Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from:

·         Cllr Steve Bucknell (Chairman)

·         Cllr James Sheppard

·         Cllr George Jeans

·         Cllr Ian Thorn

·         Louise Williams

As the Chairman was unavoidably delayed, the meeting was chaired by the Vice-Chairman, Cllr Junab Ali. 

Cllr Ross Henning noted that he had been called by Miss Andria Tidmarsh-Hackett, from Legacy Law Foundation, who had asked to give her apologies for the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2024 as a true and correct record.

On the proposal of Cllr Ross Henning, seconded by Cllr Vijay Manro, it was resolved to make the:

Decision

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 14 November 2024, as a true and correct record.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee or Monitoring Officer.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive announcements through the Chairman.

The Vice-Chairman gave thanks to Wiltshire Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for organising the Panel’s visit to the Crime and Communications Centre in Devizes on 10 January 2025. He stated that he would welcome the opportunity to go on similar of visits in future, as he felt that they added to the information that the Panel received in their business meetings and allowed members to pass feedback to residents.

Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson, OBE, MPhil, thanked the Panel for putting the needs of residents before politics. He felt that extraneous factors had never interfered with their shared focus on improving policing.

The Panel welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like 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. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public received in accordance with the constitution.

Please note that questions must relate to the responsibilities and functions of the Panel and must not relate directly to operational policing matters.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on 9 January 2025  in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response, questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on 13 January 2025. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on Wiltshire Council’s website.

There was no public participation.

To receive a presentation from the Police and Crime Commissioner including the following reports:

i)             Draft Budget Settlement

ii)            Use Your Voice: Precept and Budget consultation

Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Philip Wilkinson, OBE, MPhil, highlighted the reports on the draft budget for 2025/26, and his precept consultation, contained in the agenda pack. He noted that there were significant financial pressures on Wiltshire Police because of the police funding formula. The formula took into account population density, which was low in Wiltshire, due to Salisbury Plain, meaning that the force was the third worst funded out of the 43 forces in England and Wales. The PCC then introduced his interim Chief Financial Officer, David Moran, who had previously worked for the Kent and Metropolitan Police forces.

The interim Chief Financial Officer gave a presentation about the budget proposals for the forthcoming financial year. Points included:

·       The government grant was due to increase by £5.6 million, a 6.2 percent increase on the current financial year.

·       Whilst, superficially, the grant looked generous, the increases in costs over the same period were expected to total £16.8 million, including an additional, £2.4 million in National Insurance contributions, £5.1 million in staff pay increases, £1.4 million in non-pay inflation and £0.5 million in changes to dangerous dog legislation.

·       £2.5 million of the £16.8 million was a consequence of the cessation of the annual drawdown of reserves, which was no longer considered to be sustainable. Going forward, reserve funding would only be used for essential purposes, transformative change and investments.

·       If the PCC increased the police precept on a band D property by £14, (5.2 percent), this would raise a further £4.6 million. However, there would still be a significant financial shortfall in 2025/26, requiring savings of around £6.8 million to achieve a balanced budget.

·       Of the £6.8 million in savings required, £1.6 million had already been identified and £5.2 million would need to be found from new initiatives. 

·       It was expected that non-pay related inflation would continue to increase over time.

·       If the PCC did not increase the precept on the 2024/25 level, £11 million, rather than £6.8 million, of savings would need to be identified, which would have a significant impact on service provision.

·       If the precept was raised by £14 for a band D property, equivalent to £1.16 per month, it was highly likely that Wiltshire Police would still have the lowest precept of any force in South West England.

To give the Panel confidence that increases in the precept funding would be well spent, the PCC highlighted the recent progress that had been made by the force.

·       He noted that significant improvements had been made in the 999-call response time and that they were now meeting the government’s target of answering at least 90 percent of calls within 10 seconds. The average response time had fallen from 13 seconds in the year to November 2023 to eight seconds in the year to November 2024.

·       Investigative capacity and governance had also improved, as evidenced by the increase in positive outcome rates, which were now in the top half of forces in England and Wales. The PCC had also heard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note the forward work plan.

The Vice-Chairman reminded the Panel that, at their next meeting, they would be considering the Police and Crime Commissioner’s precept proposals. At their March meeting they would then be focussing on commissioning and future harm reduction.

He also reiterated that, during discussion of the previous item, the Panel had requested an update on the impact of the budget after six months. This would be ready for their meeting in September. The Panel had also requested that efforts to tackle drug taking be added to the list of topics for future consideration to be presented to the Panel in March.

The Panel were then invited to suggest other topics that they would like to see added to the forward work programme.

One member stated that they were keen to have an update on the mental health of perpetrators, and victims, of crime. The Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), offered to take further information outside of the meeting if there were any specific concerns and stated that the OPCC could add it to the list of topics for future consideration that they would provide to the Panel in March. He highlighted that there had been a shift in emphasis away from a mainly policing response, through the Right Care, Right Person programme, so that mental health professionals were able to provide support in cases where they were better placed to do so.

Another member mentioned that they were keen to be kept updated about the support on offer for recently released prisoners. The Panel noted that they had received a presentation covering this topic at their previous meeting in November but would keep it under review. The Chief Executive suggested that it could also be included in the list of topics for future consideration that the OPCC would provide to the Panel in March.

The Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson, OBE, MPhil reported that he had a small team in his office dedicated to working with the probation service to reduce reoffending. He noted that over half of prisoners released went on to reoffend, so it was important to monitor rates closely and do all they could to reduce them.  

The next meeting will be held on 5 February 2025.

Other future meeting dates will be held as follows:

·         26 March 2025

·         26 June 2025

·         11 September 2025

·         25 November 2025

The next meeting of the Panel was confirmed as being on 5 February 2025, at 10:30am, in the Council Chamber, Monkton Park, Chippenham.

Other, future meeting dates were:

·       26 March 2025, 10:30am – Kennet Room, County Hall

·       26 June 2025, 10:30am – Old Fire Station, 2 Salt Lane, Salisbury

·       11 September 2025, 10:30am – Committee Room 6, Swindon BC Offices

·       25 November 2025, 10:30am – Committee Room 6, Swindon BC Offices

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency, or questions for the Police and Crime Commissioner.

There were no urgent items.