The
Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel, Mr. J. T. Orson JP CC has been invited
to attend for this item. A presentation
will be delivered.
Minutes:
The Commission considered a presentation from Mr J T Orson CC, Chairman
of the Police and Crime Panel (PCP), which provided details of the activity
undertaken by the Panel since the previous report to the Scrutiny Commission. A copy of the presentation is filed with
these minutes.
In his introduction, Mr Orson highlighted that the PCP had recently
visited the Police call centre at Enderby; this had
been informative. He confirmed that the
Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Lord Bach, had attended every meeting of
the PCP. The Chief Constable had only
been formally invited to one PCP meeting although he regularly attended
meetings at the invitation of the PCC.
Arising from discussion and questions the following points were raised:-
(i)
The Government had not passed the total
liability relating to police pensions to the PCC. However, the position would be reviewed in
two years’ time.
(ii)
A member expressed concern regarding the
recording of instances of hate crime by the Police. Mr Orson advised that the PCP felt that hate
crime was grossly under-reported and was monitoring the situation. He had also met with the Crown Prosecution
Service to discuss prosecution. He
undertook to follow up the specific case that was referred to.
(iii)
With regard to knife crime, it was noted that
during the second quarter of 2017/18 603 offences had been recorded, an
increase of 23% compared to the previous year.
During this quarter, the police had carried out two operations and
supported a national campaign, all of which had seen successful results. The PCC had also sponsored an event in
November targeted at professionals to raise awareness of knife crime and was
using £100,000 of reserves to run a small grants process to tackle knife
crime. The PCC had also made
catastrophic haemorrhage packs available in all police front line
vehicles. There had been no mention of
setting up a dedicated knife crime unit like in Nottingham, although Mr Orson
advised that the two PCCs worked well together.
(iv)
In response to a query regarding the PCP’s
confidence in the reporting of crime by the Police, Mr Orson confirmed that the
Panel was satisfied with the accuracy of the figures. This had been a significant area of scrutiny
by the Panel including holding the PCC to account for the recent HMICFRS report
into the accuracy of crime data recording.
(v)
The PCP had been advised that the PCC had
decided to increase the number of Police Officers for 2019/20 and 2020/21 by
107 officers. It was recognised that
recruiting this number of officers in a single year would be challenging and
the process was expected to take approximately eighteen months. It was queried whether the police force
shared a HR service with other forces in the region; officers undertook to investigate
this and provide the Commission with a written response.
(vi)
The number of Police Community Support Officers
(PCSOs) was stable and new posts would only be recruited to when current PCSOs
left the service. However, PCSOs were
almost entirely funded through the base budget, giving greater certainty to
this resource.
(vii)
It was noted that the level of reserves held by
Leicestershire Police was fairly constant at around £28 million. It was queried whether this level of reserve
was too high and suggested that some of the reserves should be used to employ
front line officers. However, members
were reminded that ongoing reliance should not be placed on reserves. The PCP had received a budget report which
contained detail on the use of reserves and balances, including the principle
that general fund reserves should be the range of two percent to five percent
of the total net budget. The current
general fund reserve was £6 million, equivalent to 3.2 percent of the net budget. Officers undertook to provide the Commission
with a breakdown of the level of reserves held by the Police.
(viii)
In response to a query about police response
times, the Commission was advised that the PCC’s budget was designed to improve
rural response times. The majority of
the additional officers being recruited would be based in neighbourhood police
areas to increase police present and visibility. The PCP was holding the PCC to account on
this matter.
(ix)
In terms of the prevention of crime, it was
noted that People Zones had recently been established in Coalville and
Loughborough aimed at partnership working and early intervention. A report on People Zones would be considered
by the PCP at its meeting in September.
The PCP also gave consideration to the success of activities
commissioned by the PCC through the quarterly performance report.
The Chairman thanked Mr Orson for attending the meeting and advised the
Commission that the Commissioners would be considering how to improve its
engagement with Leicestershire Police.
RESOLVED:
(a) That
the presentation and information now received be noted;
(b) That officers be requested to provide the Commission with
further information regarding the extent of shared services with other Force
areas and a breakdown of the reserves held by Leicestershire Police.
Supporting documents: