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Item 11e - SAFE DIG Update

West Dunbartonshire Council · 21 June 2022
Back to Community Planning West Dunbartonshire Management Board — 21 June 2022 and its agenda

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Report by Chief Inspector Coleen Wylie, 
Safe Delivery and Improvement Group Chair
Management Group: 21 June 2022
___________________________________________________________________
Subject: Safe Delivery and Improvement Group Update 
1. Purpose
1.1 The purpose of this report is to update the members on the progress of local
outcomes within the Local Outcome Improvement Plan 2017-2027 being
delivered by the Safe Delivery and Improvement Group (DIG).
2. Recommendations
2.1 Community Planning West Dunbartonshire are asked to note the contents of this
report.  
3. Key Discussions
3.1 The most recent Safe DIG meeting was held on 25 January 2022 with the
next meeting due to be held on 16 May, however partnership activity and
progress has taken place during this time.
3.2 As described in previous updates, Safe DIG meetings will continue to choose
specific themes from current action plan allowing fuller discussion around
some of the challenges and support required for particular issues. Updates as
follows;
3.3      Anti-social behaviour/Violence     
“Safe Summer” partnership meetings have continued since being set up in
February 2022. These allow for necessary discussion and planning of joint
activities to address objectives agreed in revised Action plan, focusing on
problematic locations such as Balloch Park. Planning will consider learning
from notable instances of ASB in past years. Several joint action plans have
already taken place during periods of good weather, involving Police Scotland,
WDC, BTP, Scotrail (Travel Safe teams), National Parks. Partnership activity
will extend to include youth diversionary services where available, to educate
and divert young people from the harms associated with this behaviour.
ITEM 11e

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In consultation with key stakeholders, the Safe DIG is working towards
developing an Anti-social Behaviour strategy, which will include policy
statements from relevant agencies/services which drives appropriate
information sharing and proportionate interventions which tackle early
indicators of this type of behaviour. Key to this is effective community
engagement and reporting. 
Night Zone West (NZW) 
Following from the SafeDIG in January a Working Group was established, led
by WDC Communities Team, to review the present status of NZW with an
ambition to work with partners to establish a sustainable model of providing a
safe environment and a safe place for those socialising in the late evening
across West Dunbartonshire’s main towns. 
The focus of this group is to review potential gaps and opportunities whereby
the initiative can be improved to complement existing community services and
assets, and to pilot a model that can be expanded to cover a wider area and
over an extended time period. 
3.4     Tacking Substance related harms- Location based Needs Assessment
Highlighted and brought to the Safe DIG by West Dunbartonshire Alcohol and
Drugs Partnership, this initiative is bringing partners together from a range of
safety, health and wellbeing backgrounds to consider a Public Health
approach to tacking substance related harms. A working group has been
established and early discussion has taken place to consider necessary
objectives/outcomes with a focus on engaging with people most at risk of
harm and including wider community. 
The initiative will focus on the area of Dalmuir, to consolidate and evaluate
data and information held by partners to assess known risk factors whilst
assessing where potential gaps and opportunities lie for enhanced prevention
activity. 
3.5     Suicide Prevention - Distress Brief Intervention (DBI)
DBI is a partnership approach led by West Dunbartonshire HSCP and aims to   
provide a framework for delivering support to people experiencing distress.
Training is provided by the charity SamH and has been ongoing with referrals
being accepted as of March 2022. Training allows for staff from partner
organisations to identify individuals in need, engage with them and refer them
to qualified staff who will contact the person in distress within 24-hours and
provide community-based support, including distress management planning,
for a period of up to 14 days. 
The West Dunbartonshire service will target 16-24 year olds or 26yrs if care
experienced, for the first 12 months.

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4. Additional Matters – Partnership Approach to Water Safety (PAWS) 
4.1     The PAWS group continues to be active with good representation from key
partners/stakeholders, completing review/debrief following any notable water
related incidents/safety concerns and identifying areas for improvement and
awareness raising. PAWS groups is being establishe in all local authority
areas of Scotland as per the Community Safety Minister’s Action Plan on
Water Safety. 
This will be done using the model that we designed in WD 12 months ago and
I think is great recognition of the work that all partners are carrying out in the
area with the support of Safe DIG. 
5. People Implications 
5.1 No, all activity is delivered through the existing teams of the Community
Planning partners.   
6. Financial Implications 
6.1 There are no direct financial or procurement implications from the updates
detailed in this report.   
7. Risk Analysis 
7.1 The responsibilities contained within the Community Empowerment (Scotland)
Act 2015 and the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 are fundamental to
planning and delivery of better services. The partners’ commitment to the
Safe DIG is an acknowledgement that the importance of this work is
recognised. 
8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 
8.1 Whilst an EIA is not required for the focus of the Safe DIG, for each of the
new outcomes agreed by the Safe DIG Partnership, these will be checked
against the aspects of Equality, Wellbeing, Sustainability and Empowerment. 
9. Consultation 
9.1 This is an update on areas of work relating to the current work of the Safe
DIG. Consultation is carried out relevant to each project and initiative, as
appropriate by the action lead/partner agency.   
10. Strategic Assessment 
10.1  This report confirms that the SPWD continues to deliver against the outcomes
set in the Local Outcome Improvement Plan. However the impact on

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resources and operational capacity as a result of Covid 19 cannot be
underestimated and there will be challenges in some delivery.  
________________________ 
Person to Contact:  CI Coleen Wylie coleen.wylie@scotland.police.uk 
Appendices: Partnership Approach to Water Safety Quarter 4 update
paper. 
Background Papers:    None 
Wards Affected: ALL

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Partnership Approach to Water Safety
West Dunbartonshire PAWS 
The PAWS group held their Q4 review on 14/4/22 via Microsoft Teams. 
Public Rescue Equipment (PRE) 
• West Dunbartonshire Council are looking at protective housings for the life rings on the
bridges over River Leven to deter misuse of equipment. 
• PRE inspections continue to be carried out by WDC, National Park staff and various local
volunteers. 
Education 
• Police Scotland and Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park Rangers worked together to
deliver practical water safety input to 1100 school pupils which was very well received. 
• The first of 5 new water safety packages from Water Safety Scotland will be launched on
25/4/22 and will be utilised by Partners throughout WD with the support of WSS. 
Multi Agency Training 
• The second delivery of the RNLI Waterside Responder Scheme in WDC will take place on 21
and 22 April 2022 at Bowling Harbour and Duncan Mills Memorial Slipway on Loch Lomond. 
Event will be hosted jointly by RNLI and SFRS and attended by Police Scotland, Loch Lomond &
Trossachs National Park, Loch Lomond Rescue Boat, and Scottish Canals. 
Media 
• Partners continue to be active on their social media accounts raising awareness and amplifying
the messages of Partner agencies. 
Minister’s Action Plan on Water Safety 
• Members of the PAWS Group were invited to meet with Community Safety Minister, Ash
Regan, on 25/3/22 for the launch of her Water Safety Action Plan at Loch Lomond. 
• The event was well attended by Partners who had the opportunity to discuss the work we are
doing in WD. 
• The Action Plan sets several targets, one of which is for all Local Authority areas in Scotland to
set up a PAWS group. This will be done using the model designed in WD which I believe is
recognition of the fantastic efforts made by Partners with the ongoing support of Safe DIG. 
Incident Review 
• Unfortunately, on 26/2/22, an adult male returning to his home address after drinking alcohol
is believed to have accidentally fallen into the River Leven near Renton. His body was recovered
from the river by Police Marine Unit on 7/3/22. 
• PAWS Group convened on 28/3/22 to hold an Incident Review. 
• An update on this review was submitted to Safe DIG on 28/3/22. 
Suicide Prevention

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• Link between PAWS and WDC Suicide Prevention Groups has been established. 
Yoker Bridge 
• Chris Dalrymple of Renfrewshire Council is acting as a single point of contact between the 3
local authority areas of West Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, and Renfrew regarding the bridge. 
• Chris is now a member of WD PAWS and will support the Group. 
Drowning Incident Review (DIR) 
• DIR is in the final stages of it’s Pilot Process and will soon be available for wider use by water
Safety Groups as per the Minister’s Action Plan for Water Safety released on 25/3/22. 
• Water Safety Scotland granted me access to DIR as a continuation of the pilot for the review
held in WD on 28/3/22. This is the first time that DIR has been implemented in any Local
Authority area in Scotland after a drowning incident. 
PAWS Document Revision 
• A revised PAWS document for 2022/23 will be created during Q1 when the statistics for 2021
are published by RoSPA. 
James Sullivan 
WDC PAWS Chair 
Scottish Fire & Rescue Service