Agenda and minutes

A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at: http://council.webcast.vualto.com/leicestershire-county-council/home?EventId=21795

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 October 2017 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

Councillor Corrall submitted the following question to the Police and Crime Commissioner:

“With demand management becoming more important for the police, do you believe, as I do, that proven examples of this, like the Braunstone Blues, which use the joint economic and reputational strength of each service to make real impacts on the Braunstone Community, should be held up as a shining example in collaboration and Data sharing excellence. Given their success I feel they should continue to be supported and used as a blueprint for how things could work in the future?”

The Police and Crime Commissioner gave the following answer:

“In a word ‘Yes!’

To expand a little:

I would like to thank Cllr Coral for his question. I have made several visits to meet the team at Braunstone Blues and each time I have been incredibly impressed by this pioneering project. It would be fair to say that I am a great supporter of the Braunstone Blues.

For anyone who is not already aware Braunstone Blues, a multi-agency partnership delivered by Police, Fire and Ambulance services, was created to reduce the demand on blue light services and enhance the ways in which local residents can engage with the emergency services. It predominantly targets its skills at those people identified as creating the highest demand for services. The team works with partners and residents of Braunstone to deliver a healthier, safer and more secure community by educating and directing residents to appropriate services via a home visit service and delivering targeted campaigns to reduce the number of emergency calls in the area.

The team offers a free half hour home visit and advice on:

• home security

• vehicle security

• home safety

• fire safety

• child safety

• health and wellbeing

The team can also offer help with loneliness, anxiety, depression and dealing with antisocial behaviour. Each home visit is tailored to suit individual needs and provides information about other organisations that may be able to offer support.

I can honestly say that seeing a member of the community benefiting from a

Braunstone Blues home visit really drives home the value of collaboration and how this can benefit our communities.

The project is currently funded by three blue light services, Fire and Rescue, the Police and Crime Commissioner and Leicester City Council. An interim evaluation found that local residents felt safer, healthier and happier as a result of the Blue’s work - research shows that a resident’s service dependency increases when they are unhealthy and unhappy.

I note Cllr Coral’s view that ‘they [Braunstone Blues] should continue to be supported and used as a blueprint for how things could work in the future’

I would like to reassure him that from the outset it was clearly stated that if

Braunstone Blues was successful it could form a blueprint for other schemes across LLR. In September this year it was announced that the Braunstone Blues Project Board wishes to extend, expand and mainstream this work to ensure that more of the most vulnerable people across LLR will benefit.

The plan is to achieve this through four additional dedicated teams. But this comes at a cost. A not insignificant figure of £1.25 million per year (for the four additional teams and retaining the Braunstone Blues) and it is no secret that funding is rather limited at the moment. Interim arrangements are in place to cover the funding of this project in the near future and I know that longer-term funding will be discussed in greater detail at the Strategic Partnership Board in January, a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

Col. Robert Martin declared a personal interest in respect of all substantive items as the Trustee of “Warning Zone” which was in receipt of some funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Cllr. M. Sood declared a personal interest in respect of all substantive items as a member of the Police’s Independent Advisory Panel, as a member of the Leicester Council of Faiths and a member of the Bishop’s Faith Forum.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on the Force’s response to the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) on Leicestershire Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2017. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 5’, is filed with these minutes.

The Panel also received an oral update from the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding the HMICFRS report on Leicestershire Police: PEEL Efficiency 2017. As part of this update presentation slides were shown and these are also filed with the minutes.

PEEL Efficiency 2017

The PCC reported that the overall assessment given by HMICFRS to Leicestershire Police was ‘Requires Improvement’ although in the body of the report there were positive comments about Leicestershire Police. The PCC submitted that the timing of the inspection which took place in June 2017 was unfortunate as great improvements had been made since then. In particular progress had been made with the 101 telephone service where the abandonment rate had decreased significantly since June, at a time when the total number of incoming calls had increased. Clarification was given that what was categorised as an ‘abandoned call’ could vary from instances where the caller only rang for a few seconds to where the caller has been on the line for several minutes.

It was believed that the reason for the high abandonment rate in June 2017 was a shortage of call handlers and it was acknowledged that recruitment should have begun earlier. However, this recruitment programme was now underway.

To further improve the 101 service new telephony equipment was being installed which would divert calls more efficiently to the appropriate place. Lord Bach expressed a desire to be able to divert 101 calls to other agencies when appropriate. It was noted that when the 101 telephone line was established it had been intended to be a partnership arrangement but other agencies had ceased to be involved when funding was reduced.

It was noted that Neighbourhood Investigations Units became active on 23 October which it was hoped would have a positive impact. The Missing Persons Team at Wigston Police Station was now in place and 24/7 Response Teams were also being implemented.

In the view of the PCC Leicestershire Police delivered a high quality service in the face of significant funding cuts. The PCC reassured the Panel that his office conducted robust scrutiny of the Chief Constable.

HMICFRS had suspended the PEEL inspections for 2018 to allow Forces to undertake Force Management Statements therefore Leicestershire Police would not be reassessed on efficiency until 2019.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report and the oral update be noted.

An oral update will be provided at the meeting.

The Police and Crime Panel received an oral update on the work of the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner since the previous update to the Panel.

The Deputy PCC stated that his recent work covered the following areas:

·                Liaising with HMICFRS and the compilation of Force Management Statements;

·                The Knife Crime Gold Group;

·                Improving the recruitment levels of ethnic minorities into Leicestershire Police;

·                The Youth Commission work programme and engaging with new members;

·                The Estates Strategy;

·                The Strategic Assurance Board

·                Ensuring Neighbourhood Policing remained part of Operational policy.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the oral update be noted.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on performance for quarter 2. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

It was noted that this was the first performance report received by the Panel relating to the priorities set out in the current PCC’s Police and Crime Plan.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)            There had been a rise in the amount of Possession of Weapons offences and this mainly related to the carrying of knives.

(ii)          The Hate Crime spike around June 2017 was believed to have been a result of terrorist attacks which took place in other areas of the country around that time. It was still believed that Hate Crime was underreported in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The PCC was working on hate crime with criminologists at the University of Leicester.

(iii)         The Burglary figures as presented in the report included theft from sheds but it was possible to break the figures down into sheds and dwellings. Future performance reports would contain the figures broken down into both categories. This information could also be accessed from the Police.UK website.

(iv)         It was noted that the HMICFRS report on Leicestershire Police: Crime Data Integrity had identified that sexual offences had been under recorded. Consequently it was questioned whether the data in the performance report relating to sexual offences should have shown an increase now sexual offences were being recorded correctly. However, clarification was given that the number of sexual offences was so small that it not had a noticeable impact on the data.

(v)          The PCC shared concerns raised by Panel Members (particularly in relation to acquisitive crime) that offenders were being released from prison without sufficient monitoring by services such as Probation. The PCC was of the view that whilst Integrated Offender Management made a positive impact with the small amount of offenders that it dealt with, the services in place for other offenders were not satisfactory. The PCC intended to take a greater role with improving the management of offenders and his proposed candidate for the role of Chief Executive Officer, Paul Hindson, had a strong background in this area which he hoped to utilise.

(vi)         Concerns were raised that as the Victim First service was based in police stations this required Victim First staff to have a high level of security clearance which was causing delays in staff recruitment. The PCC agreed to investigate this problem and establish if it could be resolved.

(vii)        Concerns were raised that there were no Black and Minority Ethnic officers in Leicestershire Police above the grade of Inspector. The PCC shared these concerns and it was noted that Leicestershire Police were currently recruiting and Panel Members were asked to help publicise this to all communities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. It was agreed that a link to the recruitment page of the Leicestershire Police website would be circulated to Panel Members.

(viii)      Clarification was given that it was projected that Officer numbers would have to be at 1610 by the year 2021/22 which was based on the force receiving no additional funding and taking into account the maximum that the Precept could be increased by each year. The PCC confirmed that this number of officers was less than desirable but was a realistic estimate.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance at Leicestershire County Council on complaints against the Police and Crime Commissioner. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the contents of the report be noted;

(b)       That in future the Panel receive reports on complaints against the Police and Crime Commissioner on an annual basis.

The next meeting of the Panel is scheduled to take place on 31 January 2018.

RESOLVED:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Panel would be held on 31 January 2018 at 1:00pm.