Meeting documents

To receive an update of progress against the Police and Crime Plan Q4 2017/18. Each ‘Pillar’ of the Police and Crime Plan will be reviewed in turn, supported through a brief introduction from the PCC and the PCP ‘Pillar Lead’.

 

·         Pillar 1 – Protecting People at Risk and Harm (Cllr Kerby and Cllr Quayle)

·         Pillar 2 - Working with our Communities (Cllr Iyengar and Cllr Davis)

·         Pillar 3 – Supporting Victims, Witnesses and Reducing Reoffending (Cllr Pipe and Cllr Manuel)

·         Pillar 4 – Transforming for the Future (Iain McVie)

 

The following documents have been produced to support the discussion.

 

Annex A – Alliance Drone Team

Annex B – Cybercrime update

Annex C1 - ICT Company Update – Benefits Statement

Annex C2 – Dorset Benefits Statement

Annex D - Finance

The Panel considered a report informing them of the progress against the Police and Crime Plan and Priorities 2017-21.  The report provided information on the financial outturn position for Quarter 1 2018/19.  Members also received updates on the following areas:-

 

·         Alliance Drone Team

·         Cybercrime

·         Police ICT Company update, including Dorset Benefits Statement

·         Dorset Benefits Statement

·         Finance

 

The PCC highlighted areas of work related to each of the pillar themes.  Members of the Panel who were leading on each of the themes in the Plan, were also invited to provide updates.

 

Pillar 1 – Protecting People at Risk and Harm – Cllr Andrew Kerby/Cllr Byron Quayle

 

Cllr Kerby advised the Panel he had recently met with PCC and the team. He was planning Spotlight Scrutiny exercises on DBS checks and Modern Slavery.

 

In terms of vulnerability, he believed the OPCC’s activity to be at an adequate level and had been impressed with the ‘out of the box’ thinking that was ongoing. He highlighted utilising police cadets in respect of vulnerable people as a means to plug the gaps in youth provision.

 

He explained the piloting of return home interviews in respect of an adult that had gone missing, and highlighted the police resources on this.   These interviews were currently only done with children that had gone missing. 

 

Knife crime activities were highlighted and the PCC hoped to re-energise awareness of this.

 

In relation to the increase of recorded hate crimes, the PCC commented they were in the process of trying to understand this but felt that incidents were under reported.  He was trying to change the thought of some people that hate crime wasn’t a ‘real’ crime.  Prejudice Dorset were aware of this issue and were working to try and address this.

 

Pillar 2 – Working with our Communities – Cllr Bernie Davis/ Cllr Mohan Iyengar

 

Cllr Iyengar highlighted that there had been a good take up in respect of the consultations on the drink drive limit.  The findings would be presented to a National Police and Crime Commissioner group and the PCC intended to present them to the Department of Transport.

 

In respect of the digitisation of cameras, the PCC noted that the way forward was average speed cameras but felt there would not be the funding for them in the next 10 years.

 

The PCC made reference to the get safe online project and noted that they were continuing the message to members of the public to keep safe online.

 

Following a discussion about Neighbourhood Watch, the PCC advised that whilst membership was declining, it could be morphing into something more relevant and useful.

 

Following a question about underwater drones, the PCC explained how useful they had been in searching for and locating missing persons.  It was really helpful for families to have the bodies of their loved ones located and/or recovered as soon as possible. In respect of searching for drugs, drones could be useful but would need the intelligence cue to support this activity.

 

Pillar 3 – Supporting Victims, Witnesses and Reducing Reoffending – Cllr Barbara Manuel/Cllr Bill Pipe

 

Cllr Pipe had recently attend an Armed Forces Covenant meeting and highlighted to members that work was still ongoing to secure a specific wing in HMP Portland for war veterans.  The Chairman welcomed this on behalf of the Panel and, again offered support to the PCC on this issue.

 

It was hoped that a visit would be arranged shortly for the Pillar Lead to attend a crown court session to view a ‘live’ scene and have access to witnesses and victims to hear first hand their experiences to assess the current procedures and see how things could perhaps be improved.  He would report back to the Panel on his findings, capturing any observations for improvement.

 

One member highlighted the work being done in relation to the rehabilitation/prevention of offenders, especially young offenders.  She made reference to a speech and language specialist helping youths in prisons and asked the PCC if this would be something he could consider supporting.  The PCC noted that he had done this previously but would be happy to try another approach with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  The Chairman asked for relevant documentation to be provided and offered to write to the Health Trust to highlight the problems and support the PCC in this regard.

 

Pillar 4 – Transforming for the Future – Iain McVie

 

The PCC’s position of a debt free organisation was highlighted to members as a positive. Mr McVie noted that he was in the process of arranging his next spotlight scrutiny exercise which aimed to look at complaints. He would also be looking at how evidence was dealt with at court from an efficiencies point of view.

 

Cybercrime

Members were made aware of a national issue in respect of passwords but with a 30% increase in reported cybercrime and the age profile in Dorset there was reason to think that people were not heeding password advice.

 

Following a question about how cybercrimes were investigated, especially with regard to crimes against websites, the Director of Operations, OPCC advised that it was dependent on where the website was hosted but effectively it started from there.

 

ICT

The Chief Executive, OPCC highlighted the conclusions in the update report which members were pleased to note. The PCC and Chief Constable’s commitment to reviewing the value for money offered to Dorset Police through this arrangements was welcomed.

 

He advised members there were 19 separate national transformation programmes and the OPCC were keen to understand the future benefits of them.  One member felt there was more about ICT licencing than enabling within the programmes.

 

Finance

The Treasurer to the OPCC advised members that the finance update had been provided in a similar style to the main Police and Crime Plan monitoring report.  There were 3 pages covering Net Revenue Expenditure; Capital Expenditure & Capital Financing, and Usable Reserves.  Summary information was provided in both tables and charts.  The intention was to provide a comprehensive overview of the year to date and forecast full year financial position.  The underlying detail had been considered by the Resources Control Board which was attended by the PCC and chaired by the Chief Constable.

 

The Net Revenue Expenditure position has a RAG rating of amber.  This is because the Total NRE is forecasting an overspend of £171k and action needs to be taken by the Force to bring this back into balance.

Savings are being monitored and £314k out of a target £850k have been secured in Q1.  It can be seen that there are wide variations against the budget and more detailed scrutiny of overheads is underway.

 

Capital Expenditure and capital financing are presented here together- as one has a direct consequence on the other.  The RAG rating is green.  Forecast capital expenditure is £6.3m which is lower than Original Budget and reflects a recent comprehensive review of the capital programme.

The Capital Receipts Reserve is forecast to be Nil at the year-end mainly reflecting slippage in forecast capital receipts which are being actively managed at Resource Control Board.

 

Usable Reserves reflects the latest forecast for the year; the main impact being the 2017/18 outturn balances.

 

Members thanked the Treasurer for the new style report but felt it would be helpful to have a bit more detail and explanation where the changes were or what the problems were.  More commentary on the exceptions would be helpful for members.  For the November meeting the Chairman asked for further information on the following areas:-

 

• Forecast Deficit
• Vehicle Replacement Programme – forecast compared to original budgets
• Capital Receipts Reserve
• Closing balance of total usable reserves.

 

Members of the Panel asked the following finance questions to the Treasurer to the PCC, who responded accordingly:-

 

1. In the minutes of the last PCP meeting (26^th June) in response to a finance question ‘5. Revised Estimates/Refresh’ reference was made to specific consideration being given to the effect on the outturn for the 2018/19 budget, with a response being provided by the PCC to the next meeting.

-          Can the PCC provide further details and guidance on the outcomes from this exercise please?

 

Revisions to the budget for the current year are expected to be made; both in the light of the 2017/18 outturn position and the current year monitoring.  To date progress has been made in reviewing the capital expenditure programme, capital receipts and the reserves strategy.  Capital financing and revenue costs reviews are underway, with the intention of the Revised budget for 2018/19 providing a baseline for the 2019/20 budget and medium term financial plan.

 

2. The Panel is grateful for the update on Emergency Services Network (ESN) at the last meeting.  More specifically though:

-          Can the PCC provide the Panel with assurance that funding is in place and that a sustainability plan exists to support Airwave until ESN comes into service please?

 

Yes – The Force has fully budgeted for the existing Airwave and potential replacement of existing hardware is included in the capital programme/medium term financial plan.

 

Noted