Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Kevin Parry, Cllr Abdul Amin & Cllr Carol Shelley – Swindon Borough Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 9 June 2022

Decision:

·         The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 9 June 2022

           were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman advised that he would be taking agenda item 9 - Wider PCC responsibilities - WCJB and Reducing Reoffending as the first order of business after the usual house keeping.

It was noted that Cllr Brian Mathew had attended the recent LGA Police and Crime Panels webinar. It was agreed that Cllr Mathew would circulate the slides from the webinar 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 Friday 23 September.

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.

This item was carried forward from the 9 June agenda due to time constraints

Martin Parker – Commissioning Manager, Criminal Justice and Reducing Reoffending, OPCC outlined a power point presentation on the work of the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board and reducing reoffending.

Points made included:

Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board

That the purpose of the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board was to deliver improvements in service by working collaboratively, challenging each other and co-ordinating a whole system approach.

The vision of the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board was that communities had confidence in their local criminal justice system which delivered a fair, timely and high quality service for all.

Reducing Reoffending

That crime and offending behaviour across Wiltshire and Swindon would continue to be dealt with robustly.

Protecting the public would not be compromised.

Where people do reoffend, they would be held to account for their actions.

That the community had a right to expect public agencies to use their contacts with known offenders to reduce the risk that they would offend again.

Points made by the Panel included:

• That perhaps a member of the Police and Crime Panel should sit on the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board.

• The importance of good channels of communications between all parties.

• That the criminal justice system was certainly in need of overhauling.

• That the report contained some encouraging reading.

The Chairman thanked Martin Parker for his presentation.

Cllr Ross Henning advised that in consultation with the Chairman an advert was published for the two co-opted member positions on 18 August 2022. This advert ran until 12 September 2022, from which twelve applications were received.

Following shortlisting seven candidates were selected for interview.

An interview panel was arranged as follows:

·   Cllr Steve Bucknell – Chairman

·   Cllr Jenny Jefferies – Vice-Chairman

·   Cllr Ross Henning

Interviews were held on Thursday 22 September 2022 after which Denisa Ahmeti and Louise Williams were selected as the two successful applicants.

Theterms of reference for the Police and Crime Panel includes provision for two independent co-opted members, who would be voting members of the Panel.

The Panel had previously appointed two members at its meeting in September 2018 for a four year term. These were Anna Richardson and Mamie Beasant.

The report contained in the agenda packset out the process to appoint two co-opted independent members of the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel.

Decision

·   That the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel appointed Denisa Ahmeti and Louise Williams as its two co-opted independent members to serve a four year term.

The Chairman asked for thanks to be noted for Anna Richardson and Mamie Beasant for their time on the Police and Crime Panel.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Henning for the report.

·         Update from PCC

·         P&C Plan highlight and Performance report

The Commissioner gave a brief recap of his first year in the role and outlined some of the topics that the Police and Crime Panel had flagged up to the Commissioner at his first PCP meeting back in September 2022.

The Commissioner outlined the P&C Plan highlight and Performance report.

Points made included:

That the OPCC had published its response to the PEEL HMIC inspection with scrutiny of theforce's responseprovided; expectationshad beenclearly stated.The forcewas in an'ENGAGE' process,with additional supportand scrutinyfrom HMICFRS and OPCC provided.

That the OPCC had strengthened performance oversight of the P&C Plan.A newmonthly KeyIndicators dashboard,aligned tothe Police and Crime Plan had been created between OPCC and Force, to measure performance progress.

That an evolved ELGwais providing greater scrutiny of Force performance against P&C Plan and HMICFRS findings. Five Executive Leadership Group (ELG) performancemeetings hadbeen held,focusing onIncreasing Public Confidence, trustand police engagementwith our communities;1.2 Qualityof policing services provided to our communities - Reporting and Response; 1.3 Giving the Police the right tools forthe job - Performance Leadership and 2.2 Violence against Women and Girls.

That a new OPCC leadershipteam hadbeen recruited,with 12 joining sinceMarch 22, andthe majorityof OPCC vacancies now filled.Focus was now onestablishing the team and driving improvements and delivery. Final posts to be recruited as BAU.

That a jointscorecard developedwith Forcefor P&CPlan, ultimatelywould determine Force and others impact and performance.

Points made from the PCP included:

·         That it was good to see that more emphasis was being provided for leadership training.

·         The importance of good mentoring of frontline staff.

·         The importance of continued pressure on Central Government re the funding formula and fairer funding for Wiltshire.

·         That it was good to see the rollout of mobile police stations across the county.

·         That the Panel were encouraged to hear that the Commissioner had an open door policy.

·         The importance of the handover of skills from officers leaving the force to newer and younger officers joining.

·         That the Commissioner had made good progress during his first year in the role, and that Wiltshire Police moral was now rising.

·         The importance of local teams attending the right community meetings.

·         The importance of the Police forming better links with local schools.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his report.

The commissioner gave an update tohis paper dated 10March 2022to confirm how the OPCC was undertaking performance and oversight ofthe Police and Crime Plan 2022-25 (P&C Plan), and the PEEL findings published July 2022.  

Points made included:

That following his election, the PCC has been working to secure an effective and efficient police force. This has taken numerous forms including written assessments from the PCC on challenges and observations of the force, related examples of concern both operational and strategic, and weekly discussions with the Chief Constable. The PCC had also identified areas of improvement within the OPCC and its role, holding these discussions with the Chief Executive. 

That the P&C Plan set the direction, priorities, and resources for policing, commissioning, community safety and criminal justice coordinationacross Wiltshire and Swindon.This strategic document enabled the Police and Crime Panel (PCP) to scrutinise and support the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) in the execution of their role and responsibilities. 

The OPCC had undertaken recruitment to expand the team, evolved the previous governance model and is implementing a new Target Operating Model.  

The PEEL inspection report identified three Causes of Concern, with 14 resulting recommendations and18 Areas for Improvement. The Force had produced a Strategic Improvement Plan to address the findings. The OPCC had reviewed the plan, provided feedback, and was undertakinga range of performance scrutiny activities to track progress. 

Points made by the PCP included:

• That the Panel requested an item by item report/dashboard of how the Commissioner was implementing changes. This report would come to the December 2022 meeting.

• The importance of an established senior leadership team.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his report.

The Commissioner presented the draft PCC Annual Report 2021/22 which was included in the agenda pack.

Points made by the Panel included:

• That a report with less acronyms would be well received.

• The importance of getting staffing levels right.

• It was felt that it had been a good first year for the Commissioner and a good plan.

Decision

·       That the Police and Crime Panel noted the report

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his report.

The Forward Work Plan was noted.

It was agreed to add Early Interventions to the December 2022 meeting and move Victims and Vulnerability to the March 2023 meeting.

To note the future meeting dates below:

Thursday 15 December 2022 – Swindon Borough Council Offices

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

           Thursday 2 February 2023 – Monkton Park Offices, Chippenham

Thursday 9 March 2023 - Salisbury Guildhall

The next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel will be on Thursday 15 December 2022 at Swindon Borough Council Offices.

Future meeting dates were noted.

It was agreed that a visit to the offices of the OPCC in Devizes be arranged for all panel members including the two new Independent members.

Kevin Fielding to arrange with Naji Darwish