2024

Action Planned (AI summary) The MHCLG will write to the local authorities concerned to remind them of their statutory duties, and the government will bring forward changes to social housing allocations regulations to apply exemptions to victims of domestic abuse from local authority residency and local connection tests.

Action Planned (AI summary) Thames Valley Police will replace current questions in the DOM 5 with questions from the DARA, include reference to the College of Policing definition of serious harm, and train every front line officer in its use. The NPCC highlights the national launch of the Domestic Abuse Risk Assessment (DARA) tool in November 2022 and ongoing work with forces and IT providers to drive implementation, in addition to various supporting products available to deliver against the curriculum.

Action Planned (AI summary) DHSC describes the rollout of a system by May 2023 to alert GPs when a patient with a shotgun certificate experiences a relevant medical condition, enabling them to flag it to the police. National FEO training will encourage positive engagement with the applicant and their family to ascertain their “domestic health and wellbeing”, and revised guidance may require interviews and engagement with families; the police are also looking to introduce the right to draw adverse inference if an applicant is evasive about family/previous partners. Surrey Police has revised its practice so FEOs now ask about the use of other medical services during visits to elicit information from applicants, and notes a national initiative to rewrite questions to be more explicit. The Home Office plans to issue a refreshed version of the Statutory Guidance early in 2025, which will include additional guidance for the police to help ensure that perpetrators of domestic abuse, coercive or controlling behaviour do not have access to firearms. The GPC will update its guidance to GPs to highlight the potential information gap in firearms licensing if external prescribers don't share relevant information or patients withhold it.

Action Planned (AI summary) NHS England is addressing mental health bed availability through investment in community, crisis, and acute mental health services, and directing systems to reduce average length of stay in adult acute mental health wards. They are supplementing this with further investment to recommission inpatient care and have established a Quality Transformation Programme to improve access and quality of mental health pathways.

Action Planned (AI summary) Monarch Healthcare is implementing a new clinical oversight form for moving and handling, monitoring staff via CCTV, auditing resident bedrooms for equipment, and requiring staff signatures at handover meetings, with implementation by August 31, 2024 and review by September 30, 2024.

Action Planned (AI summary) Peabody has implemented emergency temporary fencing and developed proposals for permanent safety railings at the canal edge, while working with the London Borough of Islington and CRT/CIC for required approvals. They have also strengthened internal policies and procedures relating to resident safety and reporting concerns. Islington Council is working with Peabody on a planning application for safety fencing around the canal side area of the Crest Buildings development. Urban design lessons from this incident have been shared with Development Management Officers, and a planning application for another canal side residential development includes fencing. The Mayor of London will consider the concerns raised in the PFD report through his review of the London Plan, with public consultation planned for the second half of 2025 and adoption of the revised Plan in 2027. Any changes made to the NPPF by the government will also be considered. The government published an updated NPPF on 12 December 2024 that includes additional policy to consider the safety of children and other vulnerable users in proximity to open water, railways and other potential hazards.

Action Planned (AI summary) Eastleigh Borough Council will send letters to residents of houses with similar garden walls, advising them of potential stability issues and to seek professional advice within 21 days. They will revisit the site in 6 months to determine if any walls show signs of instability.

Action Planned (AI summary) The CAA is developing guidance on design, testing, and inspection of amateur-built balloons and will publish it by March 31, 2026. They are also working with the ballooning community to develop operational safety guidance on ascent/descent rates and event briefings, aiming for public consultation in late 2025. The CAA will publish safety guidance for balloon events to ensure risks are understood and managed, working with the British Balloon and Airship Club (BBAC). They will also continue their review of balloon flying regulation, with a supplemental report due by the end of March 2025.