To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2014.

Agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 17 October 2014.

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

The following declaration of interest was made in respect of items under consideration at the meeting –

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 review the report (Formal Response to Police and Crime Panel) and actions/progress arising from the recommendations from the Police and Crime Panel in respect of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Annual Report presented on 17 October 2014.

Further to the panel’s consideration of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s  Annual Report at its meeting on 17 October 2014, the Community Safety and Partnerships Manager submitted a draft report setting out the panel’s findings and recommendations, along with the Police and Crime Commissioner’s response.

In the absence of any further observations/comments, the panel agreed –

The Panel will review, report and agree formal recommendations made to the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable in relation to the proposed Station Enquiry Rationalisation and consider the response and actions/progress from the Police and Crime Commissioner to those recommendations.

Further to the panel’s scrutiny of the Devon and Cornwall Police Public Contact Strategy – Station Enquiry Rationalisation - at its meeting on 17 October 2014, the Community Safety and Partnerships Manager submitted a draft report setting out the panel’s findings and recommendations, along with the Police and Crime Commissioner’s response.

Having considered the draft scrutiny report, together with the Police and Crime Commissioner’s response, the following points of concern were raised by the panel -

·        the lack of an engagement plan for Plymouth;

·        anyone living in Cornwall who was required to attend a Police Station in order to present documentation would now be expected to travel to either Bodmin or Plymouth;

·        the lack of any mechanism for feeding back progress/action taken in respect of the panel’s recommendations.

In response to the above, the panel was advised that -

The panel agreed –

The Panel will review the report and recommendations provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner in respect of his recent review of the 101 non-emergency service provision in Devon and Cornwall.

The Police and Crime Commissioner reported on the review of the 101 service provision in Devon and Cornwall.  The panel was advised -

In response to questions raised, the panel was further advised that –

The panel agreed to-

The Panel will use a select committee style approach to scrutinise how the Police and Crime Commissioner is strengthening relationships and showing leadership in Partnership Working.

In preparation for the scrutiny, and in order to set the scene, the Community Safety and Partnerships Manager submitted and presented a report which –

Adopting a select-committee style approach, the panel then questioned at length the Police and Crime Commissioner and members of his senior management team, the responses to which were summarised as follows –

·        the Police and Crime Commissioner acknowledged the importance of partnership working and had an officer within his team committed to this role and to developing these, and other, relationships further;

·        key partnership relationships included Criminal Justice Boards, Community Safety Partnerships, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Safeguarding Boards, however, in addition to key partnerships, the Police and Crime Commissioner and his team actively engaged with a vast number of informal partnerships/voluntary and community organisations;

·        the Police and Crime Commissioner had received an award from CoPaCC for public engagement;

·        the Police and Crime Commissioner was keen to link in with other commissioning arrangements as well as devolved funding arrangements to Community Safety Partnerships and Restorative Justice via the Community Safety Partnerships;

·        the new Victim Code and EU Directive for Victims was driving the Police and Crime Commissioner’s victim commissioning arrangements from 2015;

·        the Police and Crime Commissioner had concerns that some national funding streams (Victim and Witness Fund) were ending and was doing everything he could to influence the Home Office and Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to maintain those funds in order that the services could continue in Devon and Cornwall;

·        there was a gap in terms of S136 (Detention of Mentally Ill Adults and Juveniles in police custody).  A National Crisis Care Concordat had now been published and a S136 Protocol had been signed up to by 17 agencies – this placed some clear duties and expectations on partners for when a person should be taken to a place of safety which is not a police station;

·        The Police and Crime Commissioner was concerned that in respect of Health & Wellbeing Boards there was still not a good join-up with community safety agenda issues, including mental health and the alcohol agenda.  He was also of the view that Plymouth’s Health and Wellbeing Board was heading in the ‘right direction’ so he needed to focus his attention elsewhere, as a ‘compliment’ to Plymouth.  That was why he  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

The Panel will be asked to agree its findings from item 8 on this agenda which will then be used to inform the recommendations in a final report to be reviewed at the next Panel meeting.

In a departure from the previous scrutiny review proceedings, the Chair proposed that responsibility for drafting the panel’s findings and recommendations arising from this scrutiny be delegated to the host authority, in consultation with himself, and that a draft report is then circulated to the panel for comment.  The draft report to then be formally reviewed and agreed at the panel’s next meeting. That proposal, having been seconded by Councillor Wright, was put to the vote and declared carried.

Further to the discussion that had taken place around CoPaCC (an organisation which compares Police and Crime Commissioners), it was also agreed that the thematic report’s findings on PCCs and Partnership be added to the panel’s work programme for future consideration.

The Panel will hear a presentation from the Police and Crime Commissioner in respect of opportunities for strategic collaboration between Devon and Cornwall Police and Dorset Police.  The Panel will also welcome Councillor John Adams, the Chair of the Dorset Police and Crime Panel, for this item.

The Police and Crime Commissioner updated the panel on progress made to date with the proposals for a strategic alliance between Devon and Cornwall and Dorset Police Forces.  He reported that –

Following the presentation, a number of issues were raised by members and discussed, including –

·         concerns over the closure of Dorset’s prison and the impact on their ability to manage rehabilitation;

·         how a new strategically aligned Force would be managed.  Under a collaborative arrangement the two could work jointly together with separate Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners.  Any formal merger arrangement would require a change in legislation.

The panel agreed that the -

The Panel will receive an update from the Police and Crime Commissioner in respect of performance against objectives in the Police and Crime Plan.

The Police and Crime Commissioner submitted an update on the performance measures set out in the Police and Crime Plan 2014-17.  Highlights of the report included that -

Concern was raised by members around –

·         the format of the report which remained unchanged despite the panel’s request for figures as well as percentages to be included, as well as actuals and targets;

·         the level of the detail contained in the report being insufficient.

The Police and Crime Commissioner responded that the level of detail was publicly available in papers presented to the Performance and Accountability Board and if members wished he would include that detail and revise the format for future meetings of the Police and Crime Panel.

Agreed that the report is noted.

The Police and Crime Commissioner has provided the Panel with his regular report regarding the activities and decisions he has made to date and an update on preparations for Victim Services Commissioning and to include a staffing report (current and any new appointments including consultancy).

The Police and Crime Commissioner submitted an update reporting on the activities of the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and progress made in delivering the Police and Crime Plan since the last meeting in October 2014.  He commented on the report’s highlights as follows –

·         his findings into the review of the 101 service had now been published and an action plan established to deliver the required improvements;

·         a new pilot had been launched in Torquay addressing the issues of pre-loading.  Anyone appearing drunk would be breathalysed prior to entering a pub or club and refused entry if it was proven to be the case;

·         development of a new social media competition around the Drinkaware campaign for launch early in 2015;

·         savings would be achieved on office accommodation costs as a result of the move to Middlemoor;

·         with regard to Transforming Rehabilitation, the preferred bidder had now been announced (Working Links) who were also the preferred bidder for the other south west package areas;

·         a new S136 multi-agency protocol had been drafted in regard to Mental Health

·         commissioning arrangements for Victim Services would be changing from 1 April 2015;

·         a review of the Special Constabulary service would be undertaken as Specials moving into regular police officer positions was having an impact on achieving the target of 150,000 hours.

In addition, the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Treasurer reported a reduction in the police grant settlement of 5% which would impact upon their budget.  Further detail on this would be presented to the panel as part of its precept considerations in February 2015.

Agreed that the report is noted.

Members will consider the report and after due consideration, agree the resolutions by the Chief Executive Officer of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The panel noted that no complaints had been received during the period 2 October to 26 November 2014.

The following are the scheduled future meeting dates for the Panel –

·         6 February 2015 (Precept)

·         20 February 2015 (If Precept Veto’d)

·         10 April 2015 (Provisional)

The agreed dates of future panel meetings were noted as follows –

·        6 February 2015 (Precept)

·        20 February 2015 (only required if Precept veto’d)

·        10 April 2015 (Provisional)