Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Andrew Dawson be appointed as Chairman.

RESOLVED:

That Councillor Paul Findlow be appointed as Vice Chairman.

Apologies were received from Councillor Brian Maher (Warrington Borough Council) and Mrs Sally Hardwick.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda no later than when the item is reached.

Mr Evan Morris declared an interest, indicating that he had, in the past, before joining the Panel, made a complaint about the Police and Crime Commissioner. 

To note the Sub Committee’s Terms of Reference.

Members of the Sub Committee noted the discussion at the meeting of the Panel held on 15^th November 2018 along with the Resolution of the Panel at that meeting which detailed the scope of the Sub Committee’s work.

To receive a verbal update from Mr Asif Ibrahim, Head of Legal Services at Cheshire East Council, on the current process followed on receipt of complaints.

Mr Asif Ibrahim, Cheshire East Council’s Head of Legal Services and Deputy Monitoring Officer outlined the process that was followed when a complaint was received, noting that the process was detailed in the Panel’s Procedure Rules which were endorsed each year by the Panel at its annual meeting in June.

Concern was expressed by a number of members of the Sub Committee that Panel members had not always, in the past, been kept informed on the progress of complaints. Mr Ibrahim, noting that he was relatively new to his role and could not comment in detail on previous practices; suggested that Panel members may find it helpful if, in future, an update were provided on a quarterly basis.

Councillor Paul Findlow sought clarification over the legal background, including the Regulations which gave the Panel powers to investigate complaints (The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2012). The Sub Committee asked that a report on this issue was made to the next meeting of the Panel.

Mr Evan Morris suggested that the public could find it helpful if the Panel’s web page provided more detailed information on the process of making complaints against the Police and Crime Commissioner, noting that other Panels, such as Avon and Somerset’s contained such information.

RESOLVED:

1          That a report be prepared for a future meeting detailing the provisions of the The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2012 and any other related Regulations.

2          That a report be prepared for the Panel outlining the information that could be made available on the Panel’s website on the process of making complaints against the Police and Crime Commissioner.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information in accordance with paragraph 1 and 2, pursuant to part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of the Act.

RESOLVED:

That the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item on the grounds that if they were present during such consideration it would be likely that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(I) and Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 relating to any individual and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

To receive details of the complaints received.

To assist with their understanding of the current process the Panel reviewed a list of complaints that had been received in the period March 2017 to November 2019.

To consider the need for a further meeting.

The Secretariat were asked to canvass for dates for a future meeting.