The panel will elect a Chair of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel.

Agreed that Councillor Croad is appointed Chair of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel.

The panel will elect a Vice-Chair of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel.

Agreed that Councillor Rule is appointed Vice-Chair of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel.

The Chair welcomed all newly appointed members to their first meeting of the panel and introduced Tony Hogg, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), who was in attendance for agenda item numbers seven, eight and nine, along with his Chief Executive, Sue Howl, and Treasurer, Duncan Walton.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2013.

Agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2013 subject to an amendment to reflect the submission of apologies from Councillor Sanders.

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

There were no declarations made by members in respect of the items under consideration.

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, Civic Centre, Plymouth PL1 2AA or democratic.support@plymouth.gov.uk.  Questions must be received at least five complete working days before the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public.

Members will be asked to note the update on complaints received by the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Prior to consideration of the report, the Chair reminded members that at the last meeting of the panel it had been agreed that –

The OPCC Chief Executive reported that during the period 9 April to 25 June 2013 one complaint had been received which had not been upheld.

Agreed that in future reports the matrix at Appendix A would include a recommendation column detailing the proposed method for dealing with each complaint for the panel’s consideration.

The Police and Crime Commissioner will present the Annual Report to the panel.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) presented his Annual Report, as required under Section 12 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.  The report –

·         provided a summary of how the PCC had carried out his statutory duties to date, following his election in November 2012;

·         detailed progress made in meeting the objectives set out in the Police and Crime Plan;

·         included an update on other work-related activities demonstrating how the PCC intended to ‘do better’ and ‘do more’;

·         outlined budget provision, spending plans and the challenges ahead for the next three years.

Having considered the report and heard from the PCC, the Chair invited questions from panel members and discussion took place on a number of issues, including –

·         low detection rates, particularly in respect of sexual offences;

·         how the budget had been spent and whether or not any of it was ring fenced;

·         the PCC’s use of consultants;

·         problems with the 101 non-emergency contact number;

·         recent press coverage relating to Serco and G4S contracts;

·         details of the PCC’s performance framework;

·         use of volunteers;

·         time taken to re-open roads following RTAs where there has been a fatality;

·         management of the new probation service;

·         the PCC’ commissioning and governance arrangements;

·         the PCC’s proposals in respect of the Stage 2 transfer scheme.

With regard to the above discussion points, the following actions were agreed -

(A copy of the presentation notes and a webcast of the entire meeting can be found on the council’s website: http://plymouth.gov.uk/modgov and http://www.plymouth.public-i.tv).

The Police and Crime Commissioner will provide the panel with his regular report regarding the activities and decisions he has made to date.  The report also details any forthcoming planned events.

The panel noted the regular report of the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding the activities and decisions he had made to date, including details of forthcoming planned events.

The panel will be asked to endorse the criteria and process for undertaking scrutiny and prioritise and agree the topics.

Sarah Hopkins, Community Safety and Partnerships Manager, reminded members that a series of scrutiny topics had been agreed for inclusion in the panel’s work programme at the last meeting.  However, having agreed what the panel wanted to do it was now necessary to –

·         establish an order of priority for each of the topics identified;

·         consider what criteria would be used to determine future scrutiny topics;

·         determine how the scrutiny would be undertaken.

The report referred to South Cambridgeshire’s criteria for scrutiny and suggested that they be adopted as a set of principles upon which the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel could scrutinise the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

It was pointed out that as it was the intention of the Police and Crime Commissioner to publish his commissioning arrangements later this month, it would only be proactive scrutiny if he was willing to delay publication or publish in draft form pending the outcome of scrutiny.  Otherwise scrutiny of this topic could only be reactive.

Agreed that the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel –

Future meeting dates for 2013/14 are proposed as follows –

·         Friday 11 October 2013 (provisional)

·         Friday 20 December 2013 (provisional)

·         7 February 2014

·         21 February 2014 (provisional)

Agreed the dates of future meetings as follows –

·         Friday 11 October 2013

·         Friday 20 December 2013

·         7 February 2014 (to consider precept)

·         21 February 2014 (provisional meeting should veto be used on 7 February)

All meetings to commence at 10.30 am.