(a)

this report was the second that the OPCC had undertaken on the review of the 101 service;

(b)

since the last report 12 months ago, the situation had not improved – in fact it had deteriorated;

(c)

first pick up of calls remained strong and 999 calls were answered quickly, however there were still delays transferring calls to the Force Enquiry Centre (FEC), and the waiting time had now doubled from over 4 minutes to over 8 minutes in the last 12 months.  Over one in three callers now waited longer than 10 minutes for some form of resolution;

(d)

there were two main reasons for the current situation – a delay in the introduction of a technological solution, and the lack of focus on this issue;

(e)

the OPCC were the first to identify there was a problem and the PCC highlighted it to the Chief Constable, making it clear that he expected to see an immediate improvement, particularly in relation to the long waiting times and those callers who waited longer than 10 minutes;

(f)

new technology would not be implemented for six months, however the PCC had provided the sum of £250K so that other solutions could be provided to support this area;

(g)

the Chief Constable had established a ‘Gold Group’ to address this issue and meetings were held fortnightly.  A detailed action plan would be produced and would be monitored regularly and it was hoped that the position would soon improve;

(h)

the PCC would report back to the Panel on this issue before his end of office.

In response to questions, Members were advised that –

(i)

the OPCC recognised the unacceptable position of the 101 service.  The real improvement would happen with the introduction of new technology in six months’ time.  As an interim measure the additional money would be spent on extra staff to ensure that there were sufficient operators available at peak times;

(j)

an increasing number of people contacted the Police by e-mail; these were responded to promptly;

(k)

discussions were ongoing between the PCC and Chief Constable to establish what constituted a reasonable waiting time for callers;

(l)

a total of 182 operators worked within the control rooms at Exeter and Plymouth.

Following the presentation and discussion, the following observations were made –

(m)

the additional sum of £250K demonstrated a failure to influence the Chief Constable, and this extra cost would ultimately be passed on the taxpayer (Councillor Davey);

(n)

the importance of the correct processes, procedures and systems to be in place, in addition to new technology (Councillor Jordan);

(o)

the requirement for qualitatitive measures be put in place regarding customer feedback (Yvonne Atkinson).

Ross Jago (Performance and Research Officer) advised the Panel that it would be appropriate for an update on this issue in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

(a)

the PCC had written to key partners (including this Panel) on 13 January 2016 detailing recent developments, his plans for the forthcoming months and his intentions regarding the Police and Crime Plan;

(b)

the most recent Peninsular Strategic Assessment had highlighted areas which needed continued emphasis, which were –

·         domestic abuse/sexual violence

·         alcohol related harm

(c)

there would be an increased focus on the following areas –

·         tackling safeguarding

·         child sexual exploitation

·         cyber crime

(d)

there would be an operational and financial emphasis on counter terrorism to ensure the safety of the people of the United Kingdom , particularly the residents of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

In response to questions, Members were advised that –

(e)

it was difficult for the Police and Crime Plan to identify all areas of concern and provide the prominence on certain issues that the Panel wanted;

(f)

the issue of domestic abuse was a priority and taken seriously although it did not have a headline within the Plan;

(g)

there had been recent changes around safeguarding for the victims of domestic abuse which should now see an improvement;

(h)

alcohol related crime was linked to a range of other crimes and remained a focus in the Plan;

(i)

the PCC commissioned Community Safety Partnerships and they could prioritise funds for issues relevant to their areas.

(1)

agreed that the Draft Police and Crime Plans of the incoming Commissioner are made available at the first meeting of the Police and Crime Panel in the new municipal year;

(2)

agreed that Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence is explicitly mentioned as a priority within any new Police and Crime Plan reflecting the threat identified in the Peninsula Strategic Assessment and highlighted by Community Safety Partnerships in the force area;

(3)

agreed that the recommendations resulting from Cornwall Council’s select committee review of the Engagement of the Safer Cornwall Partnership in the Domestic Homicide Review Process be built into police service plans, business plans and policies;

(4)

agreed that the host authority prepare a response to the PCC, with the Chair to sign this on their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

(a)

it was unreasonable to expect the workforce plans yet;

(b)

Dorset currently had 30 business plans, and 70 police staff at Middlemoor were   working on various projects; regular meetings were held with Dorset;

(c)

all of the Police estate needed to be ‘fit for purpose’

(d)

a number of police stations and buildings were being closed, however in these situations a newer, smaller, more suitable building was, in most cases, built nearby;

(e)

a percentage was built in to the budget to allow for new houses;

(f)

the OPCC would not co-locate with the Police at Middlemoor unless there was an immediate and substantial budget saving;

(g)

the five PCCs and police forces in the south west peninsular would be investigating ways of working more closely together.

(1)

agreed to recommend that a written report regarding the Workforce Plan along with the Plan itself is scrutinised at the April 2016 meeting of the Panel;

(2)

agreed to recommend that a written report and detailed benefits profile in relation to the ‘Strategic Alliance’ is scrutinised at the April 2016 meeting of the Panel;

(3)

agreed to recommend that a written report outlining savings to be made from this proposal is scrutinised by the Panel following an ongoing tendering process;

(4)

recommended that a written report is provided to a future meeting to include business cases and associated work which has taken place since the Police and Crime Commissioner received responsibility of the force estate and how he has worked with partners, in particular Local Authorities across the force area;

(5)

requested further written information on Income Generation and Grant Maximisation being undertaken by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, more details on regional collaboration of force control centres (with a focus on business cases where available) and more detail on the profile of the significant levels of reserve and projected spend over the next four year period.

(a)

Devon and Cornwall Police were now ranked the 3^rd lowest force for crime per head of population;

(b)

the force were top in the country for public confidence in the police;

(c)

the recent HMIC inspection had revealed that the force ‘required improvement’;

(d)

there had been a decrease in victim based crime;

(e)

the figure for violence with injury was not reducing, and violent incidences involving dogs had accounted for this increase;

(f)

violence without injury remained a challenge and had increased due to the increase in the use of social media.

(a)

a section of the report contained updates as requested at the December meeting, and covered the following –

·         details of proposed significant future savings;

·         definition of neighbourhood policing;

·         purpose of earmarked reserves;

·         provisos for budgets for Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs);

·         workforce planning;

·         101 review;

·         PCC’s performance report;

·         PCC’s update report;

(b)

the next full report on progress against the Police and Crime Plan priorities would be provided to the April 2016 meeting, given the short time that had passed since the last update in December 2015;

(c)

due to time constraints, the short film about the Victim Care Unit would be sent to members as a link;

In response to questions, Members were advised that –

(d)

figures in relation to honour based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM), trafficking and modern slavery would be brought to the April 2016 meeting;

(e)

the Chief Constable recognised the value of PCSOs and had assured the force that there would be no cuts in this service for 2 years.  There was sufficient money allocated in the budget to fund PCSOs for this period.

(1)

the response to accept the precept proposal is added to the work plan for the next meeting in April 2016;

(2)

the review of 101 is added to the work plan as a future item;

(3)

the updated and proposed work plan.