Agenda item

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) introduced the Report and circulated a copy of the Monthly Assurance Meeting notes from May 2022.  These  highlighted the action and rigour being taken in response to the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspection findings of the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) of West Mercia Police as part of its PEEL inspection programme of all police forces within England and Wales (published April 2022). 

HMICFRS assessed the Force on nine different areas of policing, of which 8 were graded in the report, as follows:

·         Preventing crime - good

·         Treatment of the public, protecting vulnerable people, managing offenders and developing a positive workplace - adequate

·         Investigating crime, responding to the public, good use of resources - requires improvement.

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·         In response to a Members suggestion that the report was not good, the PCC explained that there had been some changes in the inspection methodology which meant that it was not possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded in this inspection with those from the 2018/19 report.  The PCC explained that West Mercia’s performance was middle of the road, neither good nor damning.  Regular updates would be provided to the Panel.

·         A Member referred to the onsite fact-finding visit which had culminated in hot debrief session (paragraph 10 of the report) and questioned how the actions identified were being dealt with.  The PCC explained that the HMICFRS Liaison Officer in the Force was a conduit to ensure that the actions were being fed into West Mercia Police and the governance processes.

·         AFI9 and 10 relating to protecting vulnerable people (currently rated as adequate) were discussed.  AFI9 was about data mapping and improving data flow which the PCC explained would take a while to achieve and AF10 was concerned with the appropriate use of Domestic Violence Protection Notices and Orders, which the Force had been promoting the use of.

·         The PCC explained how the HMICFRS Inspection process worked, including the pre-inspection process, strategic briefing, inspection activity, hot debrief and the reporting and publication process.

·         The PCC confirmed that it was expected that investigating crime (an area which required improvement) would have been flagged as an area of weakness.

·         A Member sought assurance that by the time of the next inspection, improvements would have been made. The PCC reassured the Panel that he was confident that the Force could do better and that there would be improvements by the time of the next Inspection but if not, the Panel could hold the PCC accountable.

·         With regard to AFI2 (stop and search), in order to ensure parity across all areas of West Mercia, the Force had reviewed and rewritten the data pack used for stop and search to ensure that elements were overlaid to better understand disproportionality.  In addition, a database had been developed and was being tested.

·         In response to a Member’s request for the detailed improvement plan (action tracker) on the progress made against the recommendations from this Report, the PCC agreed to work with Officers to see how this could be shared.

·         A Member questioned how the PCC ensured quality assurance in terms of the delivery of improvement and was advised that the Chief Constable invited staff from the Office of the PCC to observe meetings and this was overseen by the Senior Policy Manager.

·         The PCC confirmed that he was assured that the Service Improvement Board (SIB) was effective. The tracker was subject to ongoing scrutiny through the SIB, chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable, attended by key stakeholders from each of the service areas and the PCC’s Senior Policy Manager.