Venue: Wyvern House, The Drumber, Winsford, CW7 1AH
Contact: Julie North Senior Democratic Services Officer
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Apologies Members are reminded that, in accordance with governance procedure rule 2.7, Panel Members, or their constituent authority, may nominate substitute members of the Panel in the event that the appointed representative(s) is/are unable to attend the meeting. Advance notice of substitution should be given to the host authority wherever possible. Members are encouraged wherever possible to secure the attendance of a substitute if they are unable to be present. |
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Code of Conduct - Declaration of Interests. Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary or non-pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda no later than when the item is reached. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest. |
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Public Participation To receive questions from members of the public in accordance with governance procedure rule 14. A total period of 15 minutes will be allocated for members of the public to speak at Panel meetings. Each member of the public shall be limited to a period of up to 5 minutes speaking.
Members of the public may speak on any matter relating to the work of the Panel. During public speaking time, members of the public may ask questions of the Panel and the Chairman, in responding to the question, may answer the question, may decline to do so, may agree to reply at a later date or may refer the question to an appropriate person or body.
Questions will be asked and answered without discussion. In order for officers to undertake any background research, members of the public who wish to ask a question at a Panel meeting should submit the question at least a day before the meeting.
Members of the public are able to put questions direct to Cheshire’s Police and Crime Panel via social media platform Twitter.
The Cheshire Police and Crime Panels’ Twitter account. Minutes: There were no members of the public present wishing to use the public speaking facility. |
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Minutes of Previous meeting To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June 2016.
Minutes: Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 17 June 2016.
RESOLVED
That the minutes be approved as a correct record. |
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The Panel's Rules of Procedure DOTX 141 KB To consider and approve the proposed changes to the Rules of Procedure, as set out in the appendix to the report. Additional documents: Minutes: At its Annual General Meeting, in June 2016, the Panel had called for a review of the existing Rules of Procedure. Given that the hosting of the Panel had now moved to Cheshire East Council, a number of changes were required to be made to the Rules to reflect the new hosting arrangements. In addition, comment had been made at the AGM that changes should also be made to the Rules by way of confirmation that the Chairmanship and Vice Chairmanship of the Panel should be open to all members of the Panel, rather than being restricted to elected Members. A review of the Rules has been undertaken and the proposed changes had been made, which were highlighted using “track-changes” and appended to the report. The Panel was asked to consider the proposed changes and to approve them, if it was content to do so. Delegated authority was also sought by the report author, which would enable him to make minor or consequential amendments to the Rules, to give effect to the wishes of the Panel, or otherwise. In considering the changes, the Panel agreed to the proposed changes, subject to the following :- Part 3 – Governance Arrangements, Para 1.4 to refer to Deputy Chairman and not Vice-chairman and also the retention of the word “normally” under Para 5.1. The correction of the spelling of Cllr “Martyn” Delaney’s first name under the Panel member information. At the AGM, comment had been made that consideration should be given to whether allowances should be given to Panel members. Currently, Panel members were entitled to claim expenses. Further clarification was being sought as to whether this would be possible and it was agreed that a report should be submitted to a subsequent meeting of the Panel in respect of this issue. DECISION 1. That, subject to the above amendments, the proposed changes to the Rules of Procedure, as set out in the appendix to the report, be approved.
2. That delegated authority be granted to the Head of Governance and Democratic Services to make such minor and consequential amendments to the Rules as he considers are necessary to give effect to the wishes of the Panel, in order to finalise the Rules. |
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Location of Police and Crime Panel Meetings To consider a report reviewing the options for where meetings of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel could be held in future. Minutes: At the AGM of the Panel on 17 June 2016, the Panel had requested that options for meeting venues be reviewed, with consideration being given to rotating the location of meetings around the county. Since its inception the Panel has held its meetings at Wyvern House in Winsford. Meetings had been webcast, at a cost of around £1,100 a year, utilising Cheshire West and Chester’s existing webcasting contract and the equipment permanently installed in the Council Chamber at Wyvern House. A report was submitted in order to enable the Panel to review options for where meetings of the Panel could be held in future. The report outlined the reasons for the original choice of venue and the implications of rotating the venue around the four Cheshire Authority areas, including likely cost implications. The major cost implications related to webcasting, as not all authorities had permanent webcasting facilities and equipment would need to be hired, at a significant cost. It was understood that Cheshire West and Chester Council owned a portable webcasting facility and it may be possible to utilise this for future meetings, thus enabling the use of other venues without significant additional costs. However, it may not be possible to live stream the meetings using this equipment. It was agreed that further information should be obtained exploring the potential use of the portable system and that a further report be submitted to the next meeting of the Panel in respect of this issue.
DECISION
That a further report be submitted to the next meeting of the Panel exploring options for the use of a portable webcasting solution for future meetings, to enable consideration of rotating the venues for the Panel meetings around the four Cheshire Authority areas, including the potential cost and other implications associated with this.
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Panel Financial Outturn 2015/2016 and proposed Grant allocation 2016/2017 To note the Panel’s financial outturn for the 2015/16 financial year and to endorse the Panel’s grant allocation for the 2016/17 municipal year. Additional documents: Minutes: Consideration was given to a report responding to the Panel’s request, made at the 17 June 2016 AGM, in relation to the financial outturn for expenditure incurred in support of the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel during 2015/2016, and to receive and endorse the Panel’s budget for the 2016/17 municipal year.
The report reiterated the information provided to the Panel at the AGM and therefore, clarified the end of year position.
As previously stated, it was noted that the grant for 2015/16 had been claimed by the former host authority predominantly against staff and core team time engaged with supporting the Panel arrangements.
The former Host Authority had formally submitted claims against expenditure in support of the Panel for the two half years in 2015/ 2016. The grant claim for the first half year was £22,697. In the second half year, the expenditure amounted to £30,515. In combination with the claim for the first half year, this had amounted to £53,212 for the whole year. The new host Authority would again be in a position to bid against a maximum grant total of £65,260for the 2016/ 2017 municipal year.
The proposed outline budget for the 2016/17 municipal year was appended to the report as a mechanism to allocate appropriate resources to support the Panel. It was noted that the appendix should refer to the financial outturn for 2015/16 and not 2016/17 and to the “budget” for 2016/17.
DECISION
1. That the Panel’s financial outturn for the 2015/2016 financial year be noted. 2. That the Panel’s grant allocation for 2016/17 municipal year be noted. 3. That financial updates be provided to the Panel as appropriate.
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Police Commissioner Decision Meeting Notices: To receive, note and inform any future scrutiny or work programme items :-
· Notes from the Management Board held on 22 June 2016 · Notes from the Scrutiny Board held on 29 June 2016 · Notes from the Management Board held on 3 August 2016 Additional documents: Minutes: Notes from the following meetings were submitted to the Panel, to inform any future scrutiny or work programme items :-
· Notes from the Management Board held on 22 June 2016 · Notes from the Scrutiny Board held on 29 June 2016 · Notes from the Management Board held on 3 August 2016
DECISION
That the notes be received and noted.
(At this point the meeting was adjourned for 20 minutes).
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To review the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Annual Report for 2015/16 and make any recommendations as deemed necessary. Additional documents:
Minutes: (Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner, David Keane and Mr Ben McCrorie, Planning and Strategy Officer, Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, were present for the following part of the meeting).
The Police and Crime Commissioner was required to produce an Annual Report each year and the Police and Crime Panel should be offered the opportunity to consider the report at a meeting arranged as soon as possible following the publication of the report.
The Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioners Annual Report for 2015/16 and covering letter had been circulated with the agenda and the Police and Crime Commissioner presented his report to the Panel. The Panel was requested to review the Annual Report and to make any recommendations as it deemed necessary. Reviewing the Annual Report was a statutory function of the Panel, as set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and provided the Panel with the opportunity to discuss the Annual Report directly with the Police and Crime Commissioner. In considering the report, the Panel requested clarification in respect of some of the figures and the Commissioner undertook to provide the Panel with a breakdown of the costs within the budget.
DECISION
That a report be submitted to the next meeting of the Panel providing a breakdown of the costs within the budget.
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Overview and Scrutiny of the Police and Crime Commissioner - Questions for the Police and Crime Commissioner To provide an opportunity for members of the Panel to submit questions to the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Minutes: A summary of the questions asked of the Commissioner and a summary of the responses given are set out below:-
1.A member of the Panel referred to Cheshire Police’s annual monitoring of hate crime and the fact that forces had powers to include their own definitions of hate crime, with several new sub cultures being allowed in certain circumstances. He believed that Nottinghamshire Police had looked at the definition of hate crime and had taken the decision to record the harassment of women as a hate crime in a bid to tackle sexist abuse. The Panel member asked whether, as part of developing proposals for his Police & Crime Plan, the Commissioner considered that Cheshire Police should also consider widening the scope of hate crime definitions. The Commissioner responded to say that this was a very challenging and forward looking approach by Nottinghamshire Constabulary. He shared the view that hate crime was repulsive in all its forms and should be challenged in every way possible. He had encouraged the recording of hate crime over the last few months, so that it could be dealt with and would continue to do so. He referred to his draft Police and Crime Plan and stated that he had talked to various groups, including the Warrington Hate Crime Partnership, which was a great model to follow and he would encourage local authorities and partners in those areas of Cheshire who did not have a Hate Crime Partnership to work on this. He would be encouraging the reporting of hate crime and the bringing of offenders to justice. He recognised that gender was an important aspect in these offences and he would be talking to the Chief Constable in respect of this issue. He looked forward to his response and he would also take advice from Nottinghamshire Constabulary on best practice. He undertook to provide an update at the next informal meeting of the Panel. 2.A member of the Panel referred to the statistics provided to the Scrutiny Board regarding the public's perception of police performance and noted that it was said that they were gained from an estimated 2500 random phone calls per month. Given the socioeconomic spread of the Cheshire community, the fact that many people were either ex-directory or had call-barring on their landlines and the randomness of the process, he asked whether the Commissioner was content that the sampling methodology behind the public perception data of police performance presented a true reflection of the way in which the Constabulary was regarded. He felt that most people did not come into contact with the Police and therefore, questioned what the majority of people had based their opinion on. He felt that many did not understand that nearly 80% of the work that the Police carried out did not relate to fighting crime. The Commissioner responded to say that one of his “awakenings” in his transition from being a member of the public to Commissioner, was his perception of what the Police did on ... view the full minutes text for item 25. |
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To consider the Work Programme. Minutes: The Work Programme was submitted.
DECISION
That the Work Programme be agreed. |