Social and Economic

SOCIAL WELL-BEING

Portugal: City of Trofa - The Social Store

The Social Store is a single point of response in respect of (for example) providing social care, emergency response, personal and family support and unemployment assistance. The Social Store is made up of a partnership of municipal and charity organisations acting as a single point of contact in order to support residents across a broad range of situations.

Benefits:
• Reduction in the time between diagnosis and solution
• Improvements in identifying who is best qualified to intervene
• Personalised and improved quality of response
• Improved project management
• Emergency escalation process and response
• Eliminating overlap

Key lessons:
• Improved efficiency and planning of services
• Improvements to customer services
• Integrated responses to situations
• Reduced duplications of actions and activities
• Improved response times

United Kingdom: Kingston Upon Hull - Humberside Young Witness Service (HYWS)

A unique partnership bringing together agencies (Local Safegarding Children Boards (LSCB’s) and local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) in order to provide a support service to all young witnesses/victims called to give evidence in courts within the region.

Benefits:
• It enables young witnesses to give their best evidence
• Reduces the trauma experienced by young witnesses in going to court
• It successfully crosses geographical and partnership boundaries
• Evaluation of the service shows high levels of satisfaction

Key lessons:
• Pooled resources (single job description) ensures that a cost effective service is offered
• Identified as a model of good practice for other local areas setting up schemes
• The only comprehensive database nationally that reflects the experiences of young witnesses in the criminal justice system.

ECONOMIC WELL-BEING

Latvia: Latgale, Riga City Council - Murnieku Street

A historic renovation of buildings in Murnieku Street, installation of video surveillance network and the subsequent reduction of crime.

The project involved the privatisation of properties within the area and the transfer to tenants. In a number of phases, buildings were repaired and restored, with improvements to sanitation and lighting. Video surveillance was installed in order to reduce incidents of crime. Art students were invited to design a mural for the location.

Benefits:
• Stimulation of owners to renovate homes alongside municipal works
• Restoring an historically important site
• Improvements / additions for the tourism sector
• Improved safety
• Important social and cultural focal point

Key Lessons:
• Collaboration and co-operation between owners and the local authority(municipality)
• Improved public access and tourism

The Netherlands: Rijswijk - Public Order and Fire Safety

A collaborative programme linking personal safety, fire, security and public order in a large shopping mall in order to improve the ‘retail’ experience, stimulate retailers opening new premises and encourage economic growth.

The project involved cross collaboration between retailers, police, fire services, staff and the community in attaining a national security label (Keurmerk Veilig Ondernemen) level of accreditation in crime reduction and fire safety for the benefit of consumers.

Benefits:
• Crime reduction
• Presence of gangs has been reduced/eliminated
• Increased popularity of the shopping centre
• Improved consumer experience
• Reduction in empty retail premises

Key lessons:
• Benefits of cross collaboration between emergency services
• Effectiveness of commercial and municipal bodies working together
• Co-operation and a consistently sustained operational and delivery policy