Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed the Members of the Panel to the meeting as well as the Police and Crime Commissioner, John Campion; and Andy Champness and Elizabeth Hall from the PCC's office.

Councillor Vivienne Parry was attending her first meeting as substitute for Councillor Roger Evans.

Apologies were received from Councillor Evans and Councillor Roberts.

There were no declarations of interest.

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 Tuesday, 4 October 2016).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number / email address listed below.

None

To confirm the Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 6 July and 9 August 2016.

Councillors Turley and Denham pointed out that they were both welcomed to the meeting of 6 July but were not listed as present in the minutes. It was also agreed that for future minutes all Councillors would be listed as Councillor rather than Mr or Mrs.

The minutes were otherwise agreed to be a correct record of the previous meetings and were signed by the Chairman.

The PCC explained that all the responses received in the second round of consultation to the draft Safer West Mercia Plan had been included in the agenda. He appreciated that the comments would benefit from being put in some form of context and agreed that he would re-issue the comments (Appendix A) with the addition of an extra column stating what had been done with the comments and grouped by tier authority.

An appendix to the plan showed the dashboard style of report that was being moved towards which would help the panel hold the PCC to account. The PCC believed his plan was needed as early as possible to ensure everyone could move in the right direction.

The Panel took the opportunity to ask a range of questions and raise points of clarification on the Plan. Panel members:

·         were concerned that the language used in a strategic document was not always the most accessible way to consult with the public; however they noted the response that the PCC had endeavored to use as much plain language as possible,

·         were pleased that the plan included the aim of more practical outcomes and improvements rather than promising 'increases' which did not improve things for the community,

·         wished the PCC to encourage the public to report crimes and be able to feel confident that such reports would result in action from the police,

·         were interested in seeing how the Victim Board developed and hoped it would be able to provide tailored support for victims as was intended,

·         sought reassurance that the plan would be delivering value for money and noted that the PCC felt that although there was not always an outcome from investment, if an outcome was expected, that the outcome should actually be delivered,

·         suggested that action against hate crime should be more prominent in the plan, and noted that the PCC supported having a police service which represented the community it served and would encourage people to report such crimes and not accept them as a part of life,

·         were concerned about the actions being taken to combat drink driving and speeding and noted the response that the PCC would work with partners to achieve the most effective programmes,

·         wished to see an improvement in 101 response times and use of information, and would expect to see that improvement reflected in future performance reports to the Panel,

·         queried what was happening to achieve fairer funding, and were pleased that the PCC would continue to ask ministers when that would be implemented, and

·         were pleased that that the PCC was introducing an outcome based approach to commissioning.

The Panel supported the Plan and the ambitions of the PCC to support victims and communities to build a safer West Mercia and would closely scrutinise the work of the PCC during the life of the plan.

RESOLVED that the Police and Crime Panel:

a)      Would submit their comments on the draft Safer West Mercia Plan in accordance with the Police Reform  ...  view the full minutes text for item 182.

The PCC provided a report on his and his Deputy's work; a performance by exception report and what he was doing in terms of holding to account.

He was holding a monthly holding to account meeting with a published agenda and results and had looked at CSE. He would also trial different ways of 'holding to account' such as public meetings, on-line meetings and by using written questions. He was busy getting out and about and ensuring that value was achieved from police officers.

For the next quarters figures performance would be against the new plan.

Panel Members had various queries:

·         There were concerns that the data under 'Reducing Crime and Disorder' was increasing in most categories. This was due in part to more stringent reporting of crime and the fact that cyber-crime was on the increase. There was also historical figures included, however crime was rising.

·         The PCC agreed that strategic decisions could be communicated to Panel Members

·         'Investigation complete' were often when victims do not want to continue with a prosecution. The PCC office were working on a new reporting mechanism which would be useful to the PCC and the Panel and when that was produced all the terms used would be explained,

·         Members were concerned about the number of firearms licences and the number of expired licences but were pleased that a transitional plan was in place,

·         Although victims were a priority in the new Plan currently West Mercia was not doing well in respect of treatment, actions and follow-up. The PCC concurred with that view and stated his focus would be to do better by victims and ensure that the changes were sustainable,

·         The PCC explained that the Safer Roads Partnership did not just look at speed enforcement but also road engineering and worked in Partnership with the Highways agency. The PCC said he would be happy to share reports from the Safer Roads Partnership meetings,

·         Regarding the issue of cyber-crime it was explained that co-ordination was done by the City of London Police Action Fraud although each area dealt with its own victims. The PCC was confident that things were being done and the issue was featured in his plan.

RESOLVED that the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel accepted this report subject to the above comments being noted.

The Chairman explained that interviews for the Independent Co-opted Members of the Panel would take place on Friday 14October and would be carried out by three panel members.

Once the Independent members had been appointed the precept task and finish group would be convened. The Chairman requested that for the next meeting Members consider whether there was a particular topic they felt should be looked at by a task and finish group.

Other issues that Panel Members suggested were:

·         Whether it would be useful for the Panel to consider reports from other bodies such as the Trust, Integrity and Ethics Committee, the Audit Committee and HMIC,

·         Panel Members highlighted the use of the Home Office grant to administer the Police and Crime Panel. Some of the money was used to help with staff costs, training and administering the meetings but it was suggested that some of the money could be used by the task and finish groups,

·         A report on the impact of Brexit had already been agreed but it was pointed out that it was too early to produce a useful report and that would be brought to a future panel meeting,

·         Closer working with the Warwickshire Police and Crime Panel would be sensible as there was close working between the two areas and some positions were joint such as the Finance officer. The Chairman suggested that he and the Vice-Chairman would offer to meet with their counterparts in Warwickshire and investigate the benefits of closer working.

RESOLVED that the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel:

a)        Noted the proposed work programme and suggestions for the panel to accept reports from other bodies, and

b)        Would determine the purpose and membership of any Task and Finish Groups once the independent lay members had been appointed.

2016

7 December 2016

2017

7 February 2017

18 July 2017

26 September 2017

30 November 2017

The panel considered whether the date of the next meeting should be changed to a later date when the next quarter's performance information would be available but it was decided that would compress the remaining meetings too much.

The future meeting dates would therefore remain as:

7 December 2016

7 February 2017

18 July 2017

26 September 2017

30 November 2017

All at 1.30pm in the Council Chamber at County Hall.