A
presentation will be delivered under this item.
Minutes:
The Police and Crime Panel considered a presentation of the OPCC regarding the refresh of the Police and Crime Plan and the Development of Change Options. A copy of the slides forming the presentation is filed with these notes.
Arising from the presentation, the Chairman reported a frustration on behalf of partners that the consultation period on the draft Police and Crime Plan had been very short – 14 days during a summer month when many were on holiday and which included a bank holiday. The need to consult the Panel for “a reasonable amount of time”, as set out in the Act was stressed.
In response, the PCC suggested that the Plan had effectively
been consulted on since the refresh process began on 24 April. A broad
engagement process had commenced at this time and the comments received had
been reflected in the draft Plan which had been circulated to the Panel and
other partners on 16 August. The PCC felt that the extensive engagement process
with partners had been instigated as a result of what he saw as a justified
criticism of a lack of partnership engagement when the previous version of the
Plan was drafted.
The Panel however felt that this approach had led to an over-emphasis on a few individuals at each authority to respond and too little member engagement. A greater period of consultation would have helped ensure that partners had the opportunity to fully digest the information. There was a further concern that the Plan had too little in the way of specific actions and where changes in services were being proposed it would be necessary for the Panel to have sight of these and consider making comments.
The following further points were noted:
·
It would important to include the context of the
PCC’s budget for next year in the Plan. It was also felt that it would be
helpful to include with the Plan a picture of how the Police’s £20 million
budget shortfall was to be addressed;
·
It was suggested that the combining of the
Police and Crime Plan and the Change Programme may cause confusion. This was
questioned given the “operational” nature of the Change Programme and the fact
that operational matters were outside the scope of the PCP. The PCC stressed
that he was required to hold the Chief Constable to account over all elements
of the Plan, including the operational matters that were part of it;
·
The PCC ensured that any localised crime issues
were fed back through the Police’s internal governance arrangements to the
Chief Constable. For this reason, it remained vital that, where local members
were aware of any issues, they contacted the PCC;
·
The PCC recognised the importance of the early
intervention work with troubled families which the Council was currently
engaged in and how this would hopefully have a positive impact on crime levels;
·
Given the reduction in staffing level across the
Force, the careful management of public expectation would be necessary. It
would be helpful to include in the Plan what, specifically, as part of the
savings required it was intended to stop delivering;
·
There was a concern that rural crime might not
be receiving an adequate level of attention in the Plan. The PCC indicated that
it was extremely difficult to include everything in the Plan, but he hoped to
ensure each issue received a fair level of representation.
(David Bill asked that
it be recorded that it was his view that regular updates from the Chief
Constable on criminal activity were necessary in order to gain a full
understanding of how the Police was performing so that this information could
be fed back to residents as local members. In response, the PCC indicated that
the Chief Constable would be present at the PCP’s meeting on 2 October where
the draft Police and Crime Plan would be presented.)
RESOLVED:
(a) That
the presentation be noted;
(b) That
the covering report to the draft Police and Crime Plan submitted to the PCP’s
meeting on 2 October include:
(i)
Reporting of the comments submitted by each
authority during the consultation process and the response of the OPCC thereto;
(ii)
An analysis of the impact that changes had had;
and
(iii)
Comparative data between Leicestershire and
neighbouring forces