Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Anna Richardson – Independent member and Cllr Abdul Amin – Swindon Borough Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on Thursday 19 December 2019, Thursday 16 January 2020 and Thursday 6 February 2020.

Decision

·         That the minutes of the meetings held on Thursday 19 December 2019, Thursday 16 January 2020 and Thursday 6 February 2020 were confirmed as the correct records.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman advised that due to the pandemic issues, the re-election of Chairman and Vice-Chairman which would normally take place at the June meeting would now take place at the September meeting.

The Panel welcomes contributions from members of the public.

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During the ongoing Covid-19 situation the Council is operating revised procedures for public participation. Members of the public can view the meeting online and statements and questions will be taken in written form.

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Statements

Members of the public who wish to submit a statement in relation to an item on this agenda should submit it to the officer named on this agenda no later than 5pm on Friday 29 May 2020

Those statements should:

·      State whom the statement is from (including if representing another person or organisation)  

·      State clearly the key points  

·      If read aloud, be readable in approximately 3 minutes  

Those statements in accordance with the Constitution will be included in an agenda supplement.

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 Friday 29 May 2020

 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.

a)    Current crime profiles – a presentation covering OPCC COVID governance, crime profile an trends from March-May

b)    Sickness and resilience within Wiltshire Police

c)    Cash flow implications of Covid19

The Commissioner presented his report setting out data reported in the four-week period ending 10 May 2020, compared to the equivalent four-week period in 2019 contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

National Position

·         That reported Crime nationally had reduced by 24%. Week on week trends suggested that the implementations of lockdown had influenced these large reductions

·         Serious violent crime had reduced by 29 %.  Trends had been difficult to interpret, but all forces were reporting reductions

·         Shoplifting had decreased by 53%. It is anticipated this reduction will be maintained. Whilst more stores begin to open, there was heavy focus on security to support social distancing and monitor customer behaviour

·         Other forms of acquisitive crime including vehicle crime had reduced by 41%, with residential burglary reducing by 35%

·         Recorded rape had reduced by 27%, with all forces recording reductions

·         Recorded domestic abuse incidents had increased by 4%. Trends in DA were not consistent across all forces and remain aligned to trends in 2019 with increased reports on both bank holiday weekends

Wiltshire’s Position

·         That reported Crime reduced by 26.6%,slightly above the national reports of 24% although trends do reflect the national picture

·         Serious violent crime had reduced by 21.7%, 7.3% lower than the national reports for the same time period

·         Shoplifting had decreased by 62%. Wiltshire also expects maintained reduction as reported nationally

·         Other forms of acquisitive crime including vehicle crime had reduced by 36.9%, with residential burglary reducing by 50.7%. 15.7% above national reports

·         Recorded rape had reduced by 36.4%, 9.4% above the reported national average

·         Recorded domestic abuse incidents had increased by 17%. DA levels during Covid had remained within predicted levels, although the last week (w/c 11th of May) saw the lowest level of reporting since lockdown began

·         Some Wiltshire Police work plans had been delayed or altered due to Covid

·         In early March a bid for an extra 52 tasers had been granted by the Home Office

·         The Commissioner was partaking in regular conference calls with MPs and Council leaders due the lockdown

·         Wiltshire Police remained on-track with officer recruitment, with some 40 students starting their police degree

·         The use of ICT and mobile technology had helped back office staff to continue running the business from home

·         Wiltshire Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner had continued to work well during the lockdown

·         The Commissioner paid tribute to all officers and staff for their hard work and dedication during the pandemic

The panel were then given the opportunity to discuss the report.

Points made included:

·         County lines disruptions during the lockdown

·         Assaults on officers during the lockdown

·         Wiltshire Police plans to re-open police stations whilst the main office hubs were closed

·         The rise of domestic abuse during the lockdown

The panel requested that the OPCC provide figures of all Wiltshire Police issued fixed penalty notices, include any that were rescinded during the lockdown period.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his report.

Chris McMullen – Director of People and Change, OPCC  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

a)    Finance and resources - Risk report and risk register - verbal update on the impact on MTFS

b)    Implications for national and local ICT programmes - verbal update

c)    Recruiting officers and staff and implications for the uplift

d)    Recovery phase

Naji Darwish – Deputy Chief Executive, OPCC outlined the PCC Risk Register which was included in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

·         The register was a dynamic document and was intended to capture live management of risk and mitigation, rather than being a record of all possible risks.

·         The register was reviewed monthly on an informal basis by the Deputy Chief Executive and formally by the Commissioner’s Monitoring Board on a quarterly basis, prior to meetings of the Joint Independent Audit Committee and the Police and Crime Panel.  It was now also considered at OPCC Executive Leadership Team monthly meetings.  The Commissioning and Policy Officer had responsibility for the day?to-day management of the register. 

·         Owners for each risk were identified and they were responsible for providing updates on mitigation and score.

The PCP noted the register.

The Chairman thanked Naji Darwish for his report.

Clive Barker - Chief Finance Officer, Wiltshire Police gave a short update on the Medium Term Financial Strategy

Points made included:

·         Wiltshire Police were entering an uncertain period.

·         Next year’s costs were being closely looked at.

·         Over the Summer finance staff would be trying to gauge what Central Government may do regarding re-funding etc.

·         Estate Strategy – that the delay was marginal at present.

Clive Barker - Chief Finance Officer, Wiltshire Police gave a short update on the new Wiltshire Police ICT Department and infrastructure.

Points made included:

·         The new IT Department was being delivered over three phases.

·         Phases one and two were complete with some twenty posts filled.

·         That many interviews during the lockdown had been done via SKYPE – these interviews had been well received.

·         That interviews were now to be arranged for some eleven posts in phase three.

·         Work on the infrastructure continued to move forward.

A question was raised by the panel as to Clive Barker managing the new Wiltshire Police ICT as well as being the151 officer. The panel were advised by the OPCC that Clive Barker was not the Head of the ICT programme, and that he was held to account by various Wiltshire Police boards and of course the risk register.

The Chairman thanked Clive Barker for his updates.

Chris McMullen – Director of People and Change, OPCC presented a report which outlined Operation Uplift – COVID-19 Implications.

Points made included:

·         That the national Uplift programme was an opportunity to increase resourcing and re-invest in policing following a ten-year period of austerity and a fall in police officer numbers.

·         The service had been asked to introduce 2,000 extra officers by March 2020, rising to 6,000 extra officers by March 2021.

·         At the last Police and Crime Panel, a paper outlined the local implications for Wiltshire, stating that Wiltshire had to recruit 49 extra officers by March 2021. High level assumptions continued to be made on financial and workforce plans for beyond March 2021, which suggested a total number of 147 extra officers by March 2023.

·         In order to achieve the uplift numbers, in addition to maintaining the numbers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.