Agenda item

To review and make any recommendations to the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding his proposed Police and Crime Plan.

The Commissioner introduced the report which outlined the draft Warwickshire Police and Crime Plan for 2025/26.  He explained that the Plan outlined the objectives for Warwickshire and provided a guide for the Chief Constable as to how residents felt the County should be policed.  It also laid out how these objectives would be reported on and how the Force’s progress would be measured.

The Commissioner reminded the Panel of the level of consultation carried out along with the use of independent consultants, TONIC.  Communications had covered a wide geographical base along with a varied age range, which officers felt was a good representation of Warwickshire residents.

The Planning and Performance Working Group had considered an initial draft of the Plan at their meeting in September 2024.  The Commissioner advised that this version included an enhanced focus on crime prevention and the Chief Constable’s support for the plan.

The Chair thanked the Commissioner for his introduction and opened the floor to questions from the Panel.

Councillor Fradgley referred to the grid of statistics on page 27 of the pack and asked if figures could be added to enable the public to draw a comparison on performance compared to last year.  It was agreed that these could be provided to the Panel and would be a useful discussion area for the Planning and Performance Working Group, however, the grid had been included as a snapshot of a typical day in the Force.  The Panel noted that this grid would evolve into an infographic description in the final version.

Councillor Dave Humphreys queried the statistics relating to 101 calls as he felt there were still improvements that could be made.  He asked for clarification on the figures relating to the reporting of crimes via the internet.  In response, the Commissioner explained how the triage system offered the option of completing an online form. The Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner (DPCC), Emma Daniell, referred to the broadening range of options available to people contacting the Force, including the digital services online desk and new policing initiatives underneath ‘Operation Invicto’ which offered more ways to access virtual contact with officers if that was required.

Further discussions took place relating to 101 call response times along with clarification on when the timings for answering calls were taken from, e.g. as the call is answered, or once it had been triaged to another area.  The Commissioner advised on historical and current call answering times and reiterated the importance of dialling 999 in any emergency issue, as the aim of the 101 service was to report ongoing issues.  The DPCC gave an update on ongoing and future works which would continue to interrogate the system to monitor effectiveness.

The Chief Executive, Polly Reed, reminded the Panel that the Chief Constable was willing to look into individual call handling experiences as a learning tool of case studies.

It was agreed that a breakdown on answering times and triage processes could be added to the next agenda for the Planning and Performance Working Group.

Andrew Davies, Independent Member, acknowledged the high level of information within the draft plan, along with the competing priorities.  He asked the Commissioner if he could outline his top three priorities within the plan.  In response, the Commissioner referred to page 28 of the papers which set out twelve priorities, grouped under three key pillars.  Of these the Commissioner highlighted policing effectiveness, reducing violent crime, and reducing theft, burglary and robbery, which were three of the key areas in his opinion.

Andrew Davies thanked the Commissioner and encouraged him to be clear with the community when priorities conflicted, as he recognised it was not possible to keep everybody happy. 

In response to a question from Councillor Ray Jarvis, the DPCC advised that further detail on abandonment of calls could be looked at in the Planning and Performance Working Group, as well as data around whether the Police were the appropriate service to be calling in some cases.  With regard to the query relating to the cover of calls from outside of Warwickshire’s area, Emma Daniell explained that there was a national reciprocation of responding to 999 calls and on occasion, Warwickshire did have to provide support to other forces.  If officers felt this service was being overused, they would raise it with the Chief Constable to ensure Warwickshire’s numbers were not being adversely affected.  However, it was noted that if Warwickshire’s call centre was not able to operate, support would be provided by other areas.

Councillor Claire Edwards raised a concern that the document did not contain any reference to Hate Crime, instances of which appeared to be underreported.  Neil Tipton, Head of Media and Communications OPCC, addressed this point and it was agreed that reference to this could be added underneath the ‘Safeguard People’ pillar (page 6 of 23) as it remained a priority for the Force and should have been included in the document

Councillor Simpson Vince noted that the document did not refer back to any previous achievements or successes, making it difficult to know where the plan was building from.  She felt it may be useful to note that the Force had been on a journey over recent years and many improvements were already underway.  The Commissioner acknowledged the comments and agreed to consider adding something in, whilst trying to maintain a forward-looking focus.

The Chair addressed the meeting, highlighting some of the styling and language used in the ‘To achieve this I will’ sections.  He felt that this could be read as too passive and queried strengthening the language where possible.  Neil Tipton explained that some of the activities referred to in these sections were partnership based and it was not always possible to be definitive about proposed outcomes.

Councillor Edwards asked about the methodology used by TONIC as she did not feel the spread of respondents was as reflective of the whole County, particularly in urban areas of North Warwickshire.  The Commissioner advised that this year had resulted in the most representative consultation carried out to date as historically some areas were recognised as harder to reach.  Neil Tipton provided further detail about the proactive work undertaken to encourage responses from a broad sample of the community including the use of focus groups.  Advertising was also used to target respondents in lower response areas and victims of crime were also contacted to participate.

Councillor Sinnott referred to the number of police officers per resident, which varied throughout the country and asked if the Commissioner had aspirations to raise Warwickshire’s numbers.  The Commissioner agreed that he would like to see an increase, if funding allowed. He referred to the National Police Funding Formula which continued to be problematic as he felt it disadvantaged Warwickshire, compared to other areas.  It was noted that Commissioners across the country continued to encourage the Home Office to look at the issue seriously.

The Chair referred to the comments made at the AGM of National Association of Police, Fire and Crime Panels (NAPFCP) which had made it clear that many members felt their areas were disadvantaged. The Commissioner acknowledged the population growth in Warwickshire and the impact of its geographical position, and unique make up with the convergence of six motorways and a number of tourist centres.

The Chair advised that the Police and Crime Plan was revisited by the Panel every year and would be added to the Forward Plan for future meetings.  The Commissioner thanked the Panel for their input and welcomed the comments made.

Resolved that a formal response to the Draft Police and Crime Plan would be submitted to the Commissioner shortly, highlighting the observations and recommendations made.