Commentary Community Safety Section 72: Local community safety partnerships
144.This section gives the Secretary of State the power to set up local community safety partnerships. This power would only be exercised after discussion with the First and Deputy First Ministers on the best way forward. The membership of the community safety partnerships will be drawn from organisations exercising statutory functions (subsection (3)). These partnerships will identify local problems and the appropriate solutions, and will work in association with voluntary groups and others in the local community. The membership could include district councils, Health and Social Services Boards and Trusts, Education and Library Boards, the Probation Board, the police and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, all of whom have statutory functions which have a bearing on community safety. These organisations are not specified in the Act, since it would be premature to do so as many of them are likely to be affected by the review of public administration launched by the Executive.
145.The functions of the local community safety partnerships are set out in subsection (4). One of those is to prepare and publish local plans for enhancing community safety which should take into account both the result of the local research and the Secretary of State’s strategy (as published under section 71). The local plans will not be identical to the Secretary of State’s strategy because they will reflect local concerns, but they must fit in with the Secretary of State’s strategy.