Hampshire County Council Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Panel (Statutory Joint Committee) Meeting

The Monitoring Officer to the Panel welcomed Members to the meeting.

Apologies were received from:

·         Councillor Dan Poole (New Forest District Council)

·         Councillor Gwen Robinson (Havant Borough Council)

·         David Stewart (Independent Co-opted Member)

Councillor Imogen Payter was in attendance as the deputy Member for Havant Borough Council.

Members were able to disclose to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in their appointing authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in any such matter that Members may wish to disclose.

No declarations were made.

Members received a report from the Democratic Services Officer to the Panel detailing the membership of the Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year and the proposed appointment of local authority co-opted members.

RESOLVED:

·         That the Panel notes its Membership for the 2023/24 municipal year.

·         That Councillor Luigi Gregori and Councillor David Podger are appointed to the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel, as Local Authority Co-opted Members, and Councillor Jack Davies and Councillor John Hutchinson as Deputy Local Authority Co-opted Members, representing the Liberal Democrat Group.

·         That the Panel notes the Panel Membership was, at the time of the meeting, politically proportionate for the purpose of the balanced appointment objective.

The process of electing a Chairman, as set out in the Panel Arrangements, was explained and it was noted that the appointment would be for a period of one year, until the annual meeting in 2024.

Councillor Imogen Payter, seconded by Councillor Lesley Meenaghan, proposed Councillor Seán Woodward, and Shirley Young, seconded by Councillor Tonia Craig, proposed Councillor Simon Bound be elected Chairman.

Both proposers were invited to speak in support of their nominations, and those nominated were then invited to speak to their nominations.

Both nominations were put to the vote, with Councillor Seán Woodward elected as Chairman, by nine votes to eight.

Councillor Seán Woodward took the Chair.

The Chairman called for nominations for Vice Chairman until the annual meeting in 2024.

Councillor Seán Woodward, seconded by Councillor Imogen Payter, proposed Councillor Lesley Meenaghan, and Councillor Tonia Craig, seconded by Councillor Luigi Gregori, proposed Councillor Vivian Achwal be elected Vice Chairman.

Those nominated were invited to speak to their nominations.

Both nominations were put to the vote, with Councillor Vivian Achwal elected as Vice Chairman, by ten votes to six, with one abstention.

The Minutes from the previous meeting were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman brought forward the Chairman’s Announcements to be heard as Item 7, with Questions and Deputations taken as item 8 at the meeting.

No questions or deputations were received by the Panel on this occasion.

The Chairman thanked the previous Chairman, Councillor Simon Bound, for his contribution and dedication to the Panel over the previous two years.

The Chairman also offered thanks to Councillors Stuart Bailey, Geoffrey Blunden, John Gledhill and Sarah Powell-Vaughan, who had served on the Panel during the previous year, noting that Councillor Stuart Bailey would remain with the Panel as a deputy Member.

New Members to the Panel were welcomed by the Chairman, who noted that an induction and training event would be held for all Panel Members ahead of the next meeting in October.

Following the announcement of the recommendations of part two of the PCC Review, the Chairman noted that the Panel had led on producing and agreeing a combined submission to the Home Office from Panel Chairman across the South-East region, regarding enhancing the support model for PCPs. Following receipt, the Home Office and their consultancy team had asked to attend a meeting of the south-east region support officers, hosted by Hampshire and Isle of Wight PCP, and that the Democratic Support Officer had recently attended a Home Office workshop on the development of the new support model.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for arranging a recent visit for the Panel to the Constabulary training facility at Netley, which had included a visit to the Contact Centre control room. The Chairman also congratulated Commissioner on her recent appointment as Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).

The Commissioner gave an overview of activity undertaken by her and her office during the previous quarter, through which it was highlighted that:

·         During May, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary committed 31 days of intense action. This high visibility policing approach, driven by the new Chief Constable, had achieved some very significant results, including 438 arrests, 1305 seizures and 1321 enforcement actions. Additionally, during Operation Sceptre, a national week of action to tackle knife crime, the Constabulary had increased stop and search activity, seizing 123 knives and making 17 arrests. Members heard that following the success of the intense action, which had re-invigorated the force, this would now form part of the business-as-usual model for policing.

·         £1million had been awarded by the Commissioner to co-commission a project with Probation and Public Health working with stalking perpetrators. The Commissioner also announced new stalking advocacy support service for victims, which was being provided in partnership with Stop Domestic Abuse.

·         Speed cameras had been installed on the A32 and A272, as part of a £677,000 pledge by the Commissioner to make roads safer.

·         In June, the Chief Constable had announced his new priorities, including a new geographical policing model which would focus on bringing police officers closer to their communities. The Commissioner invited the Panel to meet with the Chief Constable in September to provide further detail of the strategic priorities within the new operating model. The Commissioner also confirmed that the Chief Constable would attend the next Panel meeting in October, where the update on the Police and Crime Plan would focus on contact management and the police 101 service.

·         The second and third rounds of the Commissioner’s Emerging Needs Fund opened in June to help tackle knife crime and serious violence among young people, with a further round in July to focus on crime prevention. £5k in funding was also pledged by the Commissioner to help tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Rushmoor during the summer months.

·         ASB awareness week was held in July, with the Commissioner delivering a public awareness campaign in partnership with Resolve on the community trigger process.

·         Drug testing on arrest had been rolled out across all districts within the policing area to enable diversionary help to be offered to those arrested for trigger offences when released from custody. In response to Members questions it was heard that testing positive for drug use was not a chargeable offence, but was an opportunity to help the individual and prevent future drugs use.

·         The benefits of the 100% dwelling burglary attendance were starting to be realised, and the new approach not only allowed the force to improve the initial attendance to a burglary, but also the opportunity to provide preventative guidance to residents.

The Panel received an update from the Commissioner on her oversight of the performance of the Constabulary, including the findings of the recent PEEL inspection. Members heard that:

·         The outcome was a fair representation of where the force was at the time of the inspection, and similar to most other forces across the country.

·         Areas highlighted for improvement were preventing crime and responding to the public. The Commissioner felt it was helpful that the inspector had provided specific areas for improvement, which would be addressed and assessed through a further in inspection within the next 12 months.

·         A particular concern raised was the abstraction of neighbourhood Police Officers to respond to emergency and semi-emergency calls, and the Commissioner was confident that the new operating model would address this.

·         In terms of response to public, the Commissioner recognised that the SARA (scanning, analysis, response, assessment) model was not being used as effectively as would be expected by the Constabulary when recording crime, and that partner organisations and residents had expressed concerns that the police weren’t responding to the crimes they should. The Commissioner had confidence that the new officers brought in through the uplift programme, in combination with the new operating model would address this going forward.

RESOLVED:

That the update on Effective and Efficient Policing was noted.

The Panel received a presentation from the Commissioner providing an update against delivery of the Police and Crime Plan, with a specific focus on rural crime and tackling unauthorised encampments, through which it was heard that:

·         The letter from the Chairman and the input from the meeting of the working group had been very helpful in defining the information to be presented to the Panel.

·         The Commissioner had run a number of engagement events to update partner organisations on changes to legislation in relation to and the impact of unauthorised encampments. As part of this process the Commissioner and her team looked at examples of best practice nationally and shared these with local authority partners.

·         Data was shared demonstrating the number of reported incidents of unauthorised encampments, to the Constabulary, since 2021, with 45 reported incidents since April 2023 for the year to date. A recent example was shared, highlighting the community impact of the unauthorised encampment and how the Constabulary had taken action to address this.

·         The Commissioner raised with ministers the ambiguity caused by the use of the wording ‘significant impact’ within the legislation, which was now being reviewed at a national level with the Commissioner invited to contribute.

·         There were seven rural beats and six urban across the force area, with a number containing both urban and rural conurbations.

·         A further case study was shared demonstrating how the Commissioner was supporting efforts to enhance policing visibility in rural communities, through the provision two new 4x4 ranger vehicles.

·         The Commissioner’s office had launched an online rural crime booklet to support residents to keep themselves safe from crime.

Cllr Lashbrook left the meeting at this point.

In response to questions from the Panel it was heard that:

·         The Commissioner was keen to increase local policing visibility and had set aside £2m of funding to provide police front counters at new locations, including on local high streets.

·         The Commissioner was looking at areas where safer camera partnerships had been successful and was currently considering how this might be implemented across Hampshire and the IOW, with the Commissioner providing funding for CCTV and deployable CCTV.

·         The Commissioner had raised suggestion regarding the use of local temporary sites, to manage the flow of unauthorised encampments, with an on call rota between the 14 local authorities across Hampshire. Whilst this wasn’t supported by local authorities, due to concerns that this might draw in more activity from outside the county, the Commissioner continued to work with local authority partners to consider the availability of properly designated temporary sites.

·         Members raised the importance of consistency in how unauthorised encampments were being attended and addressed by the Constabulary. The Commissioner explained that the police cannot use powers under section 61 of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994, until the community impact of an unauthorised encampment has been assessed to as significant within the meaning of the legislation.

·         DISC was providing an effective two-way engagement between the Constabulary and business owners. The Commissioner was still considering options for a mobile application to enable members of the public to report concerns in a similar way.

·         A new joint performance framework was being finalised between the Chief Executive, OPCC, and the newly appointed Deputy Chief Constable and the Commissioner would bring this to the Panel for visibility once finalised.

·         Whilst it was difficult to measure local trust and confidence in policing, the Commissioner sought to understand this through surveying residents and victims of crime throughout the year.

RESOLVED:

That the update on the performance and delivery of the Police and Crime Plan was noted.

The Chairman introduced the Panel’s draft annual report for the 2022/23 municipal year.?

The Chairman noted that the Democratic Services Officer would prepare a list of the recommendations agreed by the Panel across the previous municipal year, to be shared with the OPCC and confirm the response to each. Members heard this would be appended to the annual report, to demonstrate the outcomes and effectiveness of the PCP’s scrutiny of the Commissioner, and will be shared at the Panel’s next meeting in October.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel received and agreed the draft annual report. 

That, following the meeting and addition of a foreword from the Chairman, the final report will be published and circulated to all local authorities in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Policing Area.

Members received a report from the Democratic Services Officer detailing the activities of the Complaints Sub-Committee over the last 12 calendar months.

RESOLVED:

That the annual complaints report was noted.

Members received a report from the Finance Officer to the Panel which monitored the budget for 2022/23, in advance of agreeing the proposed budget for 2024/25.

RESOLVED:

The Panel:

• Notes the final financial position for 2022/23.
• Notes the current performance against the budget for the financial year.
• Agrees the proposed budget for the Panel for 2024/25, subject to confirmation of the Government grant for 2024/25.

Members received a report from the Democratic Services Officer to the Panel outlining proposed arrangements and membership for a Complaints Sub-Committee, Policy and Performance Working Group and Precept 2024/25 Task and Finish Group to operate under the Panel.

Members were invited to express an interest in membership of the working groups and Sub-Committee. Nominations were noted as follows:

Complaints Sub-Committee:

·         Chairman: Shirley Young

·         Cllr Tony Jones

·         Cllr Lesley Meenaghan

·         Cllr David Podger

·         Cllr Seán Woodward

Policy and Performance Working Group:

·         Cllr Vivian Achwal

·         Cllr Luigi Gregori

·         Cllr Simon Minas-Bound

·         Cllr Alan Oliver

·         Cllr Matt Renyard

Precept 2024/25 Task and Finish Group:

·         Cllr Jason Fazackarley

·         Cllr Karen Lucioni

·         Cllr Martin Pepper

·         Vacancy

·         Vacancy

RESOLVED:

·         That the Panel agrees the continuation of the Complaints Sub-Committee and the Policy and Performance Working Group for the 2023/24 municipal year, in accordance with the updated Terms of Reference set out in appendix one and appendix two of the report.

·         That the Panel agrees to appoint a Precept 2024/25 Task and Finish Group, in accordance with the Terms of Reference set out in appendix three of this report.

·         That the Panel agrees the membership of the Complaints Sub-Committee, Policy and Performance Working Group and Precept 2024/25 Task and Finish Group for the 2023/24 municipal year.

·         That the Panel notes that the agreed terms of reference for the Sub-Committee and Working Groups will be published on the Panel’s website following the meeting

Members received a report from the Democratic Services Officer setting out the proposed work programme for the Panel for the 2023/24 municipal year.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme was agreed.