Agenda item

The PCC delivered an update to the panel:-

“Before I provide this update, I want to take this opportunity – if I may – to update the Panel on a couple of developments that have occurred over the last few weeks and months.

First, members may have seen that a new Deputy Chief Constable for Dorset Police has been appointed. Scott Chilton, an ACC from Hampshire Police, will be joining the Force next month, upon DCC David Lewis’ retirement.

As ACC, Scott was strategic lead across all investigations teams, custody, the wider criminal justice system and intelligence. He brings a great deal of experience from his extensive policing career and I look forward to welcoming him to Dorset.

I am sure the panel will also join me in recording our gratitude for the work undertaken by DCC David Lewis – he has provided extraordinary leadership and service not just to Dorset, but also through regional and national roles that he has held. We all, of course, wish him the best luck in retirement. 

Second, I wanted to highlight the national PCC review that was announced a few weeks ago. Member have already seen my response, and will be aware that part one of this review focuses on the role to data, with a particular emphasis on fire governance and the interaction between PCCs and directly elected city mayors, in recognition of the government drive for further local devolution. Part two of this review, the details of which has not yet been announced, will take place after the PCC election in May 2021.

Finally, members will have seen the news, earlier this year, that forces were well on the way to meet the target of 6000 newly recruited officers by March 2021, with 4336 officers recruited to the end of July. Dorset is well on track to meet its own target of 50 new constables.

Forces in England and Wales are anticipating an announcement that will confirm the local targets and funding for the second year of the national Uplift programme. Once the announcement is made, I will ensure that this Panel is updated, but – as it stands – we do not yet know what this will look like. I am hoping that the Prime Minister’s promise for 20,000 new recruits will be honoured, but I am conscious that the pandemic may, unfortunately, alter those plans.

Moving on to the pandemic, then, the last time we met, I explained the activity undertaken by myself, my office and Dorset Police in relation to COVID-19.

That update was wide-ranging and I won’t repeat it all here, but you’ll recall that I informed the Panel that, by early April, the initial governance response had been superseded by extraordinary Gold structures, which were well embedded and operating effectively. The Force and OPCC had returned to a business as usual state, with OPCC providing oversight and scrutiny of the Force’s response through not only the usual strategic Force Boards, but also the new Gold structure, all of which continue virtually in most instances.

To be clear, this return to business as usual means that for the last few months the Force and my office have very much been able to concentrate on the continuation of Police and Crime Plan priorities. This is something which I look forward to detailing as part of our quarterly reporting under the next item in this meeting.

Last time out, you will remember that I was also able to update you on some specific examples of extraordinary commissioning, public consultation and scrutiny. My team was – and still is – heavily involved in work to ensure, for example, the continued good health and wellbeing of officers and staff throughout these most unusual and taxing of times.

Since we last spoke, there have been several changes to the local governance arrangements in place to oversee Dorset’s response to the pandemic. The weekly Strategic Coordinating Groups (SCGs) were stepped back in late July to meet every three weeks to retain oversight of:

·       Restart: discrete, short-term process of restarting any services that were paused

·       Recovery: long-term process of rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitating following the emergency.

·       Reset: an opportunity presented by the disruption, to embed new ways of working to create a new normal that aligns with and informs existing longer term strategic goals.

However, in response to the UK Covid-19 alert level increasing from 3 to 4, the SCG has returned to meeting weekly, as of yesterday.

As members will be aware, a new COVID Protection Board, chaired by the Dorset Director of Public Health, is responsible for monitoring and responding to any potential coronavirus outbreaks in Dorset. The DPH is responsible for managing local outbreak management plans for both council areas, which set out how local agencies will identify, respond to and contain any local outbreaks.

For my part, I am reassured that the Force is well prepared for the difficulties that may arise again this winter and has robust plans in place to deal with the inevitable challenges that will come this autumn and winter.

Of course, there remains so much that is impossible to predict about the months and years ahead. Only last week, the Policing Minister confirmed that lost income would be covered by the government, which means that the impact on the MTFS should be minimal, but as I have alluded to already, bigger factors are at play here – what does this pandemic mean for public sector funding in the future? It is too early to say.

We also know that this is a fast-moving situation. A host of new measures were announced only days ago, and with it came both an expectation from ministers that police would increase enforcement, along with an as-yet-to-be confirmed promise of additional short-term funding.

What we do know, however, is that robust and agile arrangements are in place in Dorset and that the public support the partnership approach that has been taken so far. We also know that our local data does not yet suggest that some of the national concerns are being seen locally. We are not complacent, but cognisant that government messaging can be confusing and national policy is all too often be focused on the metropolitan areas and not more rural places like Dorset. One of the key things we have learned during this crisis is the importance of maintaining an evidence-based, local, approach – that is the best way to ensure that we continue to enjoy the confidence of our communities, which is of the utmost importance.”

In response to questions from the panel, the Chief Executive of the OPCC advised that the SCG met yesterday agreed that sub-groups would be set up to manage dynamic risk assessments. He hoped to have more information at the next meeting.

With regard to enforcing the Rule of 6 and how to report potential breaches the PCC advised that he had launched a survey which had already received 1300 responses within 18 hours.  Early indications were that 93% of respondents would like Police to use the 3 Es, (engage, explain, encourage) before enforcement, they were supportive of what the police had done but going forward around three-quarters of respondents felt that stronger enforcement was needed.

Due to demand public were requested to report breaches of the Rule of 6 online

The PCC had a weekly briefing and the number of calls from Dorset residents about COVID-19 was very low. At this point there was no need to over-react – as Dorset had recorded among the lowest number of positive cases in the country.

A number of questions were posed by members which required further work to be undertaken to answer in full. It was agreed that the OPCC would provide a written response to allow for information to be received for the minutes.

The first question was in relation to the number of dispersal orders that have been issued since March. The second referred to the impact Covid was having on the criminal justice system (including courts backlogs, appeals and overturned tickets). The third requested an update on the work underway with local authorities around homelessness.

Dispersal orders issued

An update on the work of the Dorset Criminal Justice Board to manage the impact of Covid-19 is appended.

With regards to homelessness, members will be aware that the Government have put significant funding behind the ambition of ending rough sleeping for good by 2024, and have provided a further £5m to BCP Council and a further £1.5m to Dorset Council, on top of funds initially received to provide emergency housing for the homeless at the beginning of the Covid period.

The PCC’s view is that this provision of wholesale emergency housing provision for all rough sleepers in the county is a once in a lifetime opportunity to intervene in this space, and to not only provide safe and secure housing for this vulnerable group now in this challenging period, but also take steps to support them to get off the streets for good.

The PCC wrote to relevant representatives in local authorities in the above terms in June and has followed that up with separate meetings with both local authorities to consider the issue in detail and formulate joint plans. These plans are currently in development.