Meeting documents

To review the PCC’s approach to collaboration with the public and private sector and to receive assurances from him on the discharge of his statutory duties in relation to the Strategic Policing Requirement.

The reason for this item was to review the PCC’s approach to collaboration with the public and private sector and to receive assurances from him on the discharge of his statutory duties in relation to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR).

PCC’s have a legal duty to collaborate where it is in the interests of efficiency or effectiveness of their own or another police force. Collaboration agreements between police forces can also include other public sector organisations as well as the private sector. PCCs will also need to collaborate to meet their responsibilities under the SPR (this sets out a broad range of national threats and the need for a suitable response).

The PCC made the following points in his opening presentation:-

·         The Government (Home Office) expected that collaboration would help Forces meet the twin pressures of financial constraint and the ability to meet new policing demands. However, this pressure to collaborate has caused some concern because of having a number of different agreements with different organisations and employees being on different terms and conditions.

·         Thames Valley is more advanced than other Forces in terms of their collaborative work. They manage the SE Regional Units for Organised Crime and Counter - Terrorism which are very effective, and collaborate with Hampshire Constabulary on areas such as information and communication technology, joint information management unit and operations (e.g. firearms, police dog section and roads policing). Hampshire however is not part of the Chiltern Transport Consortium which is a collaboration between TVP, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

·         There is a national Specialist Capabilities Programme which will develop options for new models to support policing at a local level so that areas such underwater search services etc. will be provided for a number of Forces rather than individual Force’s having their own service. One proposal is for one Force to be responsible for providing a service for a number of Forces and who will be held to account for its provision.

·         The National Police Air Service is a national collaborative venture involving all police forces across England and Wales and is very effective.

·         In terms of Fire and Rescue Services the Government through the Policing and Crime Bill are expecting police forces to rationalise support services by collaborating with fire and rescue services. This Bill is still going through Parliament and PCCs are encouraged to produce a business case to submit to the Home Office on their proposals which could include the PCC taking over governance from their local Fire and Rescue Authorities and becoming the employer of fire and rescue staff (the governance model), the Chief Constable becoming a single employer for police and fire staff (single employer model) or the PCC being represented on Fire and Rescue Authorities (the representation model). The PCC was waiting until the legislation was in place before identifying which direction he should take. There were three Fire and Rescue Services in the Thames Valley and some form of collaboration would save money. Skills in one area could also be used in another – for example you could have a tri service officer working with the police, fire and ambulance services.

Fire and Rescue Services

The Chairman commented that the Fire Service had been changing for some time with a number of firemen being trained as First Responders and was becoming more of a rescue service now that the number of fires were decreasing with increasing health and safety requirements. He referred to the recent National Police and Crime Panel Conference he had attended where Lincolnshire had given a presentation on blue light collaboration. They had been given a Government grant to rationalise services and put all blue light services in one building even though they retained their own sovereignty.

http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2016/06/blue-light-campus-proposed-for-lincoln-in-15m-emergency-services-shake-up/

Cllr Burke asked what implications this would have on funding. The PCC reported that the Government has primary responsibility for funding the fire sector but that funding has fallen significantly and to mitigate the impact of the cuts fire and rescue authorities have sought to raise more funds through council tax and alternative business structures. For the police the main source of income is the Home Office Police Grant. The PCC can also raise additional revenue funding through council tax precepts (two thirds Government funding, one third Council tax in the Thames Valley) and there are also a number of grants that are ring fenced for national policing priorities. However, the Government is now looking again at new funding models for Forces in England and Wales. Funding arrangements would depend on whether or which new model is proposed for collaboration.

Regional Units

The PCC reported that the SE Regional Organised Crime Unit was hosted by the Thames Valley Police and brings together the current regional organised crime units under one structure. It was operationally aligned with the SE Counter Terrorism Unit.

Cllr Macpherson asked how efficient and effective were the current collaboration arrangements for these Units and also how organisations were collaborating on the PREVENT agenda ?

The PCC reported that governance of collaboration between Forces across the South East region was undertaken at the Regional Governance Board which has four meetings in 2015/16 where a performance summary is provided. In terms of Serious Organised Crime the PCC expressed concern that a number of the perpetrators were foreign nationals. Cllr Burke asked for figures on this and the types of crimes they were committing. The PCC reported that they were mostly European and that a number of serious criminals had been imported into England. He commented that free movement was an issue where crime was concerned. The information requested was restricted but the PCC would see what information could be put into the public domain.

The Chief Constable reported TVP have a specialist operations unit which includes the SE Serious Organised Crime unit (SEROCU) and the Technical Support Unit which provides support, equipment and deployments against all types of criminality, and consultancy to the Force for major technical purchases and projects. There is a joint Assistant Chief Constable who exercises overall command of the regional serious organised crime and counter terrorism functions. The ACC attends the Regional Governance Board and represents SEROCU at a national level with the National Crime Agency and other key stakeholders. The Regional Units will look at cross border threats including London and the Home Counties. Resources are directed to key threats.

The Counter Terrorist Unit receives national funding and again resources are directed to key threats, particularly looking at threats from areas such as High Wycombe and Slough. Local Authorities have a statutory responsibility with regard to the Prevent agenda. The aim of the Prevent strategy is to reduce the threat to the UK from terrorism by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Local authorities should establish or make use of an existing local multi-agency group to agree risk and co-ordinate Prevent activity.  The police play an essential role in most aspects of Prevent work alongside other agencies and partners. They hold information which can help assess the risk of radicalisation and disrupt people engaged in drawing others into terrorism. A key objective for the police is to ensure that Prevent is embedded into all aspects of policing including patrol, neighbourhood and safeguarding functions.

Performance

Cllr Macpherson asked how outcomes were assessed? The Chief Constable reported that the performance framework was a ‘Restricted’ document and could not therefore be circulated, as it included information on recent cases including significant seizures of cash and drugs and cyber crime investigations. He would produce information for the Panel which can be shown in the public domain on what outcomes had been achieved.

Action: Chief Constable

The PCC referred to Operation Hornet which related to a current trial involving HBOS banking staff. This was a Thames Valley Police operation and the case was being heard in Southwark Crown court. The Chief Constable reported that this operation had been a significant burden on police resources and commented whether this should be picked up nationally.

https://www.rt.com/uk/359070-banking-scam-trial-fraud/

The Chairman, Cllr Egleton referred to the OPCC paper on collaboration (page 16 of the agenda) which referred to joint work with Hampshire and programme delays in a number of areas. The PCC reported that this was largely delays in the ICT Strategy. There were a number of different systems (NICHE) which made the project more complicated and they were obtaining advice from some ICT experts. The Chief Constable reported that there was an issue with infrastructure which needed to be updated so that it was fit for purpose and had good data storage. The PCC referred to body worn cameras and informed Members that several years of information downloaded from these cameras needed to be stored, which required a more powerful system.

Cllr Egleton asked if the rest of the Country was as advanced in collaboration as the Thames Valley?  The PCC reported that they were quite advanced in this area. He was working with SE Police Forces on ICT and commented that it was important for areas with similar operational requirements to collaborate where possible.

Cllr Birchley referred to the SE Regional Organised Crime Unit and asked whether crime levels were falling – she referred specifically to a problem in her area relating to the theft of Christmas trees. The PCC reported that crime was increasing particularly with cyber crime and the use of the internet and the number of new crimes such as sexting and pornography. The Chief Constable reported that one of the benefits of collaboration was tackling criminals who do not recognise borders and can travel across a number of areas. There were analysts working on cross border activities with the Met, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire which had produced successful results. They were keeping a close eye on emerging trends such as child sexual exploitation, drugs and fraud crime. Traditional crimes were decreasing. The Chairman referred to an excellent presentation at his Community Safety Partnership meeting on Serious Organised Crime and cross border working.

Cllr Sohal also referred to cross border working and asked a further question about collaboration with the Met and also with the Mayor of London. The PCC reported that he had not had meetings with the Mayor but with the Deputy Mayor who was responsible for policing. As referred to above they had an analyst undertaking cross border work and individuals were targeted across borders.

Cllr White asked about collaboration with organisations in the Midlands. The PCC reported that there was liaison with a number of regions undertaken by himself and the Chief Constable. Local Area Commanders undertook cross border work with neighbouring forces.

Governance and Accountability

The Vice-Chairman, Cllr Mallon commented that a lot of regional collaboration work had been undertaken before with the old Police Authority. He asked if there were any issues with governance and accountability such as duplication? The PCC reported that with 42 Police Forces there would always be a degree of parochialism and some Forces would not want to collaborate even if was logical to do so. Forces in the South East tended to be larger but some smaller Forces could be subsumed by collaboration. The Vice-Chairman then asked if there were any further opportunities for collaboration. The PCC reported that he would need to look at the Fire and Rescue Services as a result of the Policing and Crime Bill. He also referred to the Specialist Capabilities Programme which was looking at rationalising policing in respect of specialist functions and capabilities. In Autumn 2016, the Programme will present its initial findings and options to the Association Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) General Meeting and the Chief Constables Council.Chiefs and PCCs will be provided with an overriding concept for the future, with initial evidence-based options for the future delivery of a range of specialist capabilities including surveillance, major investigations, armed policing and roads policing.

Partnership Working

Cllr Macpherson asked about collaboration with mental health services and what plans there were to strengthen this area?  The Chief Constable referred to the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat, which is a national agreement between services and agencies involved in the care and support of people in crisis. It sets out how organisations will work together better to make sure that people get the help they need when they are having a mental health crisis. A good example of how this was working was the street triage system which is a service where clinical mental health professionals accompany or assist police at mental health related incidents. The aim is to improve the overall experience and access to appropriate care pathways for persons with mental ill health who present to the police in a "crisis" state. This has reduced demand significantly. The Chief Constable commented that the next steps would be to discuss this with Health and Wellbeing Boards. Cllr Macpherson commented that it would be good for the police to attend when this is being discussed. The Chief Constable reported that the police were not invited to attend Health and Wellbeing Boards. The PCC commented that he would like more engagement with Health and Wellbeing Boards – he had written to them recently and only two Chairmen had responded.

Cllr Mallon then put the following recommendation (seconded by Cllr White) which was agreed.

RECOMMENDED

To liaise with the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel Chairman to look at scrutinising the decisions and actions of the two respective PCCs in respect of collaboration between both Force areas and to identify areas of mutual interest that could benefit from cross panel working.