Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairman for the 2014/15 municipal year.

The Democratic Services Officer sought nominations for the position of Chairman of the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel for the 2014/15 municipal year.

Resolved:

Councillor Richard Britton was elected Chairman of the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel for the 2014/15 municipal year.

Councillor Britton in the Chair.

To elect a Vice-Chairman for the 2014/15 municipal year.

The Chairman sought nominations for the position of Vice-Chairman of the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel for the 2014/15 municipal year.

Resolved:

Councillor Oliver Donachie was elected Vice-Chairman of the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel for the 2014/15 municipal year.

To note apologies, changes to membership following both Wiltshire Council’s and Swindon Borough Council’s annual council meetings and to welcome Chris Henwood as an independent co-opted member.

At its annual Council meeting on 13 May 2014, Wiltshire Council made the following changes to membership:

Cllrs Chris Caswill and Trevor Carbin changed from substitutes to committee members

Cllr Linda Packard changed from committee member to substitute

Cllr Russell Hawker removed as committee member

Cllr Peter Edge removed as substitute

Cllrs Brian Dalton, Helena McKeown and Ernie Clark added as substitutes

Apologies were received from Angus Macpherson, Police and Crime Commissioner, Amanda Newbery, Professor Johns (OPCC) and Cllr Andrew Bennett.

The Chairman welcomed new members from both Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council following their appointments at their annual council meetings.

The Chairman detailed the recruitment procedure for the role of Independent Co-Opted Member and asked the Panel to endorse the appointment of Chris Henwood.

Resolved:

The Panel endorsed the appointment of Chris Henwood as an Independent Co-Opted member.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2013.

Resolved:

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2014 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest made.

The Panel were encouraged to hear that the Commissioner was out of intensive care and asked for their best wishes to be passed on.

The Chairman noted that the Dorset Police and Crime Panel held a pre-meeting to discuss their performance report. Panel members were asked to consider whether they felt this would be worthwhile.

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 Thursday 5 June 2014. 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.

To receive the PCC’s diary report.

The PCC Diary report which set out a summary of commitments the Commissioner had undertaken since the last Police and Crime Panel meeting on 6 March 2014 was presented to the Panel.

The Panel raised concern over the continuation of services to Wiltshire given the regional collaboration around more serious and complex crime and asked for a report detailing the extent of the collaboration to be brought to the Panel.

The OPCC’s Chief Executive noted that the Air Ambulance funding was being diverted into the National Police Air Service from January 2015. The Wiltshire Air Ambulance Trust was happy they could fund their service and were entering into a licence agreement with the police to occupy the site at Devizes from 31 December 2014. The Commissioner had asked for a report detailing what the National Police Air Service was providing and how that compared with existing arrangements, including the impact on flying times. This report would be shared with the Panel.

A ‘stop and search’ results paper would be brought to a future meeting of the Panel.

The murals produced by students and displayed under the bridge at Biss Meadows in Trowbridge had engaged youngsters in looking after the community, working constructively and engaging with PCSO’s.

The Commissioner had signed off on the purchase of Neighbourhood Alert, which was part funded by the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. It was a community alert system focused on Neighbourhood Watch with the potential to include other watch schemes. The Panel noted ambiguity around the preferred solution and the OPCC’s Cheif Executive agreed that the OPCC would circulate a general update with a clear message which identified the pilot areas. One member of staff was already in place and another would be in post by October 2014.

A report providing a summary on the PCC’s Innovation Fund would be brought both to the Panel and also to Area Board and Locality meetings.

The Panel welcomed the Commissioner’s focus on mental health, and his support for the Neighbourhood Justice Panels.

The Panel asked for clear understanding on the significance of the break-up of the probation service with reference to the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan. A briefing note on transporting rehabilitation would be circulated to members. Community rehabilitation companies would be up and running by 1 April 2015.

All OPCC freedom of information requests were published on the OPCC website with responses. The Winsor report, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary end of year report on policing was to be circulated to Panel members.

The OPCC’s Chief Executive noted that there were still issues to be resolved with Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectors new Police Efficiency, Effectiveness and Legitimacy (PEEL) process and his methodology would be published.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the PCC’s diary report.

Kieran Kilgallen, Chief Executive - OPCC to present the OPCC’s annual report.

The OPCC annual report was presented to the Panel by their Chief Executive. He noted that the end of year grading was fair, against a backdrop of a 25% reduction in the cost of service.

He drew attention to the culture change within the force, the integration with Wiltshire Council and noted they were at the beginning of a process of integration with Swindon Borough Council. The force was debt free, with a balance to fund much needed IT improvements. The force was sixth nationally for lowest crime per head of population.

He explained the increase in serious sexual offences was linked both to increased reporting and the work of the Crime Validation Team in ensuring crimes were recorded accurately. The total number of incidences had probably not increased.

It was confirmed that no crimes had been recorded twice. Volunteering numbers were a red measure and the Panel was reminded that the plan was over a four year period. An issue had been highlighted with how special constables could record their hours on the system which was being addressed, but the system did not properly reflect the numbers of hours worked.

The public opinion survey commissioned by the OPCC was subject to review and tender, and had moved from face-to face interviews to a telephone survey, with a much larger sample. The victim satisfaction survey was completed separately by an external regional provider.

He noted that the Commissioner would be bringing before the Panel a series of addenda to his Police and Crime Plan.

The Panel noted that the resolution rate was an area for improvement, and it was noted that a large proportion of out-of-court disposals should have been reflected in the figures but were not. A separate panel, drawn from various aspects of the community, had been established to provide a scrutiny role on local resolutions. A superintendent was in post and training on national guidelines was being rolled out across the force.

The Panel queried whether the police were clear on which resolution path is preferred and gave their support for out of court resolution.

The OPCC’s Chief Executive confirmed the commitment to licensed premises checks.

The Panel highlighted the prosecutions that fail due to quality of police input, and it was confirmed that although a highly operational area the Commissioner was heavily engaged.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the report.

To receive a presentation on the use of Quick View Performance to monitor force performance.

A presentation on managing performance was given by Mr McMullin.

He explained that performance monitoring process mainly consisted of reviewing two products – Quick View Performance (QVP) and iQuanta.

QVP was an internal document which allowed different levels within the force to extract their requirements for performance monitoring. It was also used by the Commissioner to scrutinise the performance of the force.

iQuanta was a web based service that allowed accredited users to access provisional data for information on crime types, outcomes and satisfaction, before finalised National Statistics were published.

Examples were given on serious sexual offences and out of court disposals and it was noted that the level of detail routinely considered made it difficult to separate strategic information from operational information. Reference was made to the long term cultural changes within the force regarding performance management. The Commissioner had a separate risk register to the force.

The need to measure the right things in the right way was highlighted and the focus nationally was to get the integrity of reporting right.

The Panel thanked Mr McMullin for his presentation.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the presentation.

Kieran Kilgallen, Chief Executive - OPCC to present details of the police complaints procedure.

The police complaints procedure was presented to the Panel by the OPCC’s Chief Executive, who explained a complaint was recorded if it regarded the conduct of an officer.

A complaint was registered on the Professional Standards Department database within two days and recorded within ten days.  Panel members unease over the timescales involved was noted.

Reference was made to Northumbria who had merged the function under their OPCC, and the OPCC had arranged to visit there. The Panel requested feedback from the visit and information on their procedure which, by seemingly ignoring the Home Office / IPCC guidance achieved a faster resolution of complaints.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the procedure presented.

To receive a report from Wiltshire Council’s Monitoring Officer on complaints against the PCC.

The Complaint and Conduct matters report for the period 1 November 2013 to 30 April 2014 was presented to the Panel.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the report.

To receive the final report of the Volunteers and Special Constables Task Group.

The final report of the Volunteers and Special Constables Task Group was presented to the Panel.

The OPCC’s Chief Executive confirmed that the Commissioner would respond at the Panel’s meeting scheduled for 4 September 2014.

The role of the volunteer co-ordinator was key and it was confirmed that this would be filled imminently.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the report.

To receive an update on the work of the Licensing Task Group.

The task group update was presented to the panel.

Due to changes in the Panel’s membership following the appointment to committee’s at each constituent council’s annual meeting, it was agreed that paragraph 3 of the report be amended to read:

3.               Several members expressed an interest in taking part. It has subsequently been agreed that Amanda Newbery, Independent Member of the Panel, will not take part as a member due to the potential for her status as a licensee being perceived as a conflict of interest. She will therefore play a role as a witness. The task group membership is proposed as follows:

Cllr Richard Britton (elected as chairman by the task group)

Cllr Chris Caswill

Cllr Linda Packard

Chris Henwood

Resolved:

The Panel

1.          Noted the update provided;

2.          Approved the membership of the Licensing Task Group as follows:

        Richard Britton

        Chris Caswill

        Linda Packard

        Chris Henwood

3.          Approved the terms of reference of the Licensing Task Group as set out in the report.

To note the forward work plan.

The forward work plan was presented to the Panel.

Panel members were asked to consider if the Performance reporting and Risk Register working group should be reconvened to completed a task / finish exercise on the performance report in light of changes to ambitions, and to consider setting up a scrutiny review to look at procurement and how the Commissioner was making sure the regional procurement project was working for Wiltshire. Responses were to be sent to the Chairman.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the forward work plan.

To note the future meeting dates below:

4 September 2014

19 November 2014

The next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel will be on 4 September 2014 at the Alamein Suite - City Hall, Malthouse Lane, Salisbury, SP2 7TU.

Future meeting dates were:

19 November 2014