Agenda item

The Panel was asked to consider the PCC’s proposed appointment of a Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner (DPCC). In doing so, the Panel needed to satisfy itself that the preferred candidate selected by the PCC had the competence to undertake the role.

The Panel was provided with a report detailing the overview of the process that was undertaken to select the preferred candidate, and of the reasons for Tracey Onslow’s nomination as the proposed DPCC.

By virtue of s18 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (the Act) the PCC for West Mercia may appoint a person to be the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Mercia area. Under the Act the PCC must notify the PCP of the preferred candidate for appointment as DPCC. Schedule 1 of the Act states that the PCC must provide the following information:

a)         The name of the person whom the PCC is proposing to appoint;

b)         The criteria used to assess the suitability of the candidate and how the candidate satisfies these criteria; and

c)         The terms and conditions under which the candidate is to be appointed.

The Panel was provided with the:

i)          Relevant background and context

ii)         application and interview process;

iii)         Job profile and person specification, which set out the criteria used for assessment;

iv)        interview questions used in those assessments; and

v)         Proposed terms and conditions

The Chairman invited the PCC to address the Panel.

The PCC referred the Panel to the statutory information provided in the Agenda and reminded the Panel that Tracey Onslow had supported him as Deputy PCC for just under 5 years, sharing direct work and also had a portfolio of responsibility on his behalf.

The PCC was confident that Tracey’s work had contributed to maximising the benefit to the community for services which were commissioned and in holding the force to account to account.

The PCC reminded the Panel that in 2016 a full recruitment process was undertaken in respect of the Deputy PCC role, in which the Panel was engaged throughout. The PCC confirmed to the Panel that Tracey as his Deputy had followed best practice and that he was confident that she still met the requirements. He reassured that Panel that he had followed the good practice from across England and Wales via both the Association of Police and Crime Chief Executives and the Association of PCCs, the PCC undertook a process to assess whether Tracey remained suitable for the role and was confident that this was the case. It was also important to have the continuity especially in light of the pandemic.

The Chairman invited Tracey Onslow to address the Panel.

Tracey explained that 5 years ago when she first became DPCC, she had welcomed the opportunity and it was an honour, Tracey had always lived in West Mercia and had enjoyed getting out and about in the West Mercia area.  She was given the opportunity to get involved in commissioning of services for Victims and had visited every service to reassure herself that funding allocations were spent in the most appropriate way.  Tracey had also added some scrutiny to the allocation of the grant funding, whereby local groups were required to apply for funding through the Community Safety Partnerships as well as introducing Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to ensure value for money and assurance.

In the last 5 years a lot of work had centred around reforming services, including bringing IT up to date, introducing online holding to  account sessions with the CC, enabling increased public involvement and community engagement.  Tracey was very proud that the Community Charter was being introduced providing visibility for the public. She also highlighted that bringing the Estates Service back in-house from Place Partnership Limited would provide a saving of around £300k.

During the opportunity for questions, the following main points were made:

·         If confirmed as DPCC, Tracey suggested that the top areas for focus for the next few years would be drugs, early intervention and community issues eg speeding and anti-social behaviour, criminal justice and backlogs in courts, although there were many more

·         Following a question about what support was available for domestic abuse resulting from Covid-19, Tracey explained that £1m had been allocated to for services for victims of domestic abuse. It was also important to provide early help (to help prevent the crime in the first place, the Drive Programme (perpetrator programme) had been very successful (although expensive) and also victims services

·         Acknowledging that Public confidence was really important to build, Tracey believed that the additional 400 police office would contribute to this but it was important to understand what was happening in areas as well such as education via schools.  Cyber-crime and Child Sexual Exploitation was another area requiring greater understanding

·         In response to a question about whether all areas of West Mercia had similar problems, Tracey advised that this was not necessarily the case but it was important to get early intervention to alter behaviours before becoming a crime.  It was important to ensure that the services provided were right for the community, but there was always more work to do

·         It was suggested that online reporting was very useful tool for raising awareness of the lower levels of crime and councillors had a role in encouraging and reassuring communities that people would stay safe if they reported crime.

On putting it to the vote, Tracey Onslow was unanimously confirmed as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia for a period of 3 years.

The meeting was adjourned from 12.50-1.00pm.