees the local authority's youth work activity, allocating funding both through District Councils for distribution to youth providers and, where appropriate, directly to youth providers. The report pack states that approximately 1000 young people regularly attended Public Health funded youth activity in 2024/25, an 11% increase compared to 23/24.

• Community Wellbeing and Youth Crime Prevention Grants: Funded in partnership with the PCC, Public Health offer youth wellbeing grants to community organisations, with an ambition to engage young people in positive community-based activity which prevents crime, violence, anti-social behaviour, and county lines involvement. The report pack states that in 2024/25, 36 youth grants were distributed across the county and to date in 2024/25 a further 25 grants have been awarded.

Understanding Violence against Women and Girls

The report pack includes an appendix providing an overview of VAWG. The report pack states that in 2024, the National Police Chiefs' Council formally recognised Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) as a national emergency. The report pack states that the term VAWG encapsulates a wide range of abuse, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking and harassment, online abuse, and intimate image abuse.

The report pack references the government's national strategy, Tackling violence against Women and Girls, published in July 2021, and the Home Secretary's Strategic Policing statement (2023), which formally recognised VAWG as a national threat.

The report pack includes data suggesting that throughout a lifetime in Worcestershire:

• 78,774 women and girls may have experienced domestic abuse
• 68,129 may have experienced sexual assault
• 52,960 women and girls may have experienced stalking since the age of 16.

The report pack also details Worcestershire activity to tackle VAWG, including the Domestic Abuse Advice and Support Service (DAASS), the Family Court Pathfinder pilot, and Domestic Homicide Reviews.

The report pack also mentions community initiatives and targeted action, such as Jog On, the White Ribbon campaign, Ask for Angela, and the Walk Safe app.

Scrutiny Chairmen and Lead Member Update, Work Programme and Cabinet Forward Plan

The Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board is expected to discuss updates from scrutiny chairmen and lead members, review its work programme, and consider the Cabinet Forward Plan.

Board Members' areas of responsibility are as follows:

• Councillor Mel Allcott, Chair of the Adult Care and Well Being Overview and Scrutiny Panel
• Councillor Natalie McVey, Chair of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel
• Councillor Seb James, Chair of the Corporate and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel
• Councillor Marcus Hart, Chair of the Economy Overview and Scrutiny Panel
• Councillor Josh Robinson, Chair of the Environment Overview and Scruitny Panel
• Councillor Karen May, Chair of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)
• Councillor Richard Udall, Labour Group Leader

The board is expected to consider its 2025/26 Work Programme and agree whether any amendments are needed. The main responsibilities of the Board are:

• Commissioning work for Scrutiny Panels
• Establishing Scrutiny Task Groups (agreeing Terms of reference and Reports)
• Advising on Council's Policy Framework

The Board will also consider any issues arising from the Council's Cabinet Forward Plan.