The Chair welcomed Councillor Wright to his first meeting as a formal Panel Member, having replaced Councillor Diviani, and Andrew White, the Police and Crime Commissioner’s recently appointed Interim Chief Executive.

To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2013.

Agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 11 October 2013.

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, Civic Centre, Plymouth PL1 2AA 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 panel will be asked to scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner’s staff and consultancy appointments, along with his expenses and allowances.

In accordance with its agreed work programme, the Panel welcomed the Police and Crime Commissioner who, prior to commencement of the scrutiny process –

·         made a brief statement on the departure of his former Chief Executive who had left to pursue new opportunities;

·         announced that a joint project team would be created to explore how Devon and Cornwall and Dorset Police Forces could collaborate effectively across all areas of policing.

The Police and Crime Panel Co-ordinator first outlined the process to be followed for this item of reactive scrutiny, following which the Police and Crime Commissioner provided an overview of his report.

Issues raised by Members for the Commissioner’s consideration and response included –

·         the number of consultants which transferred directly from the former Police Authority;

·         how many staff had been appointed directly by the Commissioner since and at what cost;

·         the total number of staff now employed by the Commissioner and his total salary bill;

·         the policy/procedures used by the Commissioner to recruit staff and consultants, including that of his new Chief Executive;

·         how his commissioning intentions had been reflected in his staffing and office structures;

·         details of how the Commissioning Board had been established, together with  allowance entitlements;

·         sight of the terms of reference and membership details for the Commissioner’s various Boards;

·         discrepancy between consultancy costs detailed in the report and the response provided as a result of a freedom of information request;

·         whether the Police and Crime Commissioner represented value for money.

The Police and Crime Commissioner extended an invitation to the Panel to visit his offices and observe his team in action

Following lengthy consideration and questioning of the Police and Crime Commissioner on this matter, it was agreed that –

Note: A detailed report setting out the findings of this scrutiny review would be produced by the Police and Crime Panel Co-ordinator and circulated to panel members for their comment prior to submission of any recommendations to the Police and Crime Commissioner who would then have one month to respond.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

The panel will receive an update in respect of the implementation of the Stage 2 transfer which requires the PCC to decide, by 1 April 2014, which staff and assets will be retained by the PCC and those that will transfer to the Chief Constable.

The Police and Crime Commissioner updated the Panel on the Stage 2 Transfer and associated implications, outlining which staff and assets would be retained by him and which would transfer to the Chief Constable.  Panel Members were advised that –

The Panel noted the report with thanks and welcomed the Commissioner’s intention to keep the Panel informed on future progress.

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

The Panel heard from the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding activities undertaken and decisions made to date, as well as details of forthcoming planned events.  The Commissioner drew Members’ attention to one of the more challenging aspects of his report, namely the 101 non-emergency enquiry service, and sought the Panel’s assistance in gauging public perception.

Councillor Batters raised concerns with the 101 service and the fact that his call could only be progressed once he had classified it as a complaint, despite the fact that he was only calling to arrange a meeting with officers at his local police station.

Other issues raised by Members for the Commissioner’s consideration and response included –

·         maintaining the high level of support required for tackling domestic abuse given the ongoing budget cuts;

·         how he was measuring the effectiveness of policing in terms of safeguarding vulnerable people from harm;

·         responsibility for the Independent Custody Visitor team.

The Panel noted the report with thanks.

Agreed that the Police and Crime Commissioner will look into the concern raised by Councillor Batters relating to the classification applied to the 101 service.

The panel will receive from the Police and Crime Commissioner an update on the performance against objectives in the Police and Crime Plan.

The Police and Crime Commissioner presented an update on his objectives and the Force performance against the four-year, high-level improvement targets, as set out in the Police and Crime Plan.  He highlighted the following two issues of concern –

·         an increase in reporting of incidents of domestic violence;

·         the spike in crime in genera as a result of the influx of visitors to the region during the summer period.

The Commissioner also commented on his concerns over the supply of cheap alcohol and sought the Panel’s support in lobbying MPs to tackle the supermarkets over this issue.

Members welcomed the report, which was noted, and requested information in respect of the following be included in a future report –

·         detail of the needs analysis produced in respect of domestic violence;

·         detail of the victim code.

The panel will receive Councillor Rule’s feedback and findings in respect of her attendance at a conference on behalf of the panel.

The Panel considered the report of the Vice-Chair following her attendance at the COPACC Conference in October 2013.  In the absence of the Vice-Chair, the Chair offered his thanks to her and Jo Tellam, Cornwall’s Overview and Scrutiny Officer, for producing the report.

Councillor Sanders had also attended the Conference and reported that one of the things that had struck him was the many different ways in which the offices of the Police and Crime Commissioner went about their role and their relationships with their Chief Constables.  He also welcomed the networking opportunity that the event had provided, which had been invaluable.

The Panel noted the report and took the opportunity to accept the offer of the Police and Crime Commissioner to visit his offices and observe his team in action which had been extended under minute 24.

Agreed that the Police and Crime Panel Co-ordinator would liaise with Panel Members and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner on a suitable date for a visit.

Members will be asked to note the updated report on complaints received by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Police and Crime Commissioner’s Interim Chief Executive reported that, during the period 25 September and 25 November 2013, four complaints had been received.

The Panel noted the report with thanks and agreed that the Police and Crime Commissioner will amend the complaints reporting table Appendix A to show that the ‘outcome’ is recorded and that it is duly recorded in any future reports.

The following are the scheduled dates for the panel –

·         7 February 2014

·         21 February 2014 (provisional)

The Panel noted that the next meeting would take place on 7 February 2014 when consideration would be given to the Police and Crime Commissioner’s precept.