To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2022.

The minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record subject to the following amendments:

·         106 (f) The Commissioner requested a reduction to 10 seconds rather than a 10 second reduction

·         106 (f) should read P1 rather than P2

·         106 (a) correction to spelling errors from Temproary Chief Constable Jim Colwille to Colwell.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

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 public questions.

Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner introduced this item and provided context for the proposed precept highlighting the following key points:

a)    The proposal had been below inflation tax rise and the force, as with many services had been struggling with inflation which would continue throughout the year. Work would continue to ensure that the budget would be sustainable in the future and the organisation would be working to be more efficient and smarter;

b)    The Commissioner acknowledged the national events in policing that occurred in the previous year around police officers committing crimes nationally and had included Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The Commissioner reiterated her zero tolerance stance on those officers and requested help from the majority of the decent, hardworking and high integrity police officers and staff to uncover and expose those officers/staff that should not be present in the organisation;

c)    The Commissioners Annual budget survey to constituents highlighted that confidence in policing and for Devon and Cornwall Police force had increased. The Commissioner acknowledged that the survey had been conducted prior to national revelations and advised that she was unsure constituents would have the same level of confidence;

d)    The plan had been to build trust and resilience to ensure the region would be safer and that the foundation of creating a force where people were motivated and better connected to constituents. During times of economic hardship there had been a corresponding increase in crime, the Commissioner made her case for what she believed was required to ensure communities could be safer today and into the future;

e)    The force would be opening new police stations across the region to build on connected good policing. The force would also be implementing a new crime recording system to achieve justice for victims however was acknowledged that the implementation phase would cause some issues over a number of months before the positive impact could be realised;

f)     The survey had been conducted online over a month period, constituents could ring the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and undertake the survey with staff. 7,318 people responded to the survey with 2,617 responding just to the budget. 4701 responded to the police station front desk survey. The survey respondents had influenced the budget and how the force would work with them going forward;

g)    More people considered the council tax precept as value for money;

h)    Police stations had provided a positive impact on community cohesion and had provided places of safety where people could engage with neighbourhood teams via email web chat. 70% of survey respondents agreed that investments should be made to open more police stations. 86% of respondents advised that they wanted to use police stations as places to record crime and 65% would like to share information with the police about what’s going on in their communities. In response to this feedback the <Commissioner would be opening 6 more police stations which would add to the six already  ...  view the full minutes text for item 115.

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner, introduced the report and highlighted:-

a)    The data was unstable and was yet to be confirmed as sustainable, but 90% of 999 calls had been met within 10 seconds;

b)    The P1 and P2 phone lines were both being triaged so that people spoke to someone ‘real’ before they got put into any queues;

c)    The AACC7 call back function was still experiencing issues but was being looked at as a priority and a substantive update would be given at the June 2023 meeting;

d)     6 front desks had been re-opened and 6 more locations would be re-opened as the budget had been approved.

The Panel agreed to note the report.

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner, introduced the Commissioners Update report and highlighted:-

a)    That the Westcountry Women’s Awards were held in Plymouth in December 2022 and the Police and Crime Commissioner had sponsored the Violence Against Women and Girls Category, and the shortlisted women had been invited to a meeting with the Police and Crime Commissioner to discuss how the dignity of women could be improved throughout the criminal justice system.

The Panel agreed to note the report.

Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner, highlighted the following point:-

a)    The number of ASB incidents reported in the Police were on a downward trajectory but it was known that the data integrity around ASB could have been better and was not being recorded correctly and so she did not want to put a direction of travel on that item and would report to the next meeting with a better way of recording this;

b)    An update would be provided at the June 2023 meeting on the impact of crime on young victims and their lives.

Councillor Roger Croad (Chair) added:-

c)    It was of deep concern that domestic violence was increasing, although this could be due to more people coming forward and reporting it and emphasised the need for everyone to do all that they could to reduce it;

d)    Thanks to the OPCC for making the scorecard and the data clear and easier for members to understand;

In response to questions it was reported:-

e)    The number of hate crimes had increased by nearly 1000 over a 12 month period;

f)     The Police and Crime Commissioner would not be adding another pledge to reduce hate crime as this was encompassed in a pledge as a mission critical indicator in the Police and Crime Plan Monitoring, so whilst it wasn’t one of the four priorities, it did come under violent crime;

g)    The Police and Crime Commissioner was trying to assess the hypothesis “Are you safe walking down the street in Devon and Cornwall, without being targeted because of who you are?” and some initial data had been collected and scrutiny was to be undertaken on it, the outcome of which would be reported to the committee at the June 2023 meeting;

h)    The focus when looking at hate crime would be race and sexuality;

i)     It was important that hate crime was reported so that people could be supported and a clearer picture could be seen;

j)     Tackling hate crime was a priority for the Chief Constable.

The Panel agreed to note the report.

Frances Hughes, Chief Executive at OPCC, provided an update to the panel and highlighted:-

a)    There had been one new complaint against the Police and Crime Commisioner and the report suggested that the matter had been resolved, but in the days before the meeting, correspondence had been received, so she would be speaking to the Chair of the Panel shortly regarding it.

In response to questions it was added:-

b)    It is possible to get data on upheld complaints from other areas across the country, but they were dealt with differently in different areas, however data would be provided at the next meeting.

The Panel agreed to note the report.

In response to questions on the work programme it was explained:-

a)    Members would continue to get an update at each meeting on steps being taken to improve the 101 service until there was more confidence in it.

The Chair encouraged members to contact him or Ross Jago (Head of Governance, Performance and Risk) if they had anything further they wanted to add to the work programme.