Islington Community Safety Partnership Information Sharing Agreement

What is the agreement

This Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) defines the arrangements for the sharing and processing data between the organisations listed below (section 7.0) and sits underneath the overarching Community Safety Partnership Information Sharing Protocol V1.0 Final.

This agreement sets out the specific data sharing requirements, for the purpose as stated in 2.0, between the organisations listed in section 7.0. It will be reviewed on an annual basis. The date of this request is 01 November 2020, and the next review will take place on 01 November 2021.

Details of request

The Islington Community Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (CMARAC) is a multi-agency meeting where information is shared on complex/ high risk cases involving vulnerable victims/perpetrators of anti-social behaviour.

It is attended by representatives from the local authority, local police, mental health and substance use services, housing practitioners, safeguarding advisors, Out-of-Hours ASB/Noise Team, London Fire brigade, Victim support and the health trust as well other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors.

All relevant information is shared about victims, witnesses and perpetrators in order to inform a collective assessment of risks. The panel will develop and action plan to solve issues of concern to address problematic behaviour and agree on an effective safety planning strategy to manage the overall risk to the victim, perpetrator or community.

The primary focus of the CMARAC is to safeguard the victims and witnesses, and prevent further victimisation.

The CMARAC will also make links with other partners to safeguard children and manage the behaviour of the perpetrators

Important Note

The responsibility to take appropriate action rests with individual agencies; it is not transferred to the Panel. The role of the Panel is to facilitate, monitor and evaluate effective information sharing to enable appropriate action to be taken to increase public safety, whether by early intervention or enforcement. When a Panel meeting takes place, it is made clear to all the partners attending, how they will share, store and manage any information that is discussed at the meeting. This is discussed below and in the Community Safety Partnership Information Sharing Protocol V1.0 Final.

Purpose of sharing information

Signatories to this agreement have a responsibility to share information and work together with the aim of reducing crime, ASB and victimisation, and ensuring community safety in the London Borough of Islington. The purpose of this agreement is to provide a process and mechanism whereby information relating to individuals and/or groups can be shared to aid and assist the working practices and objectives of all organisations.

The information collected will be recorded and discussed within the Community Risk MARAC and will form the basis of supporting the management of risk to vulnerable people and subsequent prevention of crime and disorder.

The information held will be personal and sensitive data, including names, addresses and histories of individual’s criminal activities and that of other household members, and/or status as a tenant or resident of Islington Borough. The agreement will therefore allow data to be shared for the purpose of:

• the identification and prioritisation of vulnerable individuals, both victims and perpetrators of ASB
• the identification of safeguarding issues relating to these individuals, increasing safety, health and wellbeing
• partnership problem-solving approaches to tackling issues of managing the risk of vulnerable of victims and reducing repeat victimisation
• identifying gaps in provision and recommending projects and approaches to tackle antisocial behaviour in Islington
• improving agency accountability and improving support for staff involved in cases
• construct jointly and implement a risk management plan that provides support to those at risk of harm

Information derived from all sources will be assessed for its reliability and validity to ensure meaningful conclusions can be drawn. It will also be used to assist with evidence gathering to enable appropriate support for residents and vulnerable victims, as well as ASB interventions to take place, including tenancy action and other enforcement.