Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Anna Richardson – Co-opted Independent member.

 

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 4 February 2021

Decision:

 

The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 4 February 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman with the following note.

 

Note: Although the Minutes of the meeting held on 4^th February were AGREED as a correct record of that meeting, Cllr Seed felt that the Commissioner’s comment that “Only one MP had shown any interest in pursuing this issue” (ie the issue of the inequitable grant funding of police forces) was incorrect. He believed that every Wiltshire MP had at different times entered their support for a long-outstanding review of the outdated police funding formula.

 

 

 

Cllr Jonathon Seed declared an interest as he was standing as a candidate in the forthcoming PCC election.

The Chairman advised that purdah rules now applied to the Panel members.

 

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.

 

Paul Sunners – Were any PCC Hustings to be held before the election?

A: Corsham and Calne on Tuesday 30 March and Thursday 1 April on

Tidworth radio.

 

Paul Sunners – That the new Wiltshire Police website was not as user friendly as the old one, with little opportunity to make comments on it.

A: The new website was a national run one, that it was still early days and there had been some teething troubles.

 

Liz Webster – Poor response to a local incident of a female dog owner and a potential dog theft, with poor data of work carried out when phoning the 101 number.

A: That the dog walker should have called 999 in this instance.

 

 

The Commissioner presented his report for data reported for Quarter 3 -Performance Overview which was contained in the agenda pack.

 

Points made included:

 

·         That the volume of Crime for Wiltshire in terms of national position remained low.

 

·         That on average, for Wiltshire 54.56 recorded crimes per 1000 population, significantly below the Most Similar Group average of 68.97.

 

·         That the average reported national decrease was 6.9%; South West Region average reduction of 5.5%; MSG average reduction of 5.6%. Just five forces nationally reported an increase within the same time period.

 

·         Wiltshire Police reported a 10.1% reduction in volume of crime for the 12 months to Sep-20 compared to the previous 12 months.

 

·         That all crime groups were being reported within the volumes of what was considered to be within the bounds of statistically normal.

 

·         That Wiltshire’s crime position was demonstrating a long term decreasing trend with no recent monthly exceptions since the first government lockdown in March-2020.

 

·         Crime recording compliance for Sept-20 was 93.9% for quarter 2 2020/2021 and remained consistently high.

 

·         Positive Outcome rate had returned to statistically normal levels at 16.7% for the rolling 12 months to Sep-20.

 

It was agreed that these were a good set of stats considering the covid situation.

 

 

Priority One: Prevent crime and keep people safe – noted.

 

 

Priority Two: Protect the most vulnerable in society – noted.

 

 

Priority Three: Put victims, witnesses and communities at the heart of everything we do – noted.

 

Cllr Abdul Amin repeated his concerns re getting more bobbies on the beat where they were needed. The Commissioner advised that resources would be allocated where required.

 

Cllr Jonathon Seed raised concerns re the backlog of special constables waiting to go through the recruitment/training system.

 

 

Priority Four: Secure a quality police service that is trusted and efficient – noted.

 

The Commissioner advised that sickness levels had been good over the last 12 months, with more officers able to stay on the beat etc.

 

Complaints – the recording of complaints in a timely manner. That progress was being made, but Wiltshire Police could still improve.

 

 

Risk Register 

  

Kieran Kilgallen outlined the report.

 

The report was noted.

 

Concerns were raised by the panel re the potential hacking of the Wiltshire Police IT system, and that the risk should amended to reflect this.

 

The Chairman felt that the report was too lengthy, that perhaps it would be better for the PCP to view it on a six monthly basis. As the report was very much a live document, that the PCP could be given notification of any changes that occurred.

 

It was agreed that the PCP and the OPCC could have a discussion with the new Commissioner when he or she took up office on this matter.

 

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The report contained in the agenda pack provided the panel with a summary of progress on commissioning of non-policing services and plans for 2020-21.

 

Points made included:

 

·         That 2020-21 was the first full year of operation of the expanded OPCC commissioning team. This was now made up of three commissioning managers built around three core portfolios of demand and crime reduction, victims and vulnerability and reducing reoffending (RRO) and criminal justice.

 

·         That there was also a commissioning officer, who supported these portfolios and other areas of priority identified by the PCC, and an administrative assistant. The team were also supported by the OPCC policy and governance officer who would lead on the monitoring, risk and reporting of this business area.

 

·         The team also provided key leadership roles to deliver the Police and Crime Plan (P&C Plan) and improvement plans across the Force, Community Safety Partnerships, the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board (WCJB) and service providers. To enable the OPCC to deliver the PCC’s responsibilities to coordinate, lead and scrutinise system improvement, as directed in the P&C Plan & WCJB plan, as well being responsible for the delivery of OPCC services.

 

·         The team also supported the wider role of the PCC and OPCC in holding the Chief Constable and the Force to account, delivering system transformation and delivering services to the public.

 

·         The commissioning of non-policing services had become increasingly important as the role of the PCC broadens and provided significant ability to influence and delivery change. As the team had expanded, it had been able to lead on many non-policing services for Wiltshire Police and partners.

 

·         That Covid-19 had had a significant impact on the work in this area, with existing providers having to adapt provision during lockdowns and limiting the ability to develop and commission new services.

 

·         Since the increase in OPCC commissioning staff, the OPCC had been able to secure further additional external funding for Wiltshire through competitive processes. OPCC often provided the leadership in securing funding working with partners across community safety and justice. This was targeted to advance local plans and was a mix of national and partner support. All external funding was fully utilised to allow reallocation of PCC commissioning funding.

 

Decision

 

·         That the Police and Crime Panel noted the report

Note: it was agreed that a more straight forward list, with more detail on the actual activities and KPIs would be provided for the next financial year

 

 

 

 

Chair of Road Safety Group – ACC Deb Smith & DPCC Jerry Herbert to provide a presentation and discussion with members

 

Chair of Road Safety Group – ACC Deb Smith & Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner Jerry Herbert outlined a presentation on road safety work in Wiltshire & Swindon.

 

Points made included:

 

·         That the Wiltshire Police approach to road safety encompassed education, engineering and enforcement.

 

·         That speeding and road safety affected all of our communities.

 

·         That anti-social driving and speeding would be tackled in order to keep both road users and pedestrians safe.

 

·         That Wiltshire Police would continue to improve the safety of our roads by coordinated action through safety improvements and education of drivers and enforcement where necessary.

 

·         Would support and invest in systems to improve the Community Speedwatch schemes including support of specialist roads policing teams and the special constabulary.

 

·         That Wiltshire Police would increase mobile enforcement and use of driver safety awareness education programmes, in collaboration with partners.

 

 

Community Speedwatch

 

·         That there were now some 120 Schemes, with over 1,200 volunteers.

 

·         That Speedwatch had been suspended during Covid, and would restart on 29 March.

 

·         During 2019 some 36,000 warning letters were sent out.

 

·         That Speedwatch built on the Wiltshire Police intelligence picture.

 

·         That the scheme now had new enforcement capabilities.

 

 

AutoSpeedWatch

 

·         That the Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner had had several meetings with Tim Gibbs –founder/owner.

 

·         That reservations still remained over Roadside installation, Calibration, Handling data and Longer term support.

 

·         That AutoSpeedWatch was not a replacement for the Community Speedwatch scheme.

 

·         That AutoSpeedWatch could be a tool for Community Speedwatch – not a replacement. That data provided could help to get police in attendance at the right time to catch offenders.

 

 

Points made by the panel included:

 

·         That it was always good to see police teams out working with CSW teams.

 

·         That the report did not appear to reflect the usefulness of auto speedwatch.

 

·         That it was good to see roads policing back under Wiltshire Police control.

 

·         That Road Safety was a deadly series issue and not a Team Sport, more Team activity.

           It was agreed that the report would be changed to reflect this.

 

·         That the report had taken so long to be produced.

 

·         The need to balance the perception of speeding and road safety.

 

How many seized vehicles finish up being crushed?

It was agreed that figures would be provided to the panel for how many vehicles had been seized and crushed.

 

The Chairman thanked ACC Smith & the Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner for their presentation.

 

Kieran Kilgallen advised that it was still early days, and not something that was giving Wiltshire Police any headaches at the moment. It was not thought that this would be an issue in the future, and that policing would go on as it had prior to Brexit.

 

The Chairman thanked Kieran Kilgallen for his update.

Cllr Richard Britton

 

It was agreed to defer this item until the new Police and Crime Commissioner was in post.

To note the forward work plan

The 2021 forward work plan was noted.

 

To note member’s written questions

The member’s written questions contained in the agenda pack were noted.

 

To note the future meeting dates below:

 

·         Thursday 10 June 2021

 

·         Thursday 16 September 2021

 

·         Thursday 16 December 2021

 

Future meeting dates were noted:

 

·         Thursday 10 June 2021.

 

·         Thursday 16 September 2021.

 

·         Thursday 16 December 2021.

The Chairman thanked Angus Macpherson for the work carried out for the people of Wiltshire and his willingness to work with the panel.

 

Angus Macpherson thanked the panel for its eight years of support and cooperation, and wished the incoming Commissioner good luck in the role.