To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2025.

The Panel agreed the minutes of the meeting that took place on 21 November 2026.

Members will be asked to make any declaration of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive questions from (and provide answers to) members of the public that are relevant to the panel’s functions.

Questions should be no longer than 100 words and sent to Democratic Support, Plymouth City Council, Floor 3, Ballard House, West Hoe Road, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ or democratic.support@plymouth.gov.uk

Questions must be received at least 5 complete working days before the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public.

Alison Hernandez (Police and Crime Commissioner) introduced the report and highlighted the following key points:

a)    Recent severe weather events across Devon and Cornwall, including flooding and transport disruption, and the collective response by local authorities, emergency services and volunteers; 

b)    The importance of government support alongside local resilience, particularly in the context of ongoing financial pressures; 

c)    An overview of the approach to the budget presentation, including contributions from the Treasurer and Chief Constable, supported by a short summary video; 

d)    Publication of a national policing White Paper, described as having significant implications for the foundations of policing governance, accountability and funding; 

e)    The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner as a directly elected position, including accountability for police performance and council tax precept decisions; 

f)     Concerns regarding proposed changes to policing governance, including the abolition of the Commissioner role and replacement with a police and crime board; 

g)    Risks associated with increased centralisation, potential police force mergers, and the creation of a future National Police Service;  

h)    Confirmation that the budget proposal aimed to maintain; 

                      i.        Police officer numbers at a record 3,610 officers for the next 12 months;  

                     ii.        Recognition of financial pressures arising from a structurally flawed funding settlement, including an unplanned £3.1 million funding gap;  

                    iii.        Confirmation that £9.9 million of savings had been identified within the MTFS, with further work underway to address the remaining gap; 

                    iv.        Consideration of affordability and cost?of?living pressures when setting the precept; 

                     v.        The Commissioner’s proposal for a £15 Band D precept increase, equating to a 5.2% increase, to support service stability;  

i)     Assurance that value for money, affordability and support for residents in hardship had been considered carefully;  

j)     A request for the Panel’s support for the proposed precept. 

Nicola Allen (Chief Finance Officer / Treasurer) added:   

k)    Continuation of Serious Violence Duty funding and introduction of a Knife Crime Concentration Fund allocation of £487,000; 

l)     Confirmation that Hotspot Policing funding would cease in 2026/27 and be absorbed into business?as?usual arrangements;  

m)  Devon and Cornwall Police receiving a lower proportional grant increase (2.8%) compared to the national average (3.8%), largely due to redistribution of officer uplift funding resulted in a loss of approximately £2.5 million; 

n)    The total net revenue budget was proposed at £461.5 million, an increase of £28.6 million on the previous year;  

o)    Staffing costs accounted for approximately 87% of the budget, making pay awards a key financial risk;  

p)    Assumptions within the MTFS including a 3% pay award for 2026/27 and 2.5% for subsequent years;  

q)    A requirement to deliver £9.9 million of savings, with an additional £3.1 million yet to be identified;  

r)    Use of priority?based budgeting to deliver savings, including collaboration with Dorset Police;  

s)     Maintenance of general reserves at between 3% and 5% of net revenue expenditure, in line with the reserves strategy;  

t)     Confirmation that second homes council tax income had been included within the base budget, with prudent assumptions applied in future years;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

Alison Hernandez (Police and Crime Commissioner) introduced the Commissioner’s update report and highlighted the following key points:  

a)    Thanks to Members for their engagement during the meeting and for their support of the proposed police budget and precept; 

b)    Confirmation of a positive Value for Money assessment from external auditors in relation to Devon and Cornwall Police; 

c)    An invitation for Members to raise any questions on the written update report. 

The Panel discussed: 

d)    Noise cameras, including concerns raised about vehicle noise nuisance in Plymouth and other urban areas; 

e)    The Commissioner confirming Plymouth as a priority location for future deployment, subject to technical and infrastructure constraints; 

f)     The limitations of noise cameras in addressing group vehicle behaviour, particularly motorcycle convoys, and the importance of complementary enforcement and engagement activity;  

g)    Ongoing proactive police engagement with motorcycle and car enthusiast groups, including education, enforcement and visibility operations;  

h)    The role of Vision Zero and specialist motorbike officers in promoting road safety and responsible riding;  

i)     The use of targeted engagement around known hotspots, including city centre routes and car parks;  

j)     CCTV funding, including requests for additional support in rural and parish areas and concerns about legacy CCTV control rooms located within police buildings; 

k)    The Commissioner confirming a willingness to work with local authorities to relocate CCTV infrastructure where required and to support bids for future CCTV funding;  

l)     Recognition that over 20 new areas had received CCTV funding where no previous coverage existed;  

m)  Positive feedback on community safety initiatives supported through Commissioner funding, including the establishment of community safety teams;  

n)    Purple Flag accreditation achieved by Exeter, with recognition of strong partnership working between the police, local authorities and businesses within the night-time economy; 

o)    Acknowledgement of the success of Operation Scorpion, including reductions in county lines activity and high levels of disruption across the South West; 

p)    Continued delivery of Pubs Against Drugs, including the use of passive drugs dogs and strong collaboration with licensed premises and local authority licensing teams; 

q)    Thanks expressed for police support of the Knife Angel installation and the Safe Bus initiative; 

r)    Clarification regarding funding linked to self-swabbing rape kits, with the Commissioner confirming that no delivery of such services was currently funded; 

s)     Explanation that funding had been limited to evaluation activity only, as part of exploring potential innovations to improve outcomes for victims of sexual violence; 

t)     Reiteration of the Commissioner’s commitment to evidence-based approaches and to established best?practice pathways for victims, including Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) and Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs); 

u)    Assurance that victim services in Plymouth remained a priority, including ongoing work to retain local provision and meet forensic accreditation requirements; 

v)    Confirmation of continued support for street wardens, PCSOs, and night bus services, including positive outcomes from the Barnstaple–Ilfracombe route becoming commercially viable; 

w)   Recognition that short-term grant funding had successfully acted as a catalyst for longer?term, locally sustained community safety initiatives. 

The Commissioner further noted: 

x)    The importance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

Alison Hernandez (Police and Crime Commissioner) introduced the Police & Crime Plan Performance Monitoring report and highlighted: 

a)    Expansion of the anti?social behaviour (ASB) performance information to provide a clearer breakdown of offence types, following previous requests from Members; 

b)    Additional scrutiny of young people as victims of crime, scheduled to take place at the Commissioner’s Accountability Board on 11 February 2026, reflecting concern about performance trends in this area; 

c)    Identification of youth victimisation as one of the performance areas requiring closer monitoring and challenge beyond what was set out in the written report. 

The Panel discussed: 

d)    Ongoing decline in public confidence measures, as shown within the performance data, including reductions in perceptions of police fairness and effectiveness; 

e)    Concerns about public perception that police did not attend incidents or enforce the law, despite evidence that this was not reflective of operational reality; 

f)     The importance of distinguishing between confidence among those who directly engaged with the police and broader public confidence among the general population; 

g)    The role of investigative standards, timeliness of updates to victims and outcomes of cases in shaping public confidence; 

h)    The impact of high profile incidents, misconduct proceedings and serious crime on public trust in policing; 

i)     The Commissioner explaining that improvements in confidence were driven primarily by police actions, including answering calls, attending incidents, progressing investigations and maintaining visible presence; 

j)     The challenge posed by new national performance expectations, including proposed response time standards, particularly given Devon and Cornwall’s large rural geography; 

k)    The loss of hotspot policing funding and the need to consider alternative ways of maintaining high?visibility policing to support public reassurance; 

l)     Clarification that repeat offending figures were increasing partly due to improved recording and enforcement activity; 

m)  Use of ASB performance data as a tool to encourage reporting and improve understanding of what behaviours were being captured within police systems; 

n)    The importance of triangulating police ASB data with local authority ASB reporting to better reflect lived experience; 

o)    The role of ASB Case Reviews (formerly Community Triggers), with the Commissioner acting as the appeals body, and the value of greater transparency about volumes and outcomes; 

p)    Recognition of the extensive partnership work led by councils in addressing persistent ASB, including joint work with housing providers and other agencies; 

q)    The need to consider future arrangements for ASB case review oversight in light of proposed changes to policing governance. 

Alison Hernandez (Police and Crime Commissioner) further commented: 

r)    Public confidence had declined slightly within the representative survey data, although overall confidence levels remained comparatively high; 

s)     Sustained improvement in performance, visibility and victim experience remained central to rebuilding and maintaining trust; 

t)     Strong partnership working with local authorities was essential to tackling ASB and improving outcomes for affected communities. 

The Panel agreed: 

1. To note the Police & Crime Plan Performance Monitoring report. 

Frances Hughes (Monitoring Officer / Officer supporting the Panel) presented the report and explained: 

a)    Two non?criminal complaints had been recorded during the reporting period; 

b)    One complaint related to the late receipt of correspondence concerning a matter that the Panel had already previously considered in relation to comments made by the Commissioner; 

c)    The second complaint had been logged initially but was subsequently disapplied, as it did not meet the criteria required for consideration under the relevant complaints framework. Both matters had been discussed with the Chair of the Panel; 

Councillor Sally Haydon (Chair of the Panel) confirmed: 

d)    Panel Members had received the associated documentation in advance of the meeting; 

e)    The purpose of the item was for information and transparency, rather than decision?making. 

The Panel agreed: 

1. To note the report on non?criminal complaints against the Police and Crime Commissioner. 

The Panel agreed: 

1. To note the Action Log; 

2. To request that actions 36, 38 and 40 be progressed to completion and reported back as resolved at the next meeting. 

The Panel agreed to add: 

a)    Developments arising from the Policing White Paper;

b)    Custody suites