Agenda item

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

·       Complaints

·       Finance

Risk

The Commissioner presented his Risk Register.

He drew attention to the following points:

Volunteers:

The score had dropped from 48 to 36.

Assets:

This relates to mainly force assets, e.g. mobiles, laptops. Currently there were 170 assets unaccounted for, and the risk would remain until the Commissioner was happy with the procedure in place for logging of assets.

Complaints / Integrity

There were issues around reputational risk. The likelihood had increased due to the environmental scanning of national, rather than internal issues. A new whistle-blowing policy was in place and an effort was being made to encourage this culture. As the document was a living document, the Commissioner was not concerned by red risks as long as they did not remain red.

In response to questions the Commissioner explained that the Speedwatch protocol which both councils had signed up to had not been used by Swindon Borough Council officers as agreed. This had now been resolved and training was ongoing.

It was suggested that the Commissioner should have a fixed programme of engagement with schools and colleges with volunteers being a vital part of his plan. He confirmed there was no programme for visiting schools at present, however he was engaging with Heads looking at what they were doing and what he could buy in to ensure that years 9-11 were exposed to appropriate messages.

The Commissioner confirmed the new team in Trowbridge would be able to process information from the speedwatch teams. There would be a report in the New Year providing detail on visits from Neighbourhood Policing Teams.

Performance

The Commissioner presented his performance report.

He noted that the report was for the first six months and performance overall was good. In real terms the reduction of crime was 7.2% compares to the same period in 2012/13.

It was noted that the number of recorded hours by Specials was not accurate, as they were transferring from using one system to another. He had asked for accurate data to be in place by the end of the financial review and for a specific budgetary line in the next financial year. After the next round of recruitment the number of specials would be up to 249.

He recognised the need to review his objective of having a minimum of 300 active specials across Wiltshire and Swindon, each attached to communities and contributing an average of at least 16 hours per month. The strategic needs would be discussed with the Chief Constable, defined and recruited to; which would also lead to a major re-write of the objective. The number of volunteers would also be revisited and it was hoped that the Panel’s scrutiny review would assist in this.

Although Neighbourhood Watch was an independent charity not owned or run by the police, a working group had been set up supported by OPCC officers to look at back office functions and Neighbourhood Alert. This would report back to the Commissioner to submit a business case for the re-launch of Neighbourhood Watch across the county. It was hoped that this would form a platform for other watch schemes.

He highlighted a 37.1% reduction in the harm caused by dangerous drug networks. Work was ongoing to develop more accurate measures around the Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Targets for Change programme. The measure ‘Tackle irresponsible licensed premises’ would be changed to ‘licensed premises check’; he had asked for further work in this area and would update the Panel in his next report. The Panel noted that more preventative work was needed in this area, and heard that Wiltshire Council had set up a task group to focus on licensed premises which would look at trends.

He confirmed that the increase in complaints was not down to one contributory factor, and year to date was significantly below the threshold. The number of days referred to were working days.

When questioned on whether the historical 75% threshold for answering 101 calls within 30 seconds could be perceived as soft, he explained that at the start of the year it was seen as reasonable, however performance had been better than anticipated and it may need to be reviewed.

The second tranche of applications for the Innovation fund had been received and would be looked at with the Leaders. A report would be brought to the next Panel meeting. A reporting mechanism was in place to assess effectiveness and outcomes of successful schemes and this would be reported to the Panel in due course. He drew the Panel’s attention to the Policing Minister’s £20m innovation fund to enhance regional capability and interoperability, bids for which had to be in by 6 December 2013.  Further collaboration with both Wiltshire council and Swindon Borough Council was continuing.

New money was being made available for victim commissioning in 2014/15, including the preparation of a victim’s pathway which would mirror the national code. He had also requested a report on individual domestic violence assessors given the potential shortage. There would be future emphasis on Domestic Violence Police Officer’s and Clare’s Law as these had been rolled out nationally.

A panel of the Criminal Justice Board was being formed to look at all out-of-court solutions to ensure they were suitable and proportionate. Neighbourhood Justice Panels had been successfully trialled over a 12-month period in Swindon, and these would now be rolled out across the county using funding from the innovation fund.

Professor Allan Johns updated the panel on complaints, noting that the rise of allegations of incivility had no known cause. There had been 29 appeals, 19 of which were deemed valid. 14 of these had been settled and 3 had been upheld. In response to a query on whether any type of complaint was disproportionately high he confirmed they mostly involved disallowed appeals against decisions not to investigate or to discontinue investigating.

Finance

The Commissioner presented his budget monitoring statement.

He explained that he would be going to area boards and localities from December with his budget proposals, and he hadn’t ruled out an increase to the precept. He noted the need to hold a referendum if the proposal was over 2%. He drew attention to the HMIC report which showed that the Wiltshire Police offer was the best value for money around the country.