Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Rajash Mehta as the new representative for Telford and Wrekin Council replacing Councillor Kuldip Sahota.

The Chief Constable was pleased to advise that Amanda Blakeman would be appointed as Assistant Chief Constable for West Mercia.

Apologies were received from Councillors Keith Roberts, Roger Smith, Yvonne Smith and Kevin Turley.

Declarations of interest were made by Councillor Grove who received a police pension and Colonel Tony Ward who was a member of the OPCC's Trust, Integrity and Ethics Committee.

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, 6 February 2017).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number / email address listed below.

None.

To confirm the Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 7 December 2016.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 7 December 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Report of the Budget Task Group and its appendix

·         Appendix - Guidance related to the scrutiny of the precept by Police and Crime Panels.

The West Mercia Budget 2017/18 and the Medium Term Financial Plan 2017/18 – 2020/21

·         Appendix - Budget Consultation 2017/18 summary

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) gave a presentation regarding the 2017/18 budget proposals, Capital Programme and Medium Term Financial Plan. (2017-2021).

The PCC expressed his thanks to the OPCC Chief Executive, OPCC Treasurer and police force for the support given to him since his appointment to office.

In terms of spending the policing budget, the PCC made the following main points:

·       The total budget of £212.2m included an increase of £4.5m for investment in modernising and reforming the policing service

·       There would be an additional investment £1.3m to protect the most vulnerable people

·       Investment in increasing officer visibility in communities was a priority

·       There would be a  freeze in the policing element of the Council Tax

·       Financial reserves would be used effectively and responsibly.

The total budget of £212.2m was made up of funding from a Central Government Grant of £120.2m (reduced by just under 1% since last year) and £82m from Council Tax.  The priorities for deploying these funds were:

·       Putting victims and survivors first (£100,000 in restorative justice services, adding £1m to the Government Grant for victim services and developing specialist services for the most vulnerable people)

·       Building a secure West Mercia (an additional £1.3m for protection of vulnerable people (moving and increasing policing capability) £0.2m for Digital Forensics, £0.1m for drugs testing by roads policing, £0.1m to support the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub's (MASH) and £0.1m for Regional Intelligence)

·       Reforming West Mercia (an additional £1.2m revenue funding for the Transformation Programme (including ICT), Capital investment of £20.8m in ICT (including mobile working, SAAB, Athena), additional £1m revenue funding for Estates (for backlog maintenance),capital investment of £36.2m in Estates (including OCC, Firearms Range, Hereford, Shrewsbury)

·       Reassuring West Mercia Communities. (Investment in mobile technology to improve police community visibility, continue to invest £1m a year in the Police and Crime Investment Fund, invest in body worn video costing £0.5m a year revenue).

The PCC drew the Panels attention to the Treasurer's Report on pages 4 and 5 of the West Mercia Budget 2017/18 and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) 2017/18 – 2020/21 and in doing so highlighted in particular paragraphs k) and l) which were different to other years in that they  asked the Chief Executive and the Treasurer work with West Mercia Police to develop plans to deliver the savings targets outlined in the Strategy (the Panel would be encouraged to have a role in scrutinising this work) and also to work with the Chief Constable to develop a revised Corporate Strategy planning process.

Paul Middlebrough, Chairman of the Budget Task Group, which looked at the proposed budget, MTFP and the Policing Plan, introduced his report on the proposals. He thanked the other members of the group as well as Sean Pearce, Worcestershire County Council's Chief Financial Officer, for assisting them.  Reference was made to the Task Group's report that had been circulated as part of the Agenda papers.

The PCC's Chief Finance Officer had outlined to the Task Group the financial risks  ...  view the full minutes text for item 202.

To receive a presentation from the PCC's office.

The Head of Commissioning for the Office of the PCC made a presentation to the Panel about the PCC's approach to commissioning (copies were circulated at the meeting).

When commissioning services, it was important to ensure value for money, victim or outcome focus and strategic alignment to the PCC priorities.  During the presentation, the following main points were made:

·         The main income streams were:

Ø  £1.468m Ministry of Justice (victims of crime to cope and recover)

Ø  £300k Home Office (Covenant Fund)

Ø  £3.5m Community Grants (including Community Safety Partnership investment, business cyber and rural crime grants, and diversionary activity)

·         It was a Complex environment:

Ø  Mixed economy providing a variety of contracts and grants

Ø  Co-dependent nature of outcomes

Ø  Changing crime profile – commissioning needed to reflect this

Ø  Outcome-focused approach

Ø  Choice, empowerment and community resilience

·         The golden threads were:

Ø  Working strategically to the Police and Crime Plan

Ø  Crossed checked with Victims Charter, Victims' Code of Practice, EU Directive

Ø  Commissioning Strategy setting out the commissioning process (Commissioning Cycle)

Ø  Commissioning intentions (core initiatives)/market development

Ø  Range of geographical demand and placement scorecards

Ø  Needs Assessment both qualitative and quantitative

Ø  Commissioning/granting

Ø  Ongoing Risk Assessment/GAP analysis/EIAs due to the mixed economy

Ø  After granting a service maintain Provider oversight, contract management to ensure quality

·         The priorities for the next 12 months were:

Ø  Perpetrator investment working with domestic abuse perpetrators working with other PCC's

Ø  Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference capacity

Ø  Strategic Review of Independent Domestic Violence Advisors/Independent Sexual Violence Advisors and placement of

Ø  13-16 Diversionary Programme (currently doing one for 17-24 year olds with good outcomes)

Ø  Cyber safety (working with schools)

Ø  Pathfinder programme (driver safety for younger people)

Ø  Community Safety Partnership (CSP) Review

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·       The CSP Review was a co-designed approach to work with each CSP to understand local priorities and address the gaps, with a view to covering the whole of the Police and Crime Plan time span not just a 12 month period

·       It was confirmed that it had been agreed that the next Diversionary Programme should be for 13-16 year olds (rather than a different age range) to check whether that particular cohort was suitable for piloting and if of significant success, it was eventually envisaged that the Programme would be seamless

·       In response to the question about how much influence the PCC had over the Probation Service, the PCC advised very little, but that he thought PCC could have more of a role in achieving better outcomes and that he had written to Sam Gyimah, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice to express his views on this matter

·       There was a mixed picture in terms of the success of Partners and Communities Together (PACT), some had worked well and others less so.

The Panel noted the presentation.

To receive an updated version of the performance information received at the last meeting.

The Panel were provided with an update on the progress to redesign and implement a new police performance framework aligned to the Safer West Mercia Plan as published at the end of October 2016. The existing performance framework and performance report had been in place prior to the election of the PCC in May 2016 and so the performance framework had been reviewed and refreshed in line with the current Plan.

The measures in the new framework had been selected as indicators of improvements and progress in delivering the Safer West Mercia Plan and the performance report revised accordingly.

A copy of the revised quarterly performance report was attached to Agenda Report and the Panel was advised that there were still some further minor changes to be made to both the layout of the report and the style of the text provided.

The PCC indicated that the comments made by Members of the Panel had been reflected in the changes, including on page 9 adding a rate per 1000 population for crime types and showing what percentage of total crime each crime type accounts for by policing area.  Other changes included providing more detail on Integrated Offender Management and providing additional outcomes data by crime type.

The report was considerably closer to current requirements from the perspective of the alliance Forces and the two Police and Crime Commissioners. The report was not a static document and would be subject to future change and improvement.

During the discussion, the following points were made:

·       It would be helpful to understand the split between the historic and recent cases for sexual offences

·       The presentation of the data was now more meaningful and the comparator information with peer forces was also very useful for monitoring trends

·       There had been an increase in staff sickness levels, for which the Panel were keen to understand the underlying cause

·       A Panel Member highlighted a concern about the exceptional number of burglaries in North Worcestershire and said that the local CSP were keen to offer support.  The PCC offered reassurance that although the Police obviously needed to prioritise crime,  that there was a role for the CSP to assist with these crimes and that they were also subject to regular monitoring even if they were not the highest priority

·       It was agreed that the Panel would be provided with a briefing note about the Tell MAMA Campaign against Anti-Muslim Hate or Islamophobia

·       In terms of the presentation of the information, it was agreed that where appropriate, the Panel would be provided with colour copies (if it aided interpretation). It was acknowledged that this was not a bespoke document purely for the use of the Panel only and the PCC asked the Panel to be mindful of this

·       Moving toward real time information was one of the PCC's aspirations.

The Panel noted the report.

The Panel were asked to consider the advantages to the formation of a National Association of Police and Crime Panels and discuss whether they would like to feed back their opinion to the meeting scheduled to take place on 17 February 2017.

Discussions had taken place at the PCP Conference organised by Frontline consulting and at regional networks and Panel meetings, regarding the formation of a National Association. It was felt that Panels had struggled to make their voice heard in their dealings with the Home Office in relation to the lack of clarity of the role and lack of any real powers to be able to hold a Commissioner to account.

During the discussion, the following points were made:

·       There was majority Panel support in principle for the proposal, given the advantages of sharing best practice.

·       Councillor Sebastian Bowen volunteered to attend the meeting on 17 February on behalf of the Panel and report back to the next Panel which would then decide whether to join the association.

Notes from the Joint Chairman's meeting – For information.

The Chairman reported that he and the Vice-Chairman had attended the first Joint Police and Crime Panel Chairs meeting on 9 December 2016 in Warwickshire. 

The meeting had gone well and it was agreed that the principles of exchanging minutes and bi-annual meetings between the Chairmen would be a basis for better and more collaborative working.  It was noted that the Warwickshire PCP Chairman was stepping down at the May elections. The Panel supported continuing this relationship with the Warwickshire PCP.

Copies of the notes from the meeting were attached to the Agenda.

It was suggested that a number of members had difficulties attending meetings on Tuesdays.  However, it was also suggested that it was better to keep the agreed dates. The Chairman suggested that it may be necessary for future meeting dates to be reconsidered, in liaison with the OPCC, but this would be reviewed after the next meeting which was confirmed as Tuesday 18 July 2017 (2pm).