Safeguarding and public protection

Safeguarding children

If you are worried about any unborn baby, child or young person (up to the age of 18) and think that they may be a victim of neglect or abuse, please contact Lincolnshire County Council’s Children’s Customer Service Centre on 01522 782111.

Safeguarding adults

The Care Act (2014) requires local authorities to make enquires, or ask others to make enquiries, when they think an adult with care and support needs may be at risk of abuse or neglect in their area and to find out what, if any, action may be needed. This applies whether or not the authority is actually providing any care and support services to that adult. 

Safeguarding duties apply to an adult who:

Has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) and;

• is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect; and
• as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect. 

To raise a safeguarding concern please call Lincolnshire County Council’s Adult Customer Service Centre on 01522 782155. 

Modern slavery

Encompasses slavery, human trafficking, forced labour and domestic servitude. Traffickers and slave masters use whatever means they have at their disposal to coerce, deceive and force individuals into a life of abuse, servitude and inhumane treatment.

Modern Slavery Helpline: 08000 121 700

www.modernslaveryhelpline.org 

Domestic abuse

Domestic abuse is a crime and a major social problem affecting many families. In 90% of reported domestic abuse incidents, children have either been present in the same or a nearby room. This can have a dramatic effect on children now and in the future.

Domestic Abuse is defined as ‘Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass but is not limited to the following types of abuse:

• psychological
• physical
• sexual
• financial
• emotional

Controlling behaviour is: a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them from sources of support, exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain, depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape and regulating their everyday behaviour.

Coercive behaviour is: an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten their victim."*

*This definition includes so called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage, and is clear that victims are not confined to one gender or ethnic group.’ (Home Office 2013).

Honour Based Violence is a crime or incident, which has or may have been committed to protect or defend the honour of the family and/or community'.

This definition is supported by further explanatory text:

"Honour Based Violence" is a fundamental abuse of Human Rights. There is no honour in the commission of murder, rape, kidnap and the many other acts, behaviour and conduct which make up "violence in the name of so-called honour".

It is a collection of practices, which are used to control behaviour within families or other social groups to protect perceived cultural and religious beliefs and/or honour. Such violence can occur when perpetrators perceive that a relative has shamed the family and / or community by breaking their honour code.

Women are predominantly (but not exclusively) the victims of 'so called honour based violence', which is used to assert male power in order to control female autonomy and sexuality. Honour Based Violence can be distinguished from other forms of violence, as it is often committed with some degree of approval and/or collusion from family and/or community members (ACPO & CPS, 2013).

Forced Marriage is a marriage conducted without the valid consent of one or both parties where duress is a factor. Forced marriage is a violation of human rights and is contrary to UK law (HM Gov, 2000).

A forced marriage is a marriage in which one or both spouses do not (or in the case of some adults with learning or physical disabilities, cannot) consent to the marriage and duress is involved. Duress can include physical, psychological, financial, sexual and emotional pressure. (HM Government 2008).

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It has no health benefits and harms girls and women in many ways. It involves removing and damaging healthy and normal female genital tissue, and hence interferes with the natural function of girls’ and women’s bodies. The practice causes severe pain and has several immediate and long-term health consequences, including difficulties in childbirth also causing dangers to the child (HMGov 2014).

If you are affected by domestic abuse you are not alone. You can seek help from:

• Ending Domestic Abuse Now (EDAN) in Lincolnshire: 01522 510041

More information about domestic abuse services in Lincolnshire can be found at www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/domestic-abuse

Stalking and harassment

Stalking and Harassment Stalking is where an individual is fixated and/or obsessed with another. This can be exhibited by a pattern of persistent and repeated contact with, or attempts to contact, a particular victim. The term harassment is used to cover the 'causing alarm or distress' offences under section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act (PHA) 1997 as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act (2012), and 'putting people in fear of violence' offences under section 4 of the PHA. Stalking and harassment may be seen within the context of domestic abuse or as a separate offence where the victim has had no previous intimate relationship and is not related to the person committing the offence.

More information can be found here on Lincs Police website.

National Stalking Helpline: 0808 802 0300

www.stalkinghelpline.org

Prevent (radicalisation)

Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) places a duty on the Trust (Schedule 6 to the Act), in the exercise of their functions, to have "due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism". The Act states that the Trust must have regard for the Prevent Duty guidance (issued under section 29) when carrying out the duty.

Radicalisation refers to the process by which a person comes to support terrorism and forms of extremism leading to terrorism (HMGov, 2011).

Prevent the Government’s countering terrorism strategy is known as CONTEST (2018). Prevent is part of CONTEST. The Government’s response to counter-terrorism is built on an approach that unites the public and private sectors, communities, citizens and overseas partners around the single purpose to leave no safe space for terrorists to recruit or act. The strategy, CONTEST, is the framework that enables agencies to organise this work to counter all forms of terrorism. CONTEST’s overarching aim remains to reduce the risk to the UK and its citizens and interests overseas from terrorism, so that our people can go about their lives freely and with confidence.

CONTEST has four key principles:

• Prevent: to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism
• Pursue: to stop terrorist attacks
• Protect: to strengthen our protection against a terrorist attack
• Prepare: to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack.

The purpose of Prevent is at its heart to safeguard and support vulnerable people to stop them from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Prevent work also extends to supporting the rehabilitation and disengagement of those already involved in terrorism. Prevent works in a similar way to programmes designed to safeguard people from gangs, drug abuse, and physical and sexual abuse. Success means an enhanced response to tackle the causes of radicalisation, in communities and online; continued effective support to those who are vulnerable to radicalisation; and disengagement from terrorist activities by those already engaged in or supporters of terrorism.

Prevent objectives

• Tackle the causes of radicalisation and respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism.
• Safeguard and support those most at risk of radicalisation through early intervention, identifying them and offering support.
• Enable those who have already engaged in terrorism to disengage and rehabilitate.

Channel is part of the Prevent strategy. The process is a multi-agency approach to identify and provide support to individuals who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism.

Public Protection

Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) The Criminal Justice Act 2003 ("CJA 2003") provides for the establishment of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements ("MAPPA") in each of the 42 criminal justice areas in England and Wales. These are designed to protect the public, including previous victims of crime, from serious harm by sexual and violent offenders. They require the local criminal justice agencies and other bodies dealing with offenders to work together in partnership in dealing with these offenders (MoJ, 2012, updated 2017).

The term Potentially Dangerous Person (PDP) was introduced in the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Guidance, Protecting the Public: Managing Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders (ACPO Guidance, 2007). For the purpose of this guidance, public protection was identified as ‘the policing function of reducing harm in the context of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and through the identification, assessment and management of PDP’s who do not fall within MAPPA.’

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) is defined by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 as "acting in a manner that has caused, or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as (the defendant)". It is the broad term used to describe a range of nuisances, disorder and crime that affect people’s daily lives. It covers many types of behaviour that vary in nature and severity, many of which are open to interpretation. Thus what is considered anti-social by one person can be acceptable to another. The Anti-Social Behaviour Risk Assessment Conferencing (ASBRAC) process brings local agencies together to address the needs of ASB victims, perpetrators and locations that have been identified most at risk of harm or causing harm. It provides a multi-agency meeting to consider and address the most complex and high risk cases and applies the most appropriate means of intervention.

The aims of the ASBRAC are:

• To identify and reduce the harm of high risk and vulnerable victims of ASB.
• To share information in order to increase the safety, health and well-being of victims.
• To identify and manage ASB hotspot locations.
• To identify and take appropriate action against repeat or high risk perpetrators of ASB.
• To jointly construct and implement a risk management plan providing professional support to all those identified as at risk and reduce and/or manage the risk of harm.
• To improve agency accountability.
• To improve support for staff involved in high risk ASB cases by using a multi-agency approach.

Hate Crime

A Hate Crime or Hate Incident is any crime or incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person’s actual or perceived social group or groups.

Hate crime prejudice could be focused on:

• Disability
• Race
• Religion and Belief
• Sexual Orientation
• Transgender

However it is worth noting that malice or ill will towards a social group can be based on any identifying factor including the above groups but not exclusively. Also, some people may experience hate crimes and incidents because of more than one identifying factor, for example, a combination of their race and disability.

It is important to note that some hate incidents may not constitute a criminal offence and therefore will not be recorded as a hate crime, whereas all hate crimes are hate incidents.

Hate crimes and incidents can take many forms including (but not limited to):

• Physical attacks
• Threats
• Verbal abuse
• Murder
• Neighbour disputes
• Arson
• Graffiti
• Intimidation or harassment
• Bullying at school, college or work
• Harassment by phone, text, email or through the internet (Cyber Bullying).

For more information on hate crime support please visit www.stophateuk.org