The Portfolio Holder updated the Committee on recent highlights within her Portfolio, and advised that since the last Advisory Committee there had been 20 family fun days and she was grateful to the team for the work put into organising these.  The family fun days provided lots of different activities which over 2500 families attended. The Committee was shown a short video from the Family Fun days.

She further advised that it had been a busy few months with the Community Mobilisation programme and promoting its Better Together Hub, which had helped get people back into work and training; supported resident and community groups to set up activities in their local areas and supported town and parish councils to establish a network of warm and safe spaces, as part of our Cost of Living support. In order to help community groups and organisations get access to grant funding, two funding events were scheduled to take place.

The support for Homes for Ukraine Scheme continued and many residents in the District had opened their homes to families seeking asylum. The Council continued to work with Kent County Council alongside the hosts and guests.   A consultation went out to guests and hosts at the end of the month to ask their views on the scheme as well as feedback on the help required, from housing advice, access to support including digital skills, English as a Second Language (ESOL), training and skills. Two evening event will be held to provide advice on housing, mental health and wellbeing and employment on Monday 16 October in Sevenoaks and Thursday 2 November in Swanley.

Silver Sunday will run from 1 October until December and our booklet has been sent to all Councillors encouraging Members to attend some of the events, as there was a wide range of activities from tea dances to walking groups on offer. The Supported Intern Scheme with Broomhill Bank was going from strength to strength with three new interns joining the Council in September

The new Kent Police Neighbourhood Policing model went live on 7 June.  The main changes included an increase in Police Constables and Beat Officers, who will not only have more on-street visibility, but powers of arrest and enforcement. It was hoped by next summer the full quota of 12 Beat Officers and neighbourhood task team would be in post.

Working with neighbouring councils Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge and Malling, alongside Kent Police, the first partners meeting was held to discuss Violence Against Women & Girls (VAWG) in Public Spaces. An action plan had been devised and the group would be meeting again in November. The Council were also working on the 16 days of action against violence against women and girls, which would start in November and a conference was being organised in support of this. Invitations would be sent out in due course.

In closing, the Committee was advised that there was a round table discussion on shoplifting across the District on 9 October with Police, PCC and its host Laura Trott MP.