Agenda item

11.35am

The PCC has submitted a report which updates the Panel on police recruitment and retention in TVP, which includes further detail/progress of Race/BAME initiatives.

The Panel was reminded that at its meeting in November 2022 an update was provided on police officer and recruitment.  The report of the PCC provided a report which updated Members on police recruitment and retention in TVP, which included further detail and progress of Race/BAME initiatives.

Particular attention was given to the work carried out on retention in TVP, although retention was not just an issue for TVP. Police officers had a pay rise of 7% and officers in TVP received a South East Allowance which was capped. However, TVP was competing with the Met Police where officers received a bigger salary.

Work had been carried out on retention measures such as providing free parking for officers at Police stations, rail discounts, and the proposal for Special Constables to receive a Council Tax discount and to be provided with local discounts.

Members’ Questions

(1)   The PCC was asked whether a metric was maintained for the average length of service for response officers as this was low for the Met Police. Reference was made to the need for officers who turned up to investigate a crime or attend a public order incident were sufficiently experienced.   

[The PCC replied that he completely agreed on the experience point. He did not have the average length of service to hand, but discussions did take place with the Chief Constable and his management team on workforce monitoring.

The PCC commented that new recruits may decide that policing was not for them, but in fairness they put themselves forward to do a difficult and stressful job. The role of the Assessment Centre was to get the right people in post.]

(2)   The PCC was asked about a Ministry of Defence (MOD) Police intake and the advertisement of the trial programme and whether the quality and diversity of applicants was of a good standard and that the process was transparent and gave an equality of opportunity.

[The PCC replied that MOD police were recruited for specific purpose and those with firearm skills were particularly helpful in terms of the specialism skills. New recruits still had to go through the recruitment process and through vetting but recruits from the armed forces had a transferable skill set. The pool of applicants was big enough to ensure there was a competitive and transparent recruitment process.] 

(3)    In relation to diversity, this was a strength, however, with Thames Valley having a BAME representation of 19.8%, TVP only had 6.5% BAME representation. The PCC was asked how would the culture of TVP change to attract more applicants and recruits from BAME communities?

[The PCC referred to the Positive Action Engagement Team, who worked with the Force around opportunity. Recruitment events were held in the evening, in areas traditionally where Police did not go. This was proactively proving that the Force wanted to recruit people who represented the Thames Valley Community. The PCC referred to individuals who had expressed a desire to join the Police but had been put off, by their parents and friends.

Current serving Police Officers had engaged with potential recruits from the same ethnic background to offer reassurance of a career in the police force. Whilst this could not be done for every recruit, it was important at that stage in the recruitment process to get potential recruits attracted and interested. It was important to recognise the differences in applicants and to support them through the recruitment process as well as part of retention.

The PCC also referred to the need to support officers from ethnic minority backgrounds during career progression in the Force. With the influx in new recruits, it would take a while for positive action work to result in progression in the Police hierarchy for newer recruits and representatives from BAME.]

(4)   The PCC was asked about support which was given to women who came into the Force had and the difficulties with shifts, particularly for those with child care and caring responsibilities and those with cultural differences.

[The PCC gave an example of the parking initiative for officers at Police Stations, which was a practical measure which helped support women, who for example worked late shifts could not travel on public transport.   

The PCC referred to various Staff Support Associations and Networks which had been designed to support diverse staff but also helped influence policy. There had been changes made to the maternity policy which had been influenced by the Thames Valley Womens Network.]

(5)   The PCC was asked what progress was made on the Race Action Plan in relation to the recruitment and retention of racial minorities and what additional resources had been made available.

[The PCC replied that the Race Action Plan was a very important piece of work with the Assistant Chief Constable leading on this. There were internal resources being used. There were two aspects to this, the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight (ISO) Board which was part of the Action Plan and there was work carried out within the Force around recruitment and retention.

A governance review was taking place which looked more specifically around the ISO. A report was expected in the next month looking at the governance boards and there would be more resource in this area.]

(6)   There was a lot of work taking place in making the working place more suitable for women and attracting BAME candidates. However, there was work taking place on paternity rights, shared parental responsibilities and being a dynamic work place. Work patterns perhaps needed to fit in with the culture / responsibilities of the individual. 

[The PCC said he welcomed that there were a greater proportion of women joining policing, but in terms of police officers, it was still a male dominated organisation. It was important to make hours as flexible as possible, to enable the workplace to accommodate those who required those adjustments, however, these operational decisions of the Chief Constable needed to be balanced with the main objective of the Police which was to provide an effective police force for the 3 million Thames Valley residents.]  

(7)   A Member referred to the importance of the perception of TVP and how interactions were important for a positive impression of dealing with the Police which would attract people to joining the police.

[The PCC agreed with the statement made and commented that officers in the neighbourhood teams would do some of that engagement. Nine times out of ten, TVP got it right and when they did not get it right, he was pleased with how the Chief Constable and his officers dealt with and made improvements in areas where things have gone wrong.]

(8)   The Chair referred to the comment in the report that TVP now had the largest number of officers in the force’s history, however, he would like the Home Office method of recording officers per 100,000 of the population to give a truer reflection on the level of police resources. The Chair also said he was pleased to see the increase in the number of applications going to 3,122 which was very encouraging.

[The PCC replied that he would be happy to use the officers per 100,000 of the population method when presenting police numbers.]

RESOLVED – That the report of the PCC be noted and the responses given to the questions asked by Panel Members.