Meeting documents

To be provided with a presentation from the Police and Crime Commissioner on the Governance arrangements of Thames Valley Police Collaborations.

The Panel was reminded that Police and Crime Panels had a duty to scrutinise the role of their respective Commissioner in the collaborative work being undertaken by their respective Chief Constables including, for example, policing functions delivered under the South East Regional Integration Partnership (SERIP) collaborative arrangements.

This legitimate right extended to only scrutinising the governance arrangements the Police and Crime Commissioner had adopted to enable him to review performance of a function or service carried out under a collaborative initiative and to hold Thames Valley Police Chief Constable to account for the performance of that function or service.

The Panel was provided with a summary of the functional activities and governance arrangements of the major collaborative ventures involving Thames Valley Police. These included the following:

·       Hants/TVP Bi-lateral Collaboration

The TVP & Hampshire Bi-lateral Collaboration Governance Board oversees and scrutinises the work of the existing collaborative functions (i.e. Operations, ICT and Information Management) as well as development of the Contact Management and Digital Policing programmes.

·       South East Region Collaboration

Governance of collaboration between forces (Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire) across the South East region is undertaken at the Regional Governance Board. 

The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), hosted by Thames Valley Police, brings together the current regional organised crime units under one structure. 

·       Chiltern Transport Consortium

The Chiltern Transport Consortium (CTC) is collaboration between Hertfordshire Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary, British Transport Police and Thames Valley Police.  It was originally set up in 2014 to operate as a transport shared service for the procurement and maintenance of the forces’ transport fleet under lead force TVP.

The Deputy PCC reported that this collaboration brought great savings in terms of procuring vehicles and reference was made to the potential move to electric/hybrid vehicles. The logistics and testing of this still required work because of the large area which Thames Valley covered.

·       National Police Air Service

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) is a collaborative venture involving all police forces across England and Wales. Reference was made to the need for a new fleet of helicopters.  

·       TVP / TV Fire and Rescue Services

The PCC and the Force have previously agreed a memorandum of understanding with the three Fire and Rescue Services in the Thames Valley regarding exploring possible collaborative opportunities in the sharing of premises.

The Deputy PCC referred to the proposed tri-station in Crowthorne, Berkshire which was a joint venture which would result in Police, Fire and Ambulance Services all using the same station facility.   

·       Equip (formerly ERP Project)

Partner Forces with the Thames Valley are Sussex and Surrey.

·       Single Online Home

This was governed under a S22a Agreement. Governance was carried out through an operational National Steering Group, and overseen by the Digital Public Contact (DPC) Programme Board comprising representation from forces, PCCs and partners. 

Metropolitan Police Service was the Host Authority.

·       National Counter Terrorism Police Services

Governed under a S22A Agreement – Counter Terrorism Coordination Committee

·       National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS)

Governed under a S22A Agreement – hosted by West Midlands Police.

Panel Members asked the following questions:

1.               Could the PCC provide an estimate of the yearly savings brought about by TVP collaborations?

[The PCC reported that he estimated the savings made were around £100,000 year which were ploughed back into front line policing.]

2.               The PCC was asked whether there were any effective collaborations in relation to Serious Organised Crime?

[The Deputy PCC reported that there were collaborations with other Police Forces in the fight against Serious Organised Crime and cited the work which is carried out in relation to exploitation, Modern Slavery and County Lines which all involved sharing intelligence between Forces to stop these crimes.]

3.               Were there any future plans to introduce more combined services such as the recently announced joint Police/Ambulance Service/Fire Service station in Crowthorne, Berkshire?

[The Deputy PCC reported that this should be about all public services and should not be limited to Police/Ambulance Service/Fire Service. The Thames Valley was a huge region which made it difficult to locate Police stations in remote areas. Opportunities were being looked at for similar collaborations with other public sector partners throughout the Thames Valley.]

RESOLVED – That the Police Crime Commissioner be asked to consider providing a regular forward plan of key decisions and supporting information through publishing a non-confidential summary of Regional Governance Board Minutes, to enable Members to be kept informed of TVP collaborations.