Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Jenny Jeffries - Swindon Borough Council,

Cllr Daniel Cave – Wiltshire Council, Naji Darwish – Chief Executive Officer, OPCC and Paul Sunners - Chair Wiltshire NHW Association.   

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 29 September 2022.

Decision:

·         The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 29 September 2022

           were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

There were no declarations of interest.

That written questions had been received from Mr Chris Caswill to the Commissioner and Chairman of the PCP, Cllr Steve Bucknell.

 Written answers had been sent to Mr Caswill from both the Commissioner and Cllr Bucknell.

The new Co-opted members Denisa Ahmeti and Louise Williams were welcomed to the panel.

The Panel welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you wish to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the first page of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on 5 clear working days before the meeting. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There was no public participation.

·         P&C Plan highlight and Performance report – PCC

·         Other issues to update - PCC

The Commissioner gave a brief update on his desire that Wiltshire Police should leave the outdated Police Air Service.

Points made included:

That Wiltshire police had now purchased 30 drones and had trained personnel to operate them.

The drones had day/night capabilities and were fitted with spotlights and megaphones.

That it was his intention to set up a dedicated police drone fleet covering Wiltshire.

That the Commissioner continued to look for ways to terminate the contract and was working with other police forces to get support to do this, he would also be meeting with the home secretary to discuss this matter.

That the Commissioner continued to push Central Government for fairer funding settlement for Wiltshire police but was not hopeful in the present climate.

Police and Crime Plan highlights and Performance report

Points made included:

That inspections of Wiltshire Police had been critical of the strategic management of the force.

That the strategic planning and leadership was a critical area that required improvement.

The Commissioner intended to announce a preferred new Chief Constable candidate before the Christmas break.

That the Commissioner was focused on selected the best candidate that could lead Wiltshire police through its challenges and the scale of improvement highlighted in the HMICFRS inspection required That it was time for Wiltshire

That Wiltshire Police had very many good officers and needed a clear and focus plan to reform and improve, to enable the frontline to deliver a better service to the public. It will be vitally important to engage and listen to officers and staff, as well as the public to help deliver positive changes.

Points made by PCP members included:

That the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan was aimed at addressing the PEEL findings and that some progress was being made; however the Commissioner had identified that progress was not as fast as he would like and how he was determined to see faster improvement.

The PCP members were heartened by the Commissioner’s support for the frontline police officers and how he considered that there were a great number of them who were doing an excellent job under difficult circumstances.

That the residents of Wiltshire needed to be informed how long it would take to get a Wiltshire Police force that we could all be proud of and the need for better comms – website, social media etc.

The importance of the new Chief Constable setting the culture of Wiltshire Police.

The need to work and motivate a young Wiltshire Police force with a positive tone.

That the Police and Crime Panel appreciated and thanked the Commissioner’s for setting out the areas for improvements required and current steps to resolve.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his update and report.

Naji Darwish - Chief Executive, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

PCC & Emma Morton, Head of Communications and Engagement outlined the report contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

That the paper provided the panel with a summary of the public consultation process and engagement about to be undertaken by the OPCC Communications and Engagement Team on behalf of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) on a proposed policing precept increase for 2023/24.

That consultation with the public on next year’s (2023/24) policing precept started on 9 Dec 2022.

That using a short, online, survey, residents were being asked to consider supporting an increase in policing precept of £15 per year, per Band D property, which equated to £1.25 a month.

Initial indications were that a 1% increase in central funding from Government for 2023/24 would be received, although that had yet to be formally notified and was expected later this month. If that assumption was correct, Wiltshire Police faced making £5.5m savings if there was not an increase made to the police precept part of the council tax.

The January and February PCP precept meetings will provide a summary of the consultation with the public.

Points made by the PCP members included:

The need for involvement from 25-40 age group.

The need for more digital involvement.

Decision

That the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel noted the report

The Chairman thanked Emma Morton for her report.

Kelly Cullen – Wiltshire Police

Kelly Cullen – Wiltshire Police outlined the report contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

That by working effectively with partners across the community safety partnership and voluntary sector, Wiltshire Police could support building community resilience, reduce vulnerability and exploitation and tackle crimes that matter most to our communities across Wiltshire and Swindon.

That early intervention was key in preventing crime and keeping people safe. This included working with young people who may come to notice of policing or entering police custody. Interventions had been developed to positively engage with young people, to offer support, diversion and to safeguard young people at risk of exploitation or county lines.

That youth communities were our future generation and therefore a commitment had been made to ensure that youth voice was captured in all that Wiltshire Police does.

That listening to young people would allow the opportunity to address crime concerns of young people and assist in strengthening relationships and trust between youth communities and police.

Prevention and Youth Delivery Plan - Objectives:

·         Objective 1: Safer Communities and Crime Prevention

·         Objective 2: Early Intervention and Violence Reduction

·         Objective 3 Exploitation and Grooming

·         Objective 4: Youth Voice and Engagement

Points made by the PCP members included:

That the report was very in depth.

How we engage with young people and get their voices heard and getting to the hard to reach communities were big challenges.

That investment in young people had got to be a good thing.

The importance of being able to measure the impact of the funding and services and initiatives offered.

That good links were being made across Wiltshire with the local traveller communities.

Why not use ex-police officers to work with schools as an early intervention project.

That good work was being carried out by PCSO’s in local communities as a bridge between the young people and the police, sadly there doesn’t seem to be enough PCSOs at the present time.

Would like to see more joint working with Wiltshire Council safeguarding teams and other interested parties and agencies.

The importance of being able speak to young people that aren’t on the radar of local Authorities and other agencies.

The Chairman thanked Kelly Cullen for her presentation on behalf of the PCP members who were very impressed by the positive messaging and looked forward to future updates.

Cllr Steve Bucknell – Was there any data on how successful Community Speedwatch had been?

John Derryman – OPPC. Yes, data was now available to show speeding hotspots etc. This data would become available to the public.

It was agreed that John Derryman would Send Cllr Bucknell the data to circulate to the PCP members.

It was also noted that three Road Safety officers had been appointed by Wiltshire Police, with two currently in post

Cllr Brian Mathew – Any news on Wiltshire Police using Auto Speedwatch data?

John Derryman – OPCC.  Yes, Auto Speedwatch data formed part of a pilot scheme that was currently being run.

Metro count data – do you look at that?

John Derryman – OPCC. Yes, Wiltshire Police Police had access to this data.

Have many villages requested speed enforcement measures?

 John Derryman – OPCC. Numerous villages had requested this, officers were deployed when available.

Were Wiltshire Police using Car Sound Cameras?

 John Derryman – OPCC.  Wiltshire Police were looking into this and would be holding discussions with a company in the new Year re this.

Cllr Carol Shelley – Knife crime, could the Gorse Hill and Pine Hurst areas of Swindon have more police presence in these areas over the Christmas/New Year period as people were still very nervous about things.

Commissioner – Local Teams would be made aware of these concerns.

Cllr Abdul Amin – That communities were still reluctant to engage with the police as they felt that nothing gets resolved re their concerns.

The Commissioner agreed that Wiltshire Police still needed to do more for these communities.

Cllr Ross Henning – When would a PCP member be able to sit on the Wiltshire Police and Criminal Justice Board?

It was agreed that an agenda item would be added to the 12 January 2023 agenda to agree a suitable PCP member to sit on the Board.

To note the forward work plan.

The Forward Work Plan was noted.

It was agreed to add Selection of PCP member to sit on the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board to the January 2023 meeting agenda.

To note the future meeting dates below:

·         Thursday 12 January 2023 – Kennet Room, County Hall, Trowbridge

·         Thursday 2 February 2023 – Monkton Park Offices, Chippenham

·         Thursday 9 March 2023 - Salisbury Guildhall, Guildhall Square, Salisbury

Future meeting dates were:

·         Thursday 12 January 2023 – Kennet Room, County Hall, Trowbridge

·         Thursday 2 February 2023 – Monkton Park Offices, Chippenham

·         Thursday 9 March 2023 - Salisbury Guildhall, Guildhall Square, Salisbury

·         Thursday June 2023 – Date and venue to be confirmed

·         Thursday 14 September 2023 - Venue to be confirmed

·         Thursday 14 December 2023 - Venue to be confirmed

To consider passing the following resolution:

To agree that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act
1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in Items
Number 8 and 9 because it is likely that if members of the public were present
there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in
paragraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest in
withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information to the public.

Decision

That the Police and Crime Panel agreed that in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act1972 to exclude the public from the meeting for the business specified in ItemsNumber 12 and 13 because it is likely that if members of the public were presentthere would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined inparagraph 1 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Act and the public interest inwithholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing theinformation to the public

The Commissioner outlined the report contained in the agenda pack which provided an update to Panel of the PCC’s and OPCC’s scrutiny, challenge, and support of Wiltshire Police’s HMICFRS PEEL inspection action plan, alongside the OPCC assessment of the progress Wiltshire Police was making against the PEEL findings.

Points made included:

That as Wiltshire Police were in “ENGAGE” there was external monitoring and support to Forces and PCCs through the Police Performance and Oversight Group PPOG (Home Office, HMICFRS, College of Policing). The Force had produced a service improvement road map / plan in response to areas of improvement identified. The activities and timescales had been developed by the Force with feedback from the OPCC.

That the OPCC in its statutory role was monitoring progress and working alongside these arrangements to scrutinise, challenge and support improvements. As such tracking of PEEL progress had been incorporated the testing process at Executive Leadership Group (ELG) meetings. This included existing mechanisms such as the key lines of enquiry (KLOE) scrutiny approach and key performance indicator dashboard to measure Force performance against PEEL.

That remedial measures had now been put into place, that the force was now awaiting the new Chief Constable to move things on in a positive manner.

That processes were now in place to monitor the failings, many of the issues were identified when the current Commissioner came into post. Wiltshire Police now had in place a data driven dashboard to highlight issues.

That an increasing number of police forces were in special measures – policing needed to have better operational training across the board if forces were to improve.

That the new Chief Constable would continue to be challenged by the Commissioner.

Points made by the PCP members included:

That the public needed to know that the Police and Crime Panel took the outcomes of the PEEL findings very seriously.

That Wiltshire residents needed to be reassured that a proper plan was being put into place and that public money was not being wasted.

That the PCP members were unsure re the target dates in the report set by the current Chief Constable were achievable and noted the Commissioner’s disappointment with the progress being made on the roadmap.

A discussion ensued whether the poor performance against the road map was down to unrealistic target setting; poor performance or a mixture of the two.

That a more realistic roadmap/plan would be better for the PCP to view, that meaningful work needed to be carried out in order to move forward.

The importance of evidence and data base driven information.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for the report and hoped that he would continue to be honest with the public with the message that Wiltshire Police was striving to back changes and move forward with a new Chief Constable.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for the report.