Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Brian Ford – Swindon Borough Council and Cllr Russell Hawker – Wiltshire Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2013.

Decision:

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2013 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest.

i.                 The Chairman advised that he was looking into the setting up of a South West regional Police & Crime Panel Forum. Responses were yet to be received from Dorset, whilst Avon & Somerset were reviewing the situation.

ii.                The Chairman expressed concern that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee of Swindon Borough Council had summoned the PCC to attend one of its meetings. The Chairman was advised that this was in relation to the PCC’s role with regard to the Safety Partnership.

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 Tuesday 10 September 2013. 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 were no questions asked or statements given.

Officers: Chief Executive (OPCC) and Chief Finance Officer (OPCC)

To receive quarterly data and exception reports on:

·       Risk

·       Performance, including a report on PCC attendance at area boards

·       Finance, including an update on the Innovation Fund

The Commissioner introduced the Quarterly Report – Quarter 1 2013/14.

The Commissioner advised that the report aimed to provide the public and the Police and Crime Panel with an informative update about the progress made to deliver the priorities set out in the Police and Crime Plan. The Commissioner thanked the PCP for looking at the OPCC’s Risk Register and advised the panel that the report was a living document, which was updated at two week intervals.

Risk Register: Kieran Kilgallen – Chief Executive of the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner then went through the 20 recommendations which had been sent to the chairman of the panel and which was circulated at the meeting.

 Points and questions raised included:

·         Value for money – the PCC would take on board the PCP’s views on this.

·         Resilience – may be an issue because of the recruitment of specialist services.

·         What is the Audit Committee’s role in risk assessing?

a.None whatsoever under the new regime.

·         Does IT assets mean technological assets?

a.Yes, which would involve better accounting and auditing of these assets.

Performance: Angus Macpherson advised that he and members of the OPCC had been out and about at various weekend events including the Salisbury Spectacular and the Emergency Services Show, to highlight the role of the PCC. The OPCC continues to have a presence at the Wiltshire Council Area Boards.

Reducing Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB): Chris McMullen – OPCC outlined the report.

Points made included:

·         The panel felt that there needed to be a breakdown of the 8198 (Year to date figure) of crimes and anti-social behaviour incidents. In discussion it was felt that this might best be provided by giving PCP members access to the iQuanta recording system. OPCC would look into this.

·         The Commissioner briefly outlined the role of the Special Constabulary in Wiltshire, and advised a new Police training scheme would shortly be starting in Swindon, it would then be rolled out to Chippenham and Salisbury.

·         Wiltshire Police were commended for their focus on the concerns expressed by woman at night.

Protecting the most vulnerable in society

·         Cllr Hutton made the point that rogue traders caused a good deal of distress to many vulnerable people in our society.

Putting victims and witnesses first

·         The -15.4% “Victims referred to victims support” was noted by the panel.

Reducing offending and re-offending

·         The panel felt that the “reducing offending and re-offending” data should be recorded quarterly.

OPCC was asked to include quarterly KSI (Killed and Seriously Injured) figures for road casualties.

Driving up the standards of customer service

Professor Johns advised that:

·         That there had been seventeen appeals against findings of Wiltshire Police’s investigations into complaints.

·         Two had been upheld.

·         Seven had not been upheld.

·         Four taking no further action.

·         Everything investigated - strict legal criteria to be met by complaints - four were not considered valid.

·         Two were under consideration.

·         Three investigations into complaints against the Chief Constable.

·         Two were not upheld.

·         One had chosen not to complain,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Officer: Chief Executive (OPCC)

The Commissioner outlined the report, which was noted.

The Panel also noted the various collaborations taking place between neighbouring PCCs, and that a corresponding regional PCP forum would be helpful.

Officer: Kirsty Butcher (Wiltshire Council)

To consider the amended draft PCP / PCC protocol with comments from the OPCC.

The members of the panel were asked to consider the amended draft PCP/PCC protocol with the following amendments:

·       Paragraph 4.1 - The PCP has been given power under the Act to review or scrutinise any decisions made or other action taken by the PCC in connection with the discharge of their functions. To enable this, the Act states that the PCC must provide the PCP with any information which the PCP may reasonably require in order to carry out its functions. The PCC may also provide the PCP with any other information which the PCC may think appropriate.

·       Paragraph 4.2 - The Act amends the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to require that finance reports produced by either the PCC's or the Chief Constable's Chief Finance Officer be made available to each member of the PCP

·       Paragraph 4.3 - The PCP has the right to request information which it reasonably requires. Whilst “reasonably required “ is not defined in the Act the PCC and their office recognize that the PCP may require wide ranging information from the PCC on an ad-hoc basis

·       Section 29 of the Act states that the PCP may require the PCC, and members of the PCC's staff, to attend before the PCP (at reasonable notice) to answer any question which appears to the PCP to be necessary in order for it to carry out its functions.  Section 29 also states that if the PCP requires the PCC to attend before the PCP, the PCP may (at reasonable notice) request the Chief Constable to attend before the PCP on the same occasion to answer any question which appears to the PCP to be necessary in order for it to carry out its functions.

It was agreed by members of the panel that Cllr Richard Britton would sign off the revised PCP/PCC protocol as soon as the final changes had been agreed by the PCC.

It was also agreed that the Protocol Working Group would be dissolved.

Officer: Chief Executive (OPCC)

To receive the findings from the latest public opinion survey.

Kieran Kilgallen outlined the Public Opinion Survey Results – 2012/13. This survey is carried out annually. It conducts telephone interviews with a minimum of 4,224 residents of Wiltshire and Swindon spread evenly across the 11 sector areas of the Constabulary ensuring that the results received were statistically significant at sector level.

Public Opinion Survey Results 2012-13 along with a force wide summary had been produced and was attached to the survey results.

The survey results, broken down into Community Areas, were being sent to the Wiltshire Council Area Boards, for inclusion in the agenda packs.

Points made:

·       The term “Teenagers hanging around” should be changed to something more meaningful.

·       That the NPT Teams should be liaising with the Area Boards over youth activities.

·       The number of teenagers hanging around did appear to vary from sector to sector, how could this be addressed?

·       More value in drilling down into “hanging around”, to get a better understanding what it is would greatly help to resolve this statistic.

Officer: Chief Constable

To note the annual benchmarking health and safety audit.

Kieran Kilgallen outlined the report that was included in the agenda pack, and which was noted.

Officer: Chief Executive (OPCC)

To note the application information provided, invite an update from the OPCC and discussion.

Kieran Kilgallen outlined the report, which was noted.

Points made:

·       The Chairman felt that the funding arrangements had been arrived at in a somewhat disjointed manner. He hoped that OPCC would be able to adopt a more structured approach for the next financial year with more emphasis being given to the Service Level Agreements with  providers – whether council or private/voluntary sector.

·       The panel looks forward to getting a detailed breakdown of how and to whom the PCC intends to allocate the CSP funding next year

·       It was felt that a diagram would have been helpful.

Officer: Mark Stone

To note and discuss the ‘Strategic Partnership with Wiltshire Police’ paper that went to the meeting of Wiltshire Council Cabinet on 23 July 2013.

The chairman outlined the Wiltshire Council Cabinet report which sought to provide headline details of the work undertaken in relation to the Project Initiation Document (PID) outlining the development of the joint transformation programme between Wiltshire Council, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and Wiltshire Police.

The report outlined the next steps relating to this area of work and sought Cabinet approval for ongoing delivery of the programme, including the delegation to Dr Carlton Brand, Corporate Director, in consultation with the Leader of Council, of authority for any staff transfers that may be required.

The report was noted by the panel.

To note the forward work plan and future meeting dates below.

Tuesday 26 November 2013, 10.00 am – Alamein Suite, Salisbury City Hall

Wednesday 15 January 2014, 10.00 am – Swindon venue

Thursday 6 February 2014, 10.00 am– Trowbridge venue (formal consideration of precept)

Wednesday 26 March 2014, 10.00 am – Council Chamber, Monkton Park, Chippenham

Wednesday 11 June 2014, 10.00 am – Devizes venue (review of annual report)

Wednesday 17 September 2014, 10.00 am – Salisbury venue

Wednesday 19 November 2014, 10.00 am – Swindon venue

The Forward work Plan was noted. Members were invited to suggest topics/areas for scrutiny in the furtherance of the panel’s role in supporting the Commissioner in the delivery of his Police and Crime Plan.