Meeting documents

The Police and Crime Commissioner is asked for his view on the recently published Home Affairs Committee report on "Policing for the Future".

The Panel was provided with a summary of the recently published report by the Home Affairs Committee on "Policing for the Future" and the Police and Crime Commissioner was asked for his views on the findings of the report.

The PCC reported that he agreed with many of the findings in the report. Nationally there had been an upturn in crime, although in the Thames Valley this had been less. Reference was made to the changes to the recording of crime which had affected the crime figures. For instance one crime could involve a few incidents, which had to be recorded individually. The Home Office had also changed the criteria of certain crimes, with for example household burglary now including outside sheds.

The overall picture, however, was of rising crime and a reduction in the number of Police Officers. There had been a reduction of 20,000 Police Officers nationally; the Thames Valley Police budget had dropped in real terms, by £100m since 2010/11. Those who committed crimes which went undetected carried on committing more crimes and the cycle continued.

The PCC referred to a briefing paper in the "Police Professional" in which the leadership within the Home Office was questioned. An example of this was in relation to the proposal for the PCC to take over the responsibility for the Fire Service within the Thames Valley. There had been little support and leadership from the Home Office to undertake this complicated process.

In response to a question on whether there was enough being done in relation to on-line fraud cases, the PCC reported that unfortunately the problem of on-line fraud was such, that only a very small number of on-line fraud cases were investigated. Much more funding was required to investigate these cases, as on-line fraud was complicated and expensive to investigate which was evidenced by the recent Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) fraud case which cost £7m to investigate. The PCC commented that fraud required tackling at a national level more effectively.

The PCC informed the Panel that Thames Valley Police was in a better place than most police forces in terms of neighbourhood policing and Child Sexual Exploitation. With neighbourhood policing Thames Valley Police had retained the services of Police Community Support Officers who were a critical part of neighbourhood policing and were particularly crucial in counter terrorism.

After the Operation Bullfinch investigation into CSE in Oxfordshire, Thames Valley Police and its partners have continued to keep CSE as a high priority within the force area.

The PCC was asked for his views on the future of national policing, particularly with the present Police organisational structure of 43 separate police forces, all of varied size, with different levels of capability and specialism.  The PCC reported that Thames Valley Police Force area was three times the size of some of the other Force areas and there needed to be a look at the Police structure in the country. Specialist capabilities needed to be put into central hubs to enable all Police Forces to access these services and to enable the smaller Police Forces to hold these services to account. This would also provide huge savings.

Reference was made to the major impact of increased employer contribution rates which were required for Police pensions. This would have a major impact on the funding challenges facing forces, effectively placing an additional 9.7% on the salary costs of police officers. The PCC said he had written to all Thames Valley region’s MPs, expressing his concerns at this additional burden on Police budgets.

RESOLVED

That the Home Office Committee report on "Policing into the Future" be noted and the Police and Crime Commissioner be commended for his continual lobbying of the Home Office for greater Police funding, and the Panel supports the Police and Crime Commissioner in his continuous lobbying.