The Committee will be asked to elect the Chair and Vice Chair for the municipal year 2019/20.

The Panel received a nomination from Councillor for Councillor Batters to stand as Chair. This was seconded by Councillor…

There were no other nominations. The panel voted in favour of Councillor Batters taking the position as Chair for the next municipal year.

Councillor Batters (Chair) then invited nominations for the position of Vice-Chair. Councillor nominated Councillor Haydon, this was seconded by Councillor

There were no other nominations. The panel voted in favour of Councillor Haydon taking the position as Vice-Chair for the next municipal year.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2019.

An addendum to the minutes was proposed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner as follows:

“Once the Secretary of States policing budget allocations are known, the PCC must consult with the Chief Constable before bringing precept and budget proposals before the Panel in February 2020.  There cannot be a predetermination of future year’s budgets and there is a statutory process which must be followed.  The Panel have seen the Medium Term Financial Strategy which is an indicative plan, but this is subject to change once the budget requirement for 2020/21 is confirmed.

The Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable will continue to make representations to Government regarding the inadequacy of the funding formula and make the case for fairer funding for policing for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”

This was seconded by Councillor Rule

The minutes of the meeting held on 08 February 2019 were otherwise agreed as a true and accurate record.

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

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.

The Police and Crime Commissioner welcomed new members to the Panel and introduced the Annual Report.

The Panel noted:

·         The improvements to the report based on previous feedback – this was welcomed;

·         That the increased number of Police Officers was highlighted in the report but the reduction in numbers of Police Community Support Officers was not – the Commissioner agreed this data be added;

·         That the charts and data presented required some clarification before the report was finalised;

·         The difficulty in implementing neighbourhood watch schemes – the Commissioner confirmed that extra resources would be allocated to this;

·         That the report could better address the issue of antisocial behaviour;

·         That there had been improvements to the Police Estate in some areas but not all – the Commissioner confirmed that work was in progress to examine the feasibility for improving the current estate;

·         That the remaining unallocated monies from the small grants scheme would be redistributed;

·         That the Commissioner received regular updates on Operation Encompass;

·         The lack of a place of safety in North Devon – this was a cause for concern and the Commissioner agreed to address this with a formal response ;

·         That the Strategic Alliance is now classified as business as usual but questions remain as to whether the sharing of services has delivered efficiencies. More work is needed to evaluate this;

·         The opening of a Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Plymouth was welcomed by the panel who noted that individuals can also self-refer to this service;

·         The update on Modern Day Slavery – Plymouth City Council representatives on the panel offered to work in partnership with the Commissioner given the Council has recently signed the Modern Day Slavery charter.

The Panel accepted the annual report. 

The Police and Crime Commissioner introduced a presentation on Summer Policing.

Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer gave a presentation highlighting the size of the challenge for the region and the bid for additional funding for summer policing to be submitted later in the year.

The Panel noted:

·         The geographic isolation for parts of the region;

·         The surge in the population of the region during the months of April to September due to tourism;

·         That the Commissioner has written to the Home Office setting out the challenges and as a result an additional funding award is being considered;

·         That current indicators suggest the surge in population over the summer period is equivalent to 125,000 additional people

·         That this increased population is spread over 4000 square miles;

·         The 69% increase in 999 calls over the summer;

·         The 54% increase in 101 calls over the summer;

·         The 46% increase in reported incidents over the summer;

·         The importance of raising the profile of the issues as a Police Force given the uniqueness of the challenges faced and the importance of doing so prior to the comprehensive spending review;

·         That a multi-year historic application will be made to the Home Office Special Grant fund to maximise available funding but this would only be a one-off not recurrent funding;

·         The request from the Commissioner for members of the panel to raise awareness in their own communities as to the different channels available to communicate with the Police;

·         The request from the Commissioner for a delegation to attend Westminster to campaign on the issue;

·         The Panel called on Town Councils in Devon and Cornwall to also lobby government on the pressures of summer policing for the region.

·         In respect of the upcoming summer, the commissioner has allocated an additional £200,000 to back office tasks, to help reduce impact on the frontline;

·         The recent letter issued by the GMB union concerning the forensic science services in the region – the Chief Constable stated service hubs would be spread across the region and that this could have an impact on staffing levels.

The panel noted the report.

The Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner introduced the performance report.

The panel noted:

·         That there were still two amber areas to address (public confidence and repeat victimisation)

·         The commentary in the report on the performance statistics which was welcomed;

·         That the report could be strengthened in areas around violence and the increase in incidents;

·         The performance indicators and whether these were fully reflective of the true picture – the Commissioner welcomed further input from the panel on how these could be made more meaningful;

·         The dip in public confidence which was highlighted as a concern by the panel – the Commissioner agreed that additional scrutiny was required.

Councillor Sutton proposed the report be accepted and the panel agreed.

The Panel received the Work Programme and agreed that a full discussion would take place at an informal session immediately following the meeting to review in detail.

The Police and Crime Commissioner introduced the update report.

The report sets out matters arising and progress since the previous panel meeting in February 2019.

The panel noted:

·         The development of the Peninsula Strategic Assessment for 2019/20 and the utilisation of the nationally accredited ‘Management of Risk in Law Enforcement (MoRiLE). MoRiLE was created in 2014 to provide a common methodology and language for the assessment of threat, risk and harm in relation to law enforcement;

·         The development of the Police and Crime Commissioners Modern Day Slavery toolkit to help tackle modern slavery and scrutinise performance. Follow-up workshops will be held later in 2019 to evaluate learning and identify any further enhancements to the toolkit;

·         The changes to the probation service following the Ministry of Justice announcement that the supervision of all offenders on probation would be put back in the public sector from December 2020. This was welcomed by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the panel;

·         The update on the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 which strengthens law enforcement’s response to violent crime. The Act will make it illegal to possess dangerous weapons in private, including knuckledusters, zombie knives and death star knives, and will make it a criminal offence to dispatch bladed products sold online without verifying the buyer is over 18.

The panel noted the report.

The Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner advised the Panel that one formal complaint against the Police and Crime Commissioner had been received during the period 10 January 2019 – 14 May 2019. The complainant was written to and the complaint is now finalised.

The Panel noted the report.