Agenda item

The report is attached.

The Police and Crime Commissioner presented his report which was intended to provide the members of the Panel with an update on his key activities since the last meeting in September. This included responses to questions submitted at the last meeting, the publication of his final annual report for 2019/20, an update on the Police establishment focussing on recruitment and detective officer intake, diversity, equality and inclusion, police performance, support for Harper’s Law, an update on personnel changes in the Office, review of MASH arrangements, gypsy and roma travellers, improvement to the criminal justice system given the impact of Covid 19, road safety victims remembrance service and engagement activity.  The Commissioner also paid tribute to Neil Hewison, Chief Executive, who would be leaving the Office at the end of the year.

The Panel noted that there were unacceptably high numbers of people injured/killed on Warwickshire roads and supported the continued championing of this cause by the PCC as partners were benefitting from his leadership in this regard.

Councillor Kettle sought an update on the funding position for the current year and the impact of the pandemic on finances and noted that it would be helpful to have a brief financial summary in future reports until the impact of the pandemic dissipated.   The PCC provided an overview, noting that monthly monitoring activity took place and the budget process had commenced.  Finances had been supported by a generous level of reserves left by his predecessor but these were now reducing and his Office needed to look seriously at producing a balanced budget meaning that there were some difficult decisions to take.  Pressures were being caused by the pandemic, there had been some reimbursement relating to PPE, but there was also overspend on additional overtime due to policing.   More generally there were significant pressures as a result of the ending of the alliance and reserves had been earmarked for IT and transactional services.  The government grant settlement will not be released until just before Christmas/early in the new year, but his Office would work hard to put together a budget and consult on it. 

Sara Ansell, Treasurer at the OPCC, indicated that she could provide some financial details in future reports.  The Budget Working Group were meeting in the following week and the information presented could be disseminated to the wider panel if desired and she noted that the schedule of meetings for the Budget Working Group may need to be reconsidered to try to provide for onward reporting to the Full Panel meeting.  With regard to the impact of Covid, in the first six months, there was a loss of income of around £1m.  This related to PPE and overtime but also lost income, eg in relation to speed awareness courses.  Some reimbursement of costs had been received (£112000 PPE, £300000 income losses and surge funding of £205000).  A Covid fund of £500000 had been implemented by the PCC.

Councillor Kettle asked what the shortfall for the current year was and what percentage of the overall spend that represented. Sara Ansell responded that the quarter 2 budget monitoring report would demonstrate an increased draw down from reserves.  It had been anticipated that £4m from reserves would be required to meet transitional and one off costs from the ending of the alliance with West Mercia together with the increased draw down due to Covid related costs and other transitional costs.  More detail would be presented to the Budget Working Group.

Mr Bob Malloy referred to the detective development programme and the 18 new investigating officers, however, he noted that the Coventry Telegraph was reporting 80 Police Officers were under threat of redundancy which would result in a net loss of 62 investigators.  The PCC advised that this was an ongoing process with a consultation period which Unison was involved with.  He had an understanding of the rationale behind the proposals which related to staff investigators who were mainly ex-Police Officers drafted in to assist the force at a time when there had been a shortage of investigators.  The Chief Executive pointed out that this was an operational decision and the PCC had a series of detailed questions to pose to the Chief Constable relating to the rationale and risk and also to ensure that the people affected by the proposal were being dealt with properly and receiving any necessary support.  Mr Malloy noted the assertion that the existing civilian officers were ex-Police Officers who had 30 years’ experience, and expressed concern that their replacement by 18 newly trained officers represented not only a lack of numbers but also capacity in terms of experience.  The Chair echoed this concern in terms of efficiency, an issue for the Planning and Performance Working Group.

Councillor Ian Davison asked if provision would be made in the budget to finance the climate action plan and the PCC advised that an understanding of post-pandemic policing was still being developed, eg cutting down journeys from some parts of the organisation.  He was also involved with Blue Light Commercial which was looking at fleet procurement – but electric vehicles were not without their issues (charging points and speed).  Some contributions towards the action plan could be done without too much expenditure, for instance cycling and use of public transport.  However, there were no major expensive capital or revenue dominated schemes to introduce. The issue would form part of the next Police and Crime Plan if Mr Seccombe was re-elected in May 2021.

Councillor Davies asked for the PCC’s view on the current Covid crisis and the challenges to the force.  The PCC advised that overall the force had issued 372 fixed penalty notices and 48% of those had been paid (other forces had a lower percentage rate).  There had been three £10K fines issued for lockdown breaches, but forces nationally had been asked not to serve anymore for the time being.  The PCC considered that Warwickshire Police had got the balance right in terms of enforcement during lockdown and he noted that satisfaction in the force had gone up since the beginning of the pandemic.  The pandemic had really brought the Four ‘E’s Approach to the fore and the application of this four phase approach (Engage, Explain, Encourage, Enforce) had supported the diffusion of a number of situations.  Lockdown would continue until 2 December 2020 and the PCC was confident the force would continue to respond in a proportionate and reasonable way.  Enforcement was not possible in all situations but Officers were receiving good briefings on what they could and could not do and were responding with agility to changes in the law despite the Home Office and College of Policing not issuing guidelines until changes were actually coming into effect.  Overall, the PCC considered that the force had worked with all the other partners and attended (following a THRIVE assessment), when asked, many incidents. 

Councillor Davison also noted from the report that a number of officers had had to self-isolate and asked if there was anything further the force could do to help keep them safe.  The PCC advised that many cases of self-isolation came about as a result of a child being at school.  Not all of the 8% stated had the virus and there had been no hospital admissions.  Not all jobs were suitable for working at home (eg patrol officer) but there was a lot of access to professional help.