Agenda and minutes

Venue: Chamber - County Hall, Carmarthen. SA31 1JP. View directions

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Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND PERSONAL MATTERS

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Rob Summons (Pembrokeshire County Council).

 

The Chair welcomed Councillor Emlyn Schiavone (Carmarthenshire County Council) to his first meeting as a Member of the Police and Crime Panel.

 

The Chair extended congratulations to the Chief Constable upon his award of the Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service.

 

VARIATION OF BUSINESS

The Panel agreed, at the Chair’s request, to vary the order of the business on the Agenda so as to move Item 10 (Complaint against the Police and Crime Commissioner by R.V.) back to discuss after Item 13 (National Association of Police [Fire] and Crime Panels).

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of personal interest made at the meeting.

3.

TO SIGN AS A CORRECT RECORD THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON THE

Additional documents:

3.1

25TH OCTOBER 2019 pdf icon PDF 322 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel meeting held on the 25th October 2019 be signed as a correct record.

3.2

6TH NOVEMBER 2019 pdf icon PDF 223 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In relation to Agenda Item 3 (Mental Health and Policing Conference) it was suggested that, for accuracy, the last sentence of the first paragraph should be amended to refer to Cllr. Powell rather than Cllr. Williams.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel meeting held on the 6th November 2019 be signed as a correct record, subject to the amendment detailed above.

4.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES (IF ANY)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

6th November 2019 – Minutes Item 5

In response to a query regarding decisions 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4, it was suggested that the Panel defer discussion on how to proceed to the next meeting, when a progress update would be provided.

5.

POLICE PRECEPT pdf icon PDF 267 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered the Commissioner’s report on the proposed police precept for 2020/21. The Panel was advised that it could make the decision to either approve, reject, or veto the proposed precept at the meeting and thereafter had to issue a report on its decision to the Commissioner. The decision to approve or reject could be made by a simple majority while a veto vote had to be supported by a two-third majority of the entire Panel membership. This would imply that ten Panel Members present at the meeting would have to support the veto. It was further advised that, if the Panel chose to veto, the Commissioner would not be able to issue the proposed precept and would have to publish a response to the Panel’s report, indicating a different proposed precept, by the 21st February 2020. The Panel would not be able to veto the revised proposed precept but could only decide to approve or reject it.

 

Councillor Keith Evans (Panel Lead on Finance) provided a presentation on the Panel’s scrutiny of the 2020/21 precept proposal including the 2020/21 - 2025/25 Medium Term Financial Plan, Reserves Strategy and Capital Strategy.

 

He advised that the 2020/21 grant settlement for Dyfed-Powys Police was £56.617m with some grants being ring-fenced. The report highlighted some operational pressures but overall provided assurance that the Chief Constable was managing these adequately. Cllr. Evans further advised that the reduction of the capital grant and the reliance on reserves for investments into estate and critical IT and fleet infrastructure put increasing pressure on the revenue budget, with a predicted reduction of usable reserves to £6.642m by 2024/25.

 

Cllr. Evans advised that he commended the report, which proposed a precept increase of £1 per month on a Band D property equating to a 4.83% increase on the previous year. He thanked the Commissioner and Chief Constable for organising a finance seminar that supported scrutiny of the report.

 

The Commissioner advised that the proposed increase in precept would support workforce changes equating to 42 additional police officers FTEs and 24 extra members of support staff FTEs at a total budget impact of £2.571m. These workforce changes would support investments into contact with the public and fraud safeguarding initiatives.

 

The Panel thanked Cllr. Evans and the Commissioner for their detailed and informative reports.

 

In response to queries on workforce management, the Commissioner advised that support staff was used strategically to free up police officer time and increase their presence in local communities. He advised that the recruitment timeline for police officers involved planned intakes in March and September as well as transferee intakes in June, increasing police officer numbers to 1,180 by the end of 2020/21. He was reassured that the Force had sufficient capacity for training additional officers.

 

In response to a query, the Commissioner advised that Dyfed-Powys Police trained other forces to generate funding, however this was subject to demand and capacity and therefore not a funding stream the Force could depend on.

 

A query was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

CRIME PREVENTION pdf icon PDF 364 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered a report on crime prevention. The Commissioner advised that the report provided information on the local and national background and outlined crime prevention initiatives by his office such as engagement events, CCTV infrastructure, youth interventions and stakeholder engagement.

 

In response to queries, the Commissioner advised that funding to Neighbourhood Policing Teams was committed for the next financial year. His office was currently evaluating the impact of the Knife Angel and was looking into future plans to replicate the project in other areas in Dyfed-Powys in relation to themes like rurality and substance misuse.

 

RESOLVED that the report be received.

7.

DECISIONS TAKEN BY THE COMMISSIONER pdf icon PDF 264 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered a report on decisions taken by the Commissioner between 19th October 2019 and 27th January 2020. The Commissioner advised that the report contained some decisions predating October 2019 which had been omitted from previous reports.

 

RESOLVED that the report be received.

8.

FEEDBACK FROM THE POLICING ACCOUNTABILITY BOARD ON THE 18TH NOVEMBER 2019 pdf icon PDF 266 KB

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Minutes:

Councillor Michael James advised that a written report would be circulated to the Panel after the meeting.

9.

COMPLAINTS PROTOCOL {FORMERLY AGENDA ITEM 11] pdf icon PDF 363 KB

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Minutes:

The Panel considered a report on the Panel’s revised complaints protocol. The Panel was advised that the revised protocol would allow the Chair, in collaboration with the Monitoring Officer, to evaluate complaints against set criteria to decide whether the complaints were suitable for consideration by the Panel. The revised protocol aimed to identify those cases that were an abuse of process at an early stage to allow the Panel to concentrate on complaints in respect of which a meaningful outcome could be achieved.

 

In response to a query, the Panel was advised that all Panel Members would be informed of complaints even if they were dismissed at an early stage. In compliance with legislation, an anonymised record of all complaints received was provided on the Panel’s website.

 

RESOLVED that

9.1.       The report be received;

9.2.       The revised Complaints Protocol be adopted with immediate effect.


10.

POLICE AND CRIME PANEL ANNUALS CONFERENCE [FORMERLY AGENDA ITEM 12] pdf icon PDF 266 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered a report and presentations from the National Conference for Police and Crime Panels. The Panel was represented at the conference by Prof. Ian Roffe, Cllr. William Powell and Cllr. John Prosser. They advised that their impression was that the work of the Panel and its collaboration with the Commissioner was positive in national comparison.

 

In response to a query on arrests of women, the Commissioner expressed disappointment that the all-Wales women’s pathfinder project had not been referred to in the presentation.

 

RESOLVED that the report be received.

11.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF POLICE (FIRE) AND CRIME PANELS [FORMERLY AGENDA ITEM 13] pdf icon PDF 293 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel considered a report on the National Association of Police (Fire) and Crime Panels appended with its revised constitution and terms of reference. The Panel was advised that membership in the National Association had previously required a subscription fee and restrictions on the use of the Home Office grant meant that grant could not be used to pay for the subscription. At its AGM in November 2019, the National Association had resolved to offer free membership to all panels.

 

Several comments were made suggesting that membership in the National Association would afford the Panel the opportunity to influence discussions, raise the profile of Wales and represent Dyfed-Powys on a national level.

 

RESOLVED that

11.1.  The report be noted;

11.2.  The Panel join the National Association of Police (Fire) and Crime Panels.

 

12.

EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC [FORMERLY AGENDA ITEM 9]

THE REPORTS RELATING TO THE FOLLOWING ITEM ARE NOT FOR PUBLICATION AS THEY CONTAIN EXEMPT INFORMATION AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH 12 OF PART 4 OF SCHEDULE 12A TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS AMENDED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION) (VARIATION) (WALES) ORDER 2007. IF, FOLLOWING THE APPLICATION OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST TEST, THE BOARD RESOLVES PURSUANT TO THE ACT TO CONSIDER THIS ITEM IN PRIVATE, THE PUBLIC WILL BE EXCLUDED FROM THE MEETING DURING SUCH CONSIDERATION.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED, pursuant to the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007, that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items as the reports contained exempt information as defined in paragraph 12 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

13.

COMPLAINT AGAINST THE POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER BY R.V. [FORMERLY AGENDA ITEM 10]

Minutes:

Following the application of the public interest test it was RESOLVED, pursuant to the Act referred to in Minute 13 above, to consider this matter in private, as disclosure would place in the public domain sensitive personal information about a member of the public.

 

The Panel received a report on a complaint recorded against the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

RESOLVED

13.1.To note the complaint;

13.2.To send a report to the complainant and the Police and Crime Commissioner detailing the outcome of the complaint.

 

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