Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Pauline Dee, Keith Roberts and Michael Wood.

The Chairman welcomed Jodie Townsend who was the Interim Democratic Services and Governance Manager at Worcestershire County Council.

Declarations of Interest were declared by Phil Grove who was in receipt of a West Mercia Police pension.  He had sought legal advice and had been assured that he was able to remain in the room for the discussion and vote regarding the budget.

Sally Chambers declared a DPI as her brother would be standing as a candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner.

Tony Ward was a member of the Trust, Integrity and Ethics Committee and Helen Barker was a member of the Youth Support Service.

Members of the public wishing to take part (asking a question or making a statement) should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by email indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Monday, 20 July 2015).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number / email address listed below.

None

To confirm the Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 8 December 2015.

A query was made as to why some members were listed as Mr while most were called Councillor.  It was explained that County Councillors were traditionally called Mr rather than Councillor.

The minutes were accepted as a correct record of the meeting and were signed by the Chairman.

To include a response from the Budget Task and Finish Group.

Elizabeth Hall gave a presentation regarding the 2016/17 budget, Capital Programme and Medium Term Financial Plan.

The achievements and financial position of the last four years were outlined and it was explained that the current grant settlement was for one year only with a further Formula Funding Review to occur in 2016/17 which was likely to mean increased top-slicing in 2017/18.

During 2016/17:

·         financial pressures were present due to the 1% pay award, an increase in NI and cost increases connected to employment benefits,

·         new investment would be made in recruitment and training,

·         £31.8 million of Capital investment would occur across the Alliance,

·         £9.1million of reserves would be required - £4.7m to support the budget and £4.4m for Rural, Business and Cyber Crime,

·         Savings of £6.5m were already in place,

·         An increase of 1.99% in the precept would raise £1.5m for West Mercia.

2017/18 and beyond – The Medium Term Financial Plan:

·         The Alliance had a savings target of £8.726m

·         The total capital programme for the Alliance was £87.585m, which included using £19.5m of reserves

·         West Mercia reserves would have an opening balance of £57.503m and a closing balance of  £27.563.

During the consultation on the proposed precept 317 responses were received. 57% said yes, 40% no, with 3% unclear. This was a small number of respondents but it was highlighted that even the people who said no appreciated the work of the front line police.

Paul Middlebrough had Chaired the Task and Finish Group which looked at the proposed budget. He thanked the two other members of the group as well as Adrian Blackshaw from the Police Audit Committee and Mark Sanders from the County Council's finance department for assisting them.

It was pointed out that it was a strange settlement as a large reduction had been expected and then at the last moment that did not happen. The Police Minister, supported by the Home Secretary had stated that for 2016/17 "direct resource funding for each PCC, including precept will be protected at flat cash levels, assuming that precept income is increased to the maximum amount available.  This means no PCC will face a reduction in cash funding next year compared to this year, and the majority will see marginal increases in funding".

As the settlement was only for one year a change was likely for the following year and this budget looked for flexibility for the new PCC with strong reserves and investment in revenue expenditure. It was recognised that efficiencies needed to be made and certain areas of expenditure were outside the control of West Mercia such as the nationally negotiated police pay.  The Panel's Precept task and finish group had considered what the impact would be if the precept was not increased by 1.99%.

Cllr Middlebrough also pointed out that the police grant per head of population in West Mercia was £104 per person while West Midlands got £156.

During the discussion the following main points were made:

·         The number of respondents to the consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 148.

Andy Champness explained that the latest quarterly figures were presented in the report in the agenda. Since the report had been written an update from the Crime Survey for England and Wales stated confidence in the police in West Mercia had increased to 79% - the average for England and Wales was 77%.

·         The panel queried why the summary stated there was 'no significant change' in areas such as sexual offences and business and rural crime when the graphs suggested these had increased. It was explained that the summary showed there was no significant change to the trend, which was increasing,

·         There was concern that there were no figures to support the statement that there had been 'no change' to the number of crimes.  The Office of the PCC noted that it was a helpful observation and they would alter the report for the next meeting. The Chief Constable stated that they were aware that 'no change' does not mean that everything was ok and work was still needed in those areas,

·         The Chief Constable clarified a query regarding response times – new resources had been moved to Leominster but it had been recognised that too many had been moved and as a result some had been moved back to Tenbury. He also stated that there was more to response times than time and the way the call was dealt with and followed up was also important,

·         The Chairman summarised that it would be helpful to have the performance report presented in a different way – perhaps with a traffic light system. Members were asked to feed any further changes to Jodie Townsend. Andy Champness replied that the new PCC would have a new plan so that would be a good time to consider the presentation of the figures,

·         Traditionally sexual offences had been under reported so an increase in the number of crimes being reported was a good thing and showed the police were increasingly empathetic,

·         There were queries that the figures showed that burglaries had increased while at the same time it was generally believed they were decreasing.  The Chief Constable clarified that burglaries were increasing across the country and if Councillors wanted more specific information regarding their areas they could speak to their local police Commander,

·         The Chief Constable explained that the increase in crime numbers had been caused partly because of a new way of reporting crime – that it was recorded when it was reported regardless of whether the evidence supported the claim; and also historical crimes being reported due to the effect of high profile cases. This was now settling down and reports were close to a steady state,

·         A panel member asked if the numbers of hate crimes could be broken down by age and location and how they were reported.  The Deputy PCC explained that a commissioning exercise was being carried out with community safety partnerships and projects were being undertaken with different groups. Also the police were visiting all village  ...  view the full minutes text for item 149.

The Chairman explained that the Task and Finish Group which had been set up to consider the Police and Crime Plan had not managed to meet and Cllr Wood who was due to be Chairman of the Group needed to stand down from that position. It was therefore suggested that this item be postponed until the next meeting and discussions could take place with the new PCC about how the new plan would be scrutinised.

RESOLVED that the Police and Crime Panel postpone the discussion regarding its role in relation to the Police and Crime Plan, until the meeting on 6 July 2016.

The Government had launched a consultation regarding the complaints process for Police and Crime Panels seeking to resolve complaints made against a Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Chairman suggested that the Ombudsman system was used in other areas such as for Local Government and he considered that the same system could be used for complaints against a PCC.

A comment was made that although this was a reasonable suggestion, it could become expensive to a Police and Crime Panel if they had to deal with lengthy investigations or even judicial reviews. In such cases members would have to ask individual authorities for funding. If the Government wished to pass the liability to Police and Crime Panels then they should underwrite the funding.

RESOLVED that the Police and Crime Panel's response to the Consultation should be to suggest that the Ombudsman system be extended to cover the PCC as long as it were properly resourced by Government.

The Police and Crime Commissioner presented his End of Term Report. He and his Deputy had had a vision for policing and they had slowly managed to bring about change. They recognised that they needed to either expand or reduce demand for police services and a major part of this process was successfully working with partners. He hoped that the new PCC would be able to continue with that work.

The aim to achieve safer, happier communities had been difficult in a time of decreasing resources but West Mercia was one of the safest places in the country with efficient and effective services. There were now 74 more officers and training was continuous.

He was a strong believer in youth activities and encouraging people to take an active part in their communities. He felt prevention should be a priority and had given the Divisional Commanders £30,000 towards prevention projects.  This had resulted in less demand on police and probation services.  He also invested in Integrated Offender management which kept an eye on offenders when they were released from prison.

He felt he had created a good way forward and hoped the new PCC would be able to continue the good work.

The Chairman thanked the PCC for his report. He felt that 'Community' had been a strong message from the PCC and appreciated that he had travelled around the whole area, along with help from the Deputy PCC.

The Vice Chairman mentioned that he had attended an awards evening which was held at Hindlip which recognised the work the PCC had done with communities and he appreciated that awards were presented to members of the public and not just police.

RESOLVED that the Police and Crime Panel thank the Police and Crime Commissioner for his report and passed on their best wishes.

To receive a presentation on building an Alliance for the Future.

The Chief Constable David Shaw gave a presentation regarding the future of the Alliance.  He explained that he was proud of being part of West Mercia and he wanted to provide a vision for the future that provided even better protection for local people.

This plan was similar to the one that would have been presented in December but now they knew they had greater resources than expected. Their mission continued to be protecting people from harm with a growing emphasis around prevention. This model needed a more responsive model of policing which involved working with partners.

One of the main strengths in West Mercia was that it was based on strong local policing and the police worked well with Leaders, Councillors and Officers of Local Authorities. They would put in place the most effective policing for each of the local communities and would work to put officers where they were needed most.  If necessary they would refer people to partner organisations and make use of volunteers and special constables.

It was recognised that the staff were the cornerstone of the organisation and they needed to be equipped with the latest technology and training.  They would work hard to integrate services and information and work towards shared outcomes with partners. Investment was important to make the necessary transformation for current and future generations.

Transformational change was necessary and the way they worked would be revisited, challenged and re-designed. The market would be engaged and a transformation partner would be appointed to design and deliver the transformation. West Midlands had already gone through that process but West Mercia needed its own model. This transformation would continue once the new PCC had been appointed.

The Panel recognised that that this was an important presentation and it was suggested that there be a seminar session before the next meeting.  The Chairman agreed that they needed to wait for the new PCC, to see how the plan would be enacted.

RESOLVED that the Chief Constable be thanked for his presentation and the Chairman, Andy Champness and the Chief Constable would consider how best to arrange further training.

6 July 2016

5 October 2016

7 December 2016

The Chairman noted that the next meeting would be held on Wednesday 6 July 2016 at County Hall, Worcester.

Future meetings

·         Wednesday 5 October 2016

·         Wednesday 7 December 2016 

·         Wednesday 8 February 2017