Agenda and minutes

Election of the Chairman

·         To elect a Chairman for the forthcoming year

Election of the Vice Chairman

·         To elect a Vice Chairman for the forthcoming year

·         Cllr Richard Britton was elected Chairman for the forthcoming year

·         Cllr Junab Ali was elected Vice-Chairman for the forthcoming year

·         Apologies were received from Cllr Peter Hutton – Wiltshire Council and

Mamie Beasant – Independent Member

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 4 June 2020

Decision:

·         The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 4 June were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

There were no declarations of interest

There were no Chairman's Announcements 

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

The Commissioner presented his report for data reported for Quarter 1 -2020/2021 Performance Overview which was contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

Crime Volume

·       April-2020 was highlighting as a significant exceptional low with 2,518 crimes recorded. This was to be expected considering the recent impact of COVID-19 on the overall crime position within particular crime groups.

·       The increases in recorded crime for May and June-2020 correlated with the relaxation of lockdown guidelines by the government.

·       The monthly and rolling 12 month forecast was showing a decline in volumes.

·       The year on year change to June-2020 of -4.4% had been significantly impacted by the decrease in reported crime.

·       Police recorded crime had decreased nationally by -3.9 per cent in the 12 months to May 2020 and -2.8 per cent regionally. Meaning Wiltshire was in line with national increases but significantly below forces within our most similar group (MSG).

Hate Crime

·       There were 81 reported hate crimes in June-20, highlighting as an exceptional high and breaching the upper limit, 54 (66%) were racially motivated. There were also 25 hate incidents recorded, also considered as exceptional.

·       Exceptional increases were experienced in Salisbury (15), Amesbury (8) and Chippenham (6) CPTs.

·       Hate Crime volumes increased week on week in June-2020, with the week ending 28/06 being most impacted.

·       The Black Lives Matter Movement saw: (resulting in 8 hate crimes being reported), 300 people gathered in Trowbridge on the 04/06, 1,000 people gathered in Swindon and Salisbury on the 06/06, 150 people gathered in Melksham on the 07/06.

A discussion ensued. It was agreed that the OPCC would bring a report to the December meeting outlining how Wiltshire Police were supporting victims of hate crime.

Volume of Domestic Abuse

·       That the long term trend for domestic abuse crime in Wiltshire continued to increase in line with the national trend with June-2020 being the first exceptionally high month in the last 2 years. These increases were reported as exceptional highs within Chippenham, Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon CPT’s. This exception correlated with the easing in lockdown restrictions.

·       That there had been a significant reduction in reported high risk cases. In contrast, partner agencies were reporting an increase in more complex cases.

·       Wiltshire Police had invested in radio media campaign, Facebook live sessions and promoted multiagency social media campaign all encouraging reporting.

It was agreed that the OPCC would email the panel members with statistics highlighting - How does Wiltshire Police compare to its MFS group.

Number of Actual Sickness Days lost per person

·       That Quarter 1 2020/2021 had seen a reduction in sickness. With June-2020, being the lowest volume since September 2017 with 1738 sickness days lost (0.8 days lost per person).

·       June-2020 experienced 42% of all sickness being classified as psychological.

·       A slight increasing trend over the previous 24 months was still present (7%). However, if volumes continued to reduce or remain stable a downward trend was likely over the coming months.

·       The reduction in volume was attributed to long term members of staff  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

Chris McMullen – Director of People and Change, OPCC presented a report which outlinedperformance measures for the PCC and Police and Crime panel related to areas of Community Policing Teams (CPT).

Points made included:

·         That as the organisation brought more officers in under Operation Uplift, it was anticipated that the number of vacancies would increase. The scorecard would also present information on police sergeants, local crime investigators and specials to capture all aspects of CPT.

·         That the report continued to assess working days “lost” to short and medium term sickness and annual leave and calculated how many FTE posts this equates too. The methodology for this was to count the total number of days lost to sickness and annual leave within the last three months. This resulted in a “days lost” figure which was then divided by 48, which was the average number of shifts (working days) for officers across a quarter. This provided an indication regarding the number of posts lost to sickness and annual leave (capacity of 1 post = 48 “days lost” over 3 months).

·         Calculating short-term reasons (less than 27 days) for absence within CPT was complex and subject to more variance than longer term reasons.

The report was noted, it was felt that this report was very comprehensive and well received.

The Chairman thanked Chris McMullen for his report.

Chris McMullen – Director of People and Change, OPCC presented a report which outlined the Operation Uplift Update.

Points made included:

·         That as raised within the previous paper presented at the June Panel meeting, the national Uplift programme was an opportunity to increase resourcing and re-invest in policing further to a ten year period of austerity and a fall in police officer numbers.

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

·         That Wiltshire had been allocated 49 extra officers by March 2021. High level assumptions continued to be made on financial and workforce plans for beyond March 2021, which suggested that a total number of 147 extra officers by March 2023.

·         That in order to achieve the uplift numbers, in addition to maintaining the numbers required due to officers leaving the organisation, Wiltshire would be required to recruit over 400 officers up to March 2023. It was estimated at this stage that one in eight applicants get through the process, resulting in needing approximately 3,200 applicants for police officer jobs in Wiltshire – this was a huge requirement.

It was agreed that Chris McMullen would have further discussions with Cllr Richard Britton re the “total established figure”.

The report was noted.

The Chairman thanked Chris McMullen for his report.

Kieran Kilgallen - Chief Executive, OPCC outlined a report which provided an update on progress in delivering the PCC’s Estates Strategy 2017-2021. It provided a comprehensive summary of progress across all sites as well as those identified for change in the Estates Strategy.

Points made included:

·         That the PCC’s Estates Strategy was published August 2017 outlining the plans for the police estate. This strategy was based on operational requirements from Wiltshire Police and approved by the Chief Constable and the Force ELT.

·         The strategy addressed long standing issues including significant underutilisation following policing model changes. The introduction of technology had been successful in reducing the need for staff to be in offices.

·         That the initial parts of the strategy were to develop a clear delivery plan and establish projects to deliver the new estates model, the strategy objectives as well as maintaining smooth operational delivery.

·         The operational demands placed on the Estates team and Wiltshire Police due to OP Fairline and Fortis delayed delivery of this strategy by approximately 9 months. Currently the estate strategy was also being delayed due to COVID and the impact on the construction market and supply chain. This was a risk included on the OPCC risk register.

·         That the Estates Strategy set the direction for police estate to meet The Police and Crime plan 2017-21 and supported the efficient and effective delivery of policing. Its delivery was included within the Police and Crime Plan 2017-2021.

It was agreed that a Capital Budget report would be provided for the December meeting.

The report was noted.

The Chairman thanked Kieran Kilgallen for his report.

The Members Questions contained in the agenda pack were noted.

Cllr Jonathon Seed asked re his question contained in the agenda pack

“Avon and Somerset will receive £400,000, Devon and Cornwall £546,781 and Dorset £266,357 – a total of £1,213,138.  There is no extra funding in this round for Gloucestershire or Wiltshire.

Did Wiltshire PCC or CC bid for this funding and if not why not?  If they did bid why were they not successful”

OPCC – That Wiltshire did not meet the funding criteria.

Cllr Jonathon Seed asked a question

“Should the Commissioner be pushing for more Automatic Speed Cameras”

OPCC – It was felt that Automatic Speed Cameras should not be seen as a replacement for the Speedwatch scheme. A business case was being put together for interventions that would include fines and speed awareness courses.

To note the future meeting dates below:

·         Thursday 10 December 2020

·         Thursday 7 January 2021

·         Thursday 4 February 2021

·         Thursday 18 March 2021

The future meeting dates of the PCP were noted.