Meeting documents

To receive an oral update on recent developments from the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The PCC updated members on the following areas of development, (the PCC’s speech is attached as an Annexure to these minutes):-

Fallout of merger decision

The economic case had showed the merger to be the most effective way to deliver budgets. The 100 police officers for Dorset that the merger would have provided would now not happen.  However, Dorset was not dependent on merger for future stability. The OPCC had budgeted as if it wouldn’t happen and was now exploring many other collaborations i.e. the merger savings had not been included in the Medium Term Financial Plan.  Dorset Police was now hosting the Regional Forensic Collection across the 5 forces in the south west and the Qlik Sense analytical tool was in the process of being adopted.  Talks were ongoing with Hampshire about further collaborations. There had also been various discussions with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue on a number of areas of potential collaboration with the aim to continue to try to save public money and achieve efficiencies.

Alliance

The PCC reassured the Panel that, despite the failure of the Merger, the Alliance was strong and that it would be actively continued. As a result of the collapse of the merger though some adjustments have had to be made.  The merge team had now been disbanded and a decision had been made to not further align any more business areas for the time being. The Force would still have joint Chief Officer meetings fortnightly and other changes to local governance were also highlighted. There was now a clear need to recruit a permanent Chief Constable as the current Chief Constable had been appointed on a temporary basis pending the outcome of the merger.  The post would be advertised shortly, interviews would be held in January 2019 and the Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel had been invited, and had accepted, to take part in the process in an observer capacity.

The PCC highlighted that the Force was now operating with 500 less officers which was the lowest number of officers since 1981. He advised that Policing could no longer do everything, and he was considering which services to stop to keep the Police going. However, he assured members that people would be kept safe.

He was awaiting the government’s budget decision in December, but he had lobbied them for more funding.  However, there was an expectation that PCCs should raise the precept to accommodate the huge increase in demand especially in relation to knife crime.

Following a question from the Chairman about the Police pensions issue in the national media, the Chief Finance Officer, OPCC advised that the burden which had previously been held centrally by the Treasury was gradually, over several years, being moved to the local employer.  The costs were sensitive to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) growth forecast, which had reduced at the last valuation having the impact of increasing the required employer contributions. It was believed that the Treasury would partially offset next year’s increase, and it was highlighted by the OPCC that this was a National issue which affected everyone.  The Panel noted that the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) were in the process of challenging the Government through the courts on this change to Police pension policy.

With regards to the cost of the merger process, the PCC advised that the merger process was not yet completely closed and a full release of information and figures would be made available shortly.  He also noted that he was due to release all the paperwork under Freedom of Information (FOI) for the merger and this would be available on the Future Policing website.  This information would be shared with the Panel at the point of publication.

Following a discussion about the Fire and Rescue Service attending non-injury accidents instead of the Police, the PCC advised that discussions were still ongoing between Chief Officers of both organisations.  This was deemed a heavy demand on Police resources that could be better utilised. There were hundreds of non-injury accidents that Police attended as a matter of course but the Fire and Rescue Service could equally deal with them.

In respect of other work that the Police might not do in the future, the PCC advised that work was reasonably well advanced and the intention was for Dorset Police to report back to him in January 2019.  The police were moving to a demand led model but there needed to be a clear understanding of the model in the first instance. Following a question about the Fire and Rescue Service being paid to attend such incidents, the PCC advised that this was part of the ongoing negotiations.

In response to a question from a member about the number of drink/drug related arrests at Road Traffic Incidents (RTI), and the number of police officers required to operate safely, the PCC undertook to provide this information outside of the meeting.

Staffing

The Chief Executive, OPCC advised members that the PCC had set a challenge for him to consider staffing at the OPCC.  They had been carrying a number of vacancies for a couple of months, but these were now being addressed.  He had looked at staffing in depth and a number of other factors and was now comfortable that the OPCC was staffed at the appropriate level, given the delivery objectives set out in the Police and Crime Pan and the PCC’s list of commitments,  which the PCC had accepted.  He added that he would continue to keep staffing under a watchful review.

One member referred to the reductions in officers and possible further cuts in the future and yet the level of staffing in the OPCC remained the same.  The Chief Executive responded that in this instance he was referring to existing budgets and not new budgets.  At this precise moment in time with current budgets in a reasonable place it was appropriate. In the future it could be very different.  He highlighted that Police budgets and the OPCC budgets were completely separated.  He also confirmed that the second review of staffing for this year had been completed and would be reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Noted