Agenda item

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting. 

88.1           Members received an update from Councillor Rob Garnham, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, on matters discussed at the last meeting of the Panel held on 14 March 2017.

88.2           Councillor Garnham advised that the newly appointed Temporary Chief Constable, Rod Hansen, was present at the meeting.  Mr Hansen had been appointed by the Police and Crime Commissioner for up to one year in order to provide continuity.  This was important given the government’s direction regarding the future of the Fire Service and whether or not it would form part of the remit of the Police and Crime Commissioner.  Comments had been made in relation to the nature of the appointment and the fact that the Police and Crime Panel had not been given any opportunity to endorse Mr Hansen in his role.  It was suggested that the role of the Police and Crime Panel in the appointment of the previous Chief Constable had not gone well and that lessons could have been learnt from that experience.  The appointment was robustly defended by the Police and Crime Commissioner who informed the Panel that the Chair had been notified of the decision the day before any public announcement had been made, nevertheless, Members felt that the Police and Crime Panel could have been more involved. 

88.3           There were no crime statistics to present as the national website had not been updated since his previous report in February.  In respect of emergency services collaboration, the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office had made a grant bid to the national Police Transformation Fund and received £100,000 to enable further work to be undertaken.  External consultants would be appointed to review the business case and Andrew North had been appointed as an assurance adviser.  The Police and Crime Commissioner confirmed once again that he was open to all possibilities and would only make a decision once the business case had been delivered.  The Panel had also been advised that the sale of the land that was previously the Constabulary HQ at Lansdown Road in Cheltenham had now been completed and CALA Homes would be taking possession of the site.  It was hoped that there would be an additional town centre police presence at Cheltenham Borough Council offices shortly.

88.4           Members were informed that, in December 2016, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) had released its latest leadership and legitimacy reports for all 43 forces in England and Wales.  The effectiveness report for Gloucestershire Constabulary had only been released at the start of March 2017.  In terms of the leadership report, the overall view was that there were no causes for concern and only two areas for improvement, however, improvements were needed in respect of both legitimacy and effectiveness.  It was important to put this into context and there had been a detailed presentation and discussion in relation to the reports which had also included some very good comments about the work of the Constabulary.  National comparisons of levels of crime at the time of the inspection, and for the current year to date, as well as the direction of the force and delivery i.e. crimes per 1,000 citizens, were also provided.  When these figures were analysed and compared with the family of most similar forces this did not appear to reflect the HMIC findings; Gloucestershire was doing far better than some of the forces graded by the HMIC as performing better.  The analysis had included the level of risk to the work of the Constabulary; Gloucestershire had been found to have very low risk.  It could be that more focus was needed in the areas which were examined by HMIC, and assurance was provided that the Constabulary was learning from the reports; however, it was recognised that those areas may not be the main priority for the public, the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner of Gloucestershire.  Update reports would be provided to the Police and Crime Panel on the areas of concern that had been highlighted.

88.5           Councillor Garnham advised that the author of the Community Safety Review, John Bensted, had attended the meeting to provide a brief update on his work.  The review was now entering the implementation phase and assurance had been given that the new structure still allowed local Community Safety Partnerships to continue their work.  It was noted that the next Police and Crime Panel meeting was due to be held on 14 July 2017.

88.6           In response to a query regarding the emergency services collaboration and the external consultants that had been appointed to review the business case, Councillor Garnham advised that Gloucestershire County Council, and the government, each had a view, however, the Police and Crime Commissioner had been given a mandate to make the final decision.  The Deputy Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner confirmed that there was a process to go through; the Police and Crime Commissioner had to make his case and there would then be a 12 week consultation process.  A final decision would be made by the government and that would lead to a number of options around the total governance of the Fire Service which was another issue in itself.  He stressed that, if the facts did not stack up then the Police and Crime Commissioner would not proceed; however, Councillor Garnham reiterated that simply stating that the status quo was preferable was not an option. 

88.7           A Member queried when the review of Community Safety Partnerships was due to be completed as the Tewkesbury Borough Community Safety Partnership was on hold and nobody seemed to know what was happening.  The Deputy Chief Executive of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner explained that the review had commenced in the summer of 2016 and had concluded at the end of the year.  There was still a lot of work to do in terms of implementation which was more of a challenge than the actual review given the significant changes proposed.  John Bensted was working with partners to achieve the best outcomes for all rather than simply imposing the new system upon them; this was a very important message. 

88.8           The Chair thanked the Council’s representative for his presentation and indicated that the update would be circulated to Members via email following the meeting.  It was

RESOLVED          That the feedback from the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel be NOTED.