Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Alan Bishop – Swindon Borough Council, Cllr John Smale – Wiltshire Council and Cllr Julian Johnson – Wiltshire Council.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Tony Trotman – Wiltshire Council and Cllr Chuck Berry – Wiltshire Council to the meeting as substitutes for Cllrs Julian Johnson and John Smale.

The Chairman reminded the members of the PCP workshop, to be held on Thursday 23 February at the Wiltshire History Centre, Chippenham.

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

Members of the public are able to ask questions in relation to the responsibilities and functions of the Panel at each meeting. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the Head of Democratic Services at Wiltshire Council no later than 5.00 pm on 3 clear wkg days before meeting. Please contact the officer named on the first page of the agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

There was no public participation.

A brief presentation from Clive Barker to give some context to the Plan and the Precept items/discussions which will follow.

Clive Barker – OPPC gave a short presentation that outlined the Police and Crime plan and the proposal from the Commissioner to increase the precept.

Points made included:

How was the Profile compiled

·       Produced by HMIC annually.

·       Finances are based on 2016-17 budget.

·       HR data is a mix of 2016-17 budget and ADR returns.

·       Allows Wiltshire Police to compare against national average & MSG.

·       Our Most Similar Group (MSG) of Forces are D&C, Warwickshire, Suffolk, North Wales, West Mercia, Norfolk and Cheshire.

The Police part of the council tax

·       Wiltshire Police are the 17^th lowest out of 37 English forces.

·       The highest is £220.19, the lowest £93.33.

·       The average is £174.

·       So Wiltshire at £167.10 is below the average.

What does this mean for Policing

·       If Wiltshire Police want to spend more in one area, then another area would fall even further below the similar force average.

·       The Threat, Harm, Risk approach was even more important as Wiltshire Police can’t deliver everything we want – difficult decisions had  to be made by the PCC (in allocating funds).

·       Vulnerable people and safeguarding children in areas of cyber crime had to be weighed up against the more traditional policing the beat approach (a communication challenge).

The Chairman thanked Clive Barker for his presentation.

Clive Barker to present the PCC’s Draft Budget Settlement for 2017/18, including the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Clive Barker gave a short presentation that outlined the PCC’s Draft Budget Settlement for 2017/18, including the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Points made included:

·       In October 2016 the initial Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) was produced and reviewed at the monitoring board. The MTFS looked at the estimated financial position of the PCC over the next 4 years and the impact this had on the PCC’s ability to commission services.

The following Police relevant information was announced in the December settlement;

·       A £0.812m cash reduction in Police Revenue funding for 2017-18, a 1.4% cut in funding for Wiltshire.

·       An increase in top slicing of Policing Funding in 2017-18 from £571m to £812m (mainly for Police Technology Programmes and Transformation Fund).

·       The setting of the council tax referendum threshold level at 2%.

·       The announcement that PCC’s with funds in the lowest quartile nationally can increase the council tax up to maximum of £5 per band D property without triggering the requirement for a referendum (Wiltshire are not in the lowest quartile).

 Council Tax Options

·       Option A – To increase council tax by 1.9%.

·       Option B – To maintain council tax at the 2016-17 level.

Reserves

·       The reserves held by the PCC had been reviewed. The value of the general reserve had been considered and the Commissioner advised that £2.6m (2.5% of the revenue budget) was acceptable. A complete review of reserves had taken place, some reserves had been removed or reduced to free up funds. With these plans it was estimated that revenue reserves would be £4.9m by 31 March 2018.

Conclusion

·       That a £3.17 Band D increase per household per year is appropriate, with the Commissioner now consulting the public on this.

The Chairman thanked Clive Barker for his presentation.

The refreshed Police and Crime Plan for Panel comments.

The Commissioner outlined the refreshed Police and Crime Plan 2017-20 for Panel comments.

The plan was contained in the agenda pack.

Points raised by the PCP included:

·       Not enough detail on the role of the Commissioner.

·       The diagram, (Typical daily demand in Wiltshire Police) could be clearer.

·       More publicity re community policing would be welcomed.

·       That the plan conveys only positives, and no negatives.

·       More publicity of community policing and pubwatch etc.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his presentation.

A verbal update on progress.

A brief verbal update.

Points made included:

·       That Avon and Somerset Police had withdrawn from the programme, Wiltshire would continue to work with Gloucestershire.

·       That Wiltshire would still gain some benefits from the funds that had been invested in the programme.

·       That Gloucestershire and Wiltshire forces would now look at developing a joint cloud based IT system.

The Chairman thanked the OPPC for their update.

Question raised by Cllr Richard Britton, (report contained in the agenda pack) were noted.

·       PCC Commissioning Strategy Task Group

·       Tri-Force Collaboration Task Group

The Chairman requested that the OPPC would provide the PCP with more information on the Review of Community Policing.

To note the forward work plan.

The Forward Work Plan was noted with the following additions:

March meeting – add Community Policing Review and remove Tri-Force Collaboration Program from the FWP.

To note the future meeting dates below:

·       Thursday 11 January 2017 – County Hall, Trowbridge

·       Thursday 2 February 2017 –Monkton Park Offices, Chippenham

·       Thursday 2 March 2017 – County Hall, Trowbridge

·       Thursday 29 June 2017 – Corn Exchange, Devizes

·       Thursday 7 September 2017 – City Hall, Salisbury

·       Wednesday 1 December 2017 – Swindon Borough Council Offices

Future meeting dates were noted as:

·       Thursday 2 February 2017 – Monkton Park Offices, Chippenham - 10am-2pm

·       Thursday 2 March 2017 – City Hall, Salisbury- 10am-2pm

·       Thursday 29 June 2017 – Corn Exchange, Devizes - 10am-2pm

·       Thursday 7 September 2017 – County Hall, Trowbridge - 10am-2pm

·       Wednesday 7 December 2017 – Swindon Borough Council Offices - 10am-2pm