1. East Midlands regional update Clare Dorothy Crawford National Forum 3rd & 4th December 2013

2. Regional Forum 16th October At this meeting Darren Goddard who works for the police in Leicestershire came to talk about Hate and Mate crime. Anne from the We Think group helped Darren to tell people more about Hate and Mate crime. Both of these are big issues for people living in the East Midlands. They explained to people again what hate and Mate crime is.

3. Mate crime is when some one pretends to be your friend and then uses you instead of being a friend. Some of the people at the meeting gave examples of when they had been used by people who they thought had been friends. Darren gave information and numbers to call if people wanted to talk about or report a hate or mate crime. He also went through what happens after you report a crime. In parts of the East Midlands they have Keep Safe Schemes which offer training and support to help people with learning disabilities when out and about in their local community.

4. We talked about writing to our local Police and Crime Commissioners. Police and Crime Commissioners make sure that the police do a good job, providing a service that is suitable for everyone in the local community. They have to write a Police and Crime plan for their area. We have a letter which we will send to each police and crime commissioner asking them what they are doing to stop hate and mated crime for people with learning disabilities. We will also ask to see the police and crime plan and if it is in an easy read format.

5. Good things happening in our region Northamptonshire - there is a new course to help people with disabilities to learn about self-employment. A new group called meeting people has started, they arrange events so people can meet new friends and have fun. Leicestershire – Groups are still continuing work on the DVDs on bullying and hate crime and relationships. Nottingham City and Leicestershire have relaunched their Partnership Boards. Lincolnshire Partnership Board working groups have been set up and people are beginning to be more involved in what's happening.

6. Issues for the Region There are still things people are worried about. • Being safe – people do not always feel safe in their local communities they feel they are treated differently. • Changes to benefits - people don’t fully understand how this will affect them they don’t know if there will be support to help with this. • Changes to services - in a number of areas day services are changing people are worried they may not be able to do what they want.