Agenda and minutes

The Chairman led introductions and advised this was a virtual meeting as permitted under section 78 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 to enable meetings to take place whilst observing social distancing measures.

Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Councillor Woodman, Councillor Harper-Davies, Councillor Walters, Keith Culverwell Independent Member, and Chief Constable Simon Cole.

Members will be asked to declare any interests they have in the business on the agenda.

Members were asked to declare any pecuniary or other interest they may have in the business on the agenda. There were no such declarations.

The minutes of the meeting held on 28 July 2020 are attached and Members will be asked to confirm they are an accurate record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held 28^th July 2020 be confirmed as an accurate record.

None received.

There were no public questions submitted.

Members to receive the first draft of the Annual Report for the PCC.

Members will be asked to discuss and approve the report.

The Police and Crime Panel considered the Police and Crime Commissioner’s draft Annual Report 2019/20, the final version of which, would include photographs and consistent format style of other OPCC publications.

Discussion of the report included the following points:

·         The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) was thanked for the comprehensive report based upon themes from the Police and Crime Plan.

·         The Panel notes the Annual Report referred to interventions around Domestic Abuse and the Panel were keen to understand how much violence in the public domain arose from domestic abuse and how the targeting of interventions could be applied to address that.

·         The case studies were welcomed as giving additional insight into the work being done, however as the area covered (Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland) which was very diverse in its communities, land, poverty/wealth, prospects for individuals etc it was difficult to identify from the report how successfully crime was being tackled in particular areas and it was suggested that some pictorial infographics could be useful to show that.

·         The Panel welcomed the increase in policing numbers and asked for the uplifting of police numbers overtime to also be reflected in the report, as it was important that the point was clear around the numbers of visible policing being agreed to since Police and Crime Commissioner came into office.

·         The Panel enquired about arrangements for the Violence Reduction Network (VRN) if future funding was not secured and noted, it was anticipated the government will grant aid next year. As this was a long term project a sustainability plan was being developed despite the working assumption the VRN will continue to be funded.

·         The Panel requested details about the Victim Surcharge levied at offenders and how that was applied.

Overall the Panel commended the report for being succinct and easily read and recognised the hard work being done.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the PCC’s Annual Report 2019-20 be approved, subject to the comments made by the Panel;

2.    That the comments made by the Panel (as set out above) form a report to be submitted to the PCC for his information;

3.    That the PCC be requested to provide a report regarding violence in the public domain linked to domestic abuse and interventions around that;

4.    That the PCC be requested to provide a report for a future panel meeting regarding Victim Surcharge and how it is applied.

Members to receive a report outlining the regional collaboration and partnership activities that the PCC engages in, the purpose of the work and the benefits that arise from that.

Members are asked to provide feedback and note the contents of the report.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report providing information of the regional collaboration work.

Paul Hindson introduced the report and outlined the details of regional collaboration and partnership activities that the PCC engages in, the purposes of that work and the benefits that arise from it.

The Chair thanked officers for the in depth summary noting the importance of this piece of work which was also important to the success of Force work.

RESOLVED:

                        That the contents of the report be noted.

Members to receive an update of the performance of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Quarter 1 20/21 (1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020).

Members will be asked to comment on discuss and note the contents of the report.

The Police and Crime Panel received a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on performance of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020.

A member thanked the Police and Crime Commissioner for attending an invitation and supporting the development of a community garden at the Wigston Police Station to commemorate and recognise people who had lost their lives in service.

The Panel noted that figures regarding the number of Facebook Reaches and Website Hits were being revisited as there was some uncertainty about their accuracy and that would be reflected in the next quarter performance report.

RESOLVED:

                        That the contents of the report be noted.

Members to receive an update of the performance exceptions of Leicestershire Police for the period April 2020 to 30 June 2020 (Qtr. 1).

Members will be asked to comment on the recommendations for further analysis based on exceptions and to note the contents of the report.

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on the performance of the Leicestershire Police for the period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020.

During discussion the following points were noted:

·         The Panel were interested to know what the analysis showed in terms of trend and whether benchmarking was carried out across areas of LLR to determine different trends between city areas and districts.

·         The Panel were informed that there was some regional comparison; last year LLR had 7.2 offences per 1000 population compared to other regions having 8.4, 9.9, 10.3 and 10.7 per 1000 population however those figures were subject to change because of under recording and final data was not yet available.

·         In terms of defining violence with injury, Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm (ABH) had been chosen as a threshold offence in determining classification so taking Common Assault as an example this would usually fall into violence without injury but under reclassification Common Assault could also be reclassified as ABH. However, it was important to note there were lots of other violence with injury offences too.

·         A piece of work had been done through the VRN to analyse background data across different areas, from that it could be seen that the City and Charnwood stood out so those were treated as priority areas in terms of looking to reduce crime.

·         In terms of trend, patterns were not always clear, Knife Crime and Murder offences data was stable however such offences were still a constant concern.

3.45pm The Chair left the meeting and the Vice Chair assumed the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

Panel Members discussed the content and presentation of data within the report and indicated they would like to see more context to the data to help determine what they should be concerned about, what needed more focus, whether there were underlying factors causing the data results and to see how well police were responding to crime.

The Panel were advised that work had been done looking holistically at the drivers for violence including background factors and risk indicators, however this was captured in a very detailed way rather than a strategic overview.

Panel Members referred to the data provided to Community Safety Partnerships (CSP) and the differences between that and the contents of this report. However, Panel Members were advised that the CSP were in a different position and were able to be more granular, whereas the remit of this Panel was to maintain a strategic focus rather than being drawn into parochial issues. It was recognised that a balance was needed to present the data in a useful way with some narrative to give context and to show what might be underlying trends.

4pm Cllr Les Phillimore left the meeting.

Panel Members were informed that awareness raising workshops could be organised to look at particular matters if required.

There was a brief discussion about the broadness of categories such as Hate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Paul Dawkins, acting Chief Finance Officer, OPCC gave a brief update on the position with IICSA.

Panel Members were reminded  that a letter had been sent to the Home Office following the last meeting to request support however it was noted that the Home Office had initially declined although there remained an option for the Police and Crime Commissioner to pursue a grant.

To note the next meeting will take place on Wednesday 9^th December 2020 at 2pm, venue to be confirmed.

To note the next meeting is scheduled for 9^th December 2020 at 2pm.

The Chair of the meeting thanked those present for their contributions to the meeting.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 4.35pm.