Agenda and minutes

A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at: http://council.webcast.vualto.com/leicestershire-county-council/home/?EventId=20140

It was resolved that Mr. J. T. Orson JP CC be elected Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel for the period up to June 2018.

Mr. J. T. Orson JP CC - in the Chair

It was resolved that Cllr. T. J. Pendleton be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel for the period up to June 2018.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 March 2017 were taken as read, confirmed and signed subject to the venue of the meeting being amended to state ‘City Hall, Charles Street, Leicester’, and it be recorded that a one minute’s silence took place during the meeting in honour of the victims of the terrorist attack which took place at Westminster, London on 22 March 2017.

There were no questions submitted.

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 the Chairman 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 performance for quarter 4. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’, is filed with these minutes.

The Panel welcomed Deputy Chief Constable Roger Bannister to the meeting for this item.

Arising from a discussion, the following points were noted:

(i)            Since the report had been written there had been further technical problems with the 101 telephone service and these were being taken very seriously by the Force.

(ii)          Whilst no formal target had been set for the time it took the Force to respond to Emergency Calls there was an aspirational target for Emergency Calls to be responded to within 15 minutes.  Incidents which could potentially have an impact on roads and traffic were prioritised. In response to a question from a Member it was confirmed that the chart on page 14 of the report did show that response times for Emergency Calls were getting longer. This was believed to be due to a number of reasons such as the reduction in Police Officers, the use of regional colleagues for traffic policing and armed incidents, and increased traffic volumes. In response to a question from a Member regarding the language problems of some people making calls to the Police and whether those that did not speak English as a first language got a longer response time the PCC offered to provide information on this to Panel members before the next meeting.

(iii)         In response to a question from a Member the PCC stated that he was not completely satisfied with the performance of call handling by the Force and had particular concerns regarding the 101 phoneline. The PCC stated that he attended monthly performance meetings with the Force which were chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable and at those meetings he asked questions and scrutinised progress with the 101 service. The PCC emphasised however that the performance of the 101 phoneline service had to be viewed in the context of the reduced amount of funding that the Force received.

(iv)         Clarification was given that the offence of malicious communications could involve the sending of abusive or threatening messages online or the sharing of indecent photographs.

(v)          In response to questions from Members regarding whether there were any targets for sickness levels amongst police staff it was noted that the Performance Delivery Group looked at the data and there were metrics in place. Members further questioned the PCC on what he was doing to improve sickness levels and the impact Project Edison had on the amount of staff suffering from stress. It was agreed that the PCC would obtain further information from the Force regarding how sickness levels were tackled and provide it to Panel Members.

(vi)         The Chairman noted that the report made no reference to knife crime and that there had been some recent high profile knife crime incidents in Leicestershire. In response the PCC submitted that knife crime in Leicestershire should be viewed in the wider context that knife crime was going up nationally and he stated that a large amount of work was going on in Leicestershire in order to tackle knife crime including early intervention with schools and using sporting organisations to promote the issue. Consideration would also be given by the Force to working with retailers, trading standards and test purchasers to look at who knives were being sold to. There was also an initiative entitled ‘Lives Not Knives’ which worked with the families of victims of knife crime. The PCC offered to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on Victim First delivery. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)        With regard to a typographical error in paragraph 9 of the report it was clarified that the PCC had discounted option ii. which was to continue with the provision of “Victim First” delivered by an outsourced provider identified through the OPCC commissioning process alongside appointment of an in-house Victim Service Co-ordinator. This left options i. and iii still under consideration.

(ii)       In response to a question from a Member the PCC agreed to provide the Panel with details of the consultation that was carried out including the dates the consultation was open and which stakeholders were involved.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)       That a further report on Victim First be brought to a future meeting of the Panel once the arrangements for provision of the contract had been decided by the PCC.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an explanation of the key provisions of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 and the implications for Police and Crime Commissioners. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were highlighted:

(i)        The PCC emphasised that there was a distinction in the Act between the duty for blue light services to collaborate with each other, and the option for Police and Crime Commissioners to instigate greater integration with Fire and Rescue Authorities. The PCC stated that he was in favour of collaboration between blue light services, and Panel Members urged him to consider all options for collaboration such as sharing premises.

(ii)       The PCC offered to bring a further report to the Panel setting out his views with regard to Fire and Rescue Service Governance and further integration with the Police Force.

RESOLVED:

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

(b)       That the PCC provide a further report to the Panel setting out the PCC’s views regarding Fire and Rescue Service Governance and his intentions with regard to further integration as permitted by the Policing and Crime Act 2017.

The next meeting of the Panel is scheduled to take place on 26 July 2017 at 1.00pm

RESOLVED:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel would be held on 26 July 2017 at 1:00pm at City Hall.