Agenda item

Police & Crime Commissioner: Consultation on the Crime & Policing Plan for 2016/17

Decision:

(a) That the Committee supports the four priorities in the Police & Crime Plan:

1. Crime Prevention;

2. Delivering an effective response;

3. Reducing harm and the risk of harm;

4. Building effective partnerships

(b) That the Police & Crime Commissioner provide his list of savings made and his proposed efficiencies in due course;

(c) That the Council will investigate changing the wording on the Council Tax demand letter from ‘Police and Crime Commissioner North Wales’ to ‘North Wales Police’; and

(d) That the Police & Crime Commissioner and his colleagues be thanked for attending the meeting.

Minutes:

The Chief Executive introduced Mr. Winston Roddick (Police & Crime Commissioner), Mr. Julian Sandham (Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner) and Mr. Stephen Hughes (Acting Chief Executive) to the Committee. The full set of answers to the questions submitted to the Police & Crime Commissioner for his previous attendance at the County Council meeting on 23 July 2015 had been circulated to Members earlier in the week.

The Chief Executive provided an overview of the work of the Regional Safer Communities Board, for which Flintshire and Wrexham were the lead authorities, and the ‘strategic fit’ of the Flintshire Local Service Board priorities of reducing crime and disorder, substance misuse and reducing re-offending with those of the Police and Crime Plan

Mr. Roddick thanked the Chief Executive for the introduction and said that in part it was due to his efforts that there was such a good fit between the Council’s policies and the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Plan. He added that the Chief Executive had worked hard on the Safer Communities Board. One of the key tasks was to set out the strategic direction for North Wales and he was in the process of obtaining the views of the public, the voluntary sector and the business sector on what they felt was important, which was the reason for attending this meeting. North Wales was one of the safest places to live in and if was important that residents felt safe and that the Police were visible and available where they were needed the most. The Police & Crime Plan was revised each year and set out in detail the level of service that the public could expect. Mr. Roddick commented on a survey that Members could take part in.

Mr. Roddick provided a detailed presentation which covered the following areas:-

· Finance

· The future financial challenge

· Current planning assumptions

· Changes in North Wales Police (NWP) workforce numbers over time

· The current policing objectives

· Priorities

· Volume crime and protective services

He spoke of the financial challenge faced by NWP and the cuts in funding of over £24m by the end of March 2016 which made the delivery of priorities challenging. The force continued to perform well in the unprecedented situation and Mr. Roddick commented on the risks, particularly in the light of the recent attacks in Paris, associated with cutting funding which would affect the service. The final settlement figure would be received on 17 December 2015 and until this was received, there were some elements of funding that could not yet be finalised but the current financial assumptions indicated that £8.201m of savings would be required over the next four years to 2019/20. Mr. Roddick explained that cuts of this level would represent a significant challenge and would lead to a change in the way policing was carried out. He commented on the impact on Police Officer and Police Staff numbers and reflected on the success to date of protecting the front line from the financial cutbacks but acknowledged that further cuts would increase the pressure on the front line. The Commissioner said that the current Police & Crime Plan increased the focus on the most vulnerable which he felt should continue.

Mr. Roddick provided a detailed explanation on the four priorities which were:-

· Prevent crime

· Deliver an effective response

· Reduce harm and the risk of harm

· Build effective partnerships

He added that the NWP force was committed at a tactical and strategic level to keeping residents safe.

Councillor Paul Shotton thanked Mr. Roddick for his presentation. He sought clarification on whether there would be a reduction in the number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) as it had been announced in the recent Autumn Statement that there would not be any cuts to Police funding. He also asked about a recent audit of funding which had highlighted payments of £70,000 per quarter for a mobile phone service that was not being used. He went on to query what reassurance could be given to encourage residents to report incidents to the Police. Mr. Roddick said that he would need to reflect on the funding allocations on 17 December 2015 before giving an undertaking on PCSOs. However, he advised that he greatly valued them and the work that they carried out and he gave a commitment that any changes to PCSOs would be considered carefully. The Police would not be able to take any action if they were not aware of the crime/threat/danger and stressed the importance of all crimes being reported.

In response to a question from the Chairman, Mr. Roddick indicated that the continuation of payment for the mobile phone service was a mistake by both the Police and the mobile phone operator. The service had not been used and had been paid for but the phone provider had agreed to refund the payment. The Chairman also referred to the annotation on the Council Tax bills that part of the payment was made for the Police & Crime Commissioner function and he queried how the post was funded. Mr. Roddick indicated that payment for his office was made directly from the Home Office and through local taxation. The funding for the Police Service was through the Home Office grant. The Chairman suggested that the wording on the Council Tax bills should be amended to read ‘North Wales Police’. The Chief Executive advised that the core costs of the Police & Crime Commissioner’s office were funded directly by UK government. He agreed with the suggestion for the change to the wording on the Council Tax bills and said that he would look into this. Mr. Roddick indicated that the budget allocated for his office was not more than the amount for the Police Authority that preceded him.

Councillor Richard Jones sought clarification on what cuts would not now need to be made because the budget gap had reduced from £15.5m over four years to the £8.2m referred to in the presentation. He also referred to the perception of residents that the Police didn’t respond to minor crime and therefore there was no point in reporting it. In response, Mr. Roddick advised there was no extra funding available and that the areas where savings would need to be made had not yet been identified and that decisions would not be decided prior to the receipt of the information on the budget assumptions due on 17 December 2015. On the issue of crimes not being reported, Mr. Roddick said that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) had commended NWP on the level of crimes reported and recorded. Confidence in NWP had been measured as 90% which was positive and Mr. Roddick hoped that this provided reassurance to Members.

Councillor Peter Curtis referred to the good working relationship between the Police and Holywell Town Council as the Police were now located in the Town Hall. He referred to a national press article which reported that some Police forces were not able to respond to burglaries and Councillor Curtis praised the emphasis that NWP had put on the area of domestic abuse, which had been neglected in the past. Mr. Roddick expressed concern about the newspaper article about burglaries as it was not true and said that this area would continue to be investigated. He spoke of the significant challenge faced by the cutbacks and reiterated his earlier comment that the Police should be ‘where they were needed the most’.

Councillor Arnold Woolley spoke of recent reports of low morale in NWP and asked what could be done to alleviate this. He asked how satisfied Mr. Roddick was about the reliability of the statistics produced, referring in particular to a robbery that had been recorded as lost property. Councillor Woolley commented on the prevention of crime and the fact that Police Officers and PCSOs were rarely seen patrolling the streets, which he felt emphasised the public perception of not reporting a crime because the Police would not respond. In response, Mr. Roddick reiterated his earlier comments on the measure by HMIC on the reliability of reported and recorded crimes. He also published statistics regularly to address the perception by the public. Mr. Roddick said that he did not accept the statement from the Police Federation on low morale but if it was the case, then it would need to be addressed. Mr. Roddick suggested that the good performance levels of the force, as measured independently, did not support the assertion of low morale but suggested an effective and efficient workforce. On the issue of incorrectly recorded crimes, Mr. Julian Sandham referred to the crime recording system which had a compliance rate of 94% and said that considerable reassurance should be taken from the reliability expressed in the HMIC report.

Councillor Richard Lloyd referred to the 101 phone service, about which he received a large number of complaints from residents and sought assurance that a review of the service would be carried out. Mr. Roddick indicated that this had been a matter for discussion and debate at the Strategic Executive Board. The concern was if the 101 service was not effective, then the 999 service would become overloaded. Mr. Sandham spoke of abandoned calls to the 101 service but advised that in June 2015 over 93% of calls had been answered within 40 seconds and 96.5% in 90 seconds. There was a procedure that had to be followed before calls could be put through to the relevant Police Force and it was understood that this could take upto 40 seconds. The matter had been raised with the Police & Crime Panel and negotiations on what should be considered an acceptable figure for abandoned calls was still being discussed; this was currently 5%. He added that there was also an 0300 number which would allow callers to directly contact NWP and that he could provide the details following the meeting.

In response to a query from Councillor Andy Dunbobbin, Mr. Roddick agreed to provide a list of savings made and proposed efficiencies following receipt of the final budget settlement figure due on 17 December 2015.

Councillor Marion Bateman commented on an incident that had occurred where a witness statement had been made to NWP but had been subsequently lost, requiring the witness to provide a second statement sometime after the event. Mr. Roddick advised that he could look in to the details following the meeting but added that it was extremely unusual for a statement to be lost. He also referred to the introduction of a service called ‘Track My Crime’ where those who had reported a crime would be able to find out what stage the investigation was at; this would be available bilingually.

The Chief Executive referred to the assumptions of Council Tax funding being 3.5% for 2016/17 and 2.5% in subsequent years and questioned the rationale. Mr. Roddick confirmed that this information was subject to change based on the budget figure due in December 2015.

Mr. Roddick thanked the Committee for the invitation to address the meeting.

RESOLVED: