Agenda item

The Police and Crime Commissioner will give a presentation on this item.

 Sir Clive Loader, the Police and Crime Commissioner, gave a presentation focusing on the preparation of the draft Police and Crime Plan 2013 – 2017.  A copy of the presentation is filed with these minutes.

The Commissioner explained that the draft Plan had been prepared in the light of his manifesto and reflected the wishes, aspiration and expectations of the citizens of the Force area, while taking account of the national Strategic Policing Requirement.  The Plan would include realistic, measurable targets against which his own performance, as well as that of the Police, could be measured.  It would be a significant challenge to close the gap between projected spend and budget and the Commissioner hoped to be able to achieve much of this through internal efficiencies and through sharing activities and resources with other forces.

The following key points arose from discussion:

      i.                There would be a large publicity campaign to raise awareness of the Plan, including the targets, once finalised.

    ii.                The importance of retaining a visible presence in communities across the County was accepted and it was hoped to be able to maintain levels of uniformed officers (warranted, PCSO, or specials) through achieving efficiencies from elsewhere; however, this would be dependent on the availability of funding from a variety of streams, all of which would be under increasing pressure.  A balance therefore had to be struck between ensuring the most efficient use of resources and the deterrent effect of visible local policing.

   iii.                If necessary, outsourcing of services would be considered to free up resources to keep officers on the streets.

   iv.                The force had a Change Board reviewing a range of initiatives to prepare it for future challenges, including a review of the use of information technology.

    v.                The PCC would seek to reduce the diversion of officers to handle mental health and missing persons cases that could more properly be dealt with by other organisations. 

   vi.                It was important that partners avoided taking decisions in a vacuum, without considering the potential impacts that cuts in one area might have on other organisations.

  vii.                Consultation would be carried out to ensure the priorities in the Police and Crime Plan took account of the priorities of the force’s strategic partners.  However, PCCs had only been given eight weeks within which to produce their first Police and Crime Plans, which did not allow time for a full consultation.  It was intended to review and revise the Plan regularly, starting in the summer of 2013.  It was suggested that a meeting of the Leicestershire Safer Communities Strategy Board, supplemented by representatives from Leicester City and Rutland County Councils, could provide a useful opportunity for further discussion of joint priorities.

viii.                The PCC was aware that there was still much he had to get to grips with in relation to how the force operated, its performance and understanding the factors that impacted on performance across the County.

   ix.                The City of Leicester was now the most diverse city in the country and therefore presented a unique policing challenge: it was suggested that the recent census figures could therefore be used to argue a case for increased funding for Leicestershire.  It was noted that currently, Leicestershire loses out under the damping arrangements (whereby, if the pot of funding for all forces is not large enough, money is diverted from some forces to those with greater need).

    x.                The intention to include measurable targets was welcomed.  It was noted these would form one of the means by which the Panel could scrutinise the performance of the PCC.

   xi.                The 41 PCCs across England and Wales could be a powerful voice when united in dealing with central government.

RESOLVED:

That the information now provided by the Police and Crime Commissioner be noted.