These are my introductory remarks to the items on the agenda.
Details of the Panel, agenda and reports can be found on the Leicestershire County Council webpage.
Item 5
Commissioner Update Report
Thank you Chair.
As members of this Panel will know as Police and Crime Commissioner I am responsible for a wide range of functions. As this report sets out these are being successfully carried out in my office as a number of workstreams come together.
The new government and changing circumstances will undoubtedly bring new challenges, which may necessitate differences of approach. Those of us engaged in serving the public must keep abreast of changes and be flexible in our approaches.
This report is designed to update you all on the activity of the office so that you have confidence that I am driving the delivery of my current Police and Crime Plan. We all know that impact can be challenging to attribute to any one action and is more likely to be a result of multiple programmes of work across multiple partners. However, I know the Panel are keen to talk more about the impact of my work which is why I hope they will welcome the area on the new Police and Crime Plan which will look at key metrics.
A key duty of a PCC is to engage regularly and consult with the public. As this report sets out this duty is continued on a rolling basis through my Community Days as well as regular contact with Members of Parliament, councillors, community groups and other organisations as well as individual members of public. Engagement also takes place every time I attend an event and at more ad hoc meetings in streets, shops and on doorsteps.
Social media also supplies a flexible method of two-way communication between my office and the public. We use a number of targeted tools such as Next Door and the Neighbourhood Link systems. Their usefulness means that we will be making increased us of them into the future.
You will see the excellent due diligence work carried out by my Deputy PCC, Cllr Rani Mahal. The work of the Community Safety Partnerships, People Zones and volunteers also deserves mention.
This time, however, I wanted to pay particular tribute to the work of the Commissioning Team. I view the role of the OPCC as an enabler rather than a provider, and the Commissioning Team is essential to this. They have worked with the Safer Streets fund to make targeted areas of Melton and Oadby and Wigston more hostile to criminals as part of our drive to build safe and prosperous communities.
They continue to administer our grants schemes with skill and clarity. They have also brought to my attention some ways in which the grants schemes might be improved and we will be working on those over coming months.
Taken together, I believe that the OPCC and myself are continuing to make good progress towards our targets. But much remains to be done and we look forward to making renewed efforts.
I invite the Panel to make any recommendations on the contents of this report that they wish to make.
Item 6
New Police and Crime Plan
Thank you Chair
As members of this Panel will be aware a key task of the Police and Crime Commissioner is to produce a Police and Crime Plan at the start of their term in office. I have great pleasure in presenting to you today the latest draft of Police and Crime Plan that sets the strategic direction for crime prevention activity, policing services and victim services over the period 2025 to 2029.
This Plan is of supreme importance as it will serve as a guide to the Chief Constable, the Office of the PCC and other bodies concerned with building safe and prosperous communities across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
I would like to bring the Panel’s attention to the consultation and engagement that has been undertaken in building this Plan. This process is outlined on pages 25 to 28 of the agenda. I must thank all those who took part in the consultation process. But in particular I must thank the Chief Constable for the hard work and long hours that I know that he put into working his way through the draft Plan and for the many invaluable suggestions that he has made.
A document such as this is inevitably of a strategic nature which expresses itself in broad brush strokes. Over the coming months and years I will be working with the Chief Constable to ensure that the strategic priorities contained here are translated into action on the ground, and seek from government the resources necessary to do that.
Both the Chief Constable and I must have regard to the Strategic Policing Requirement, so some topics are referred to there rather than in the Plan. I would draw the Panel’s attention to the Strategic Policing Requirement priority for “Public Disorder”. This will be of especial interest to the Panel in the wake of the disorder in Leicester in 2022, and the relative lack of disorder in 2024. I must again pay tribute to the courage and determination of the officers on the ground back in 2022 and to the hard work done by the Chief Constable to improve community relations since. As I have reported before, in the wake of the 2022 disorder an independent review of the Leicestershire Police action was undertaken. That review produced a number of recommendations. I have regularly asked the Chief Constable for update reports on the implementation of those recommendations since. The next is due at our next Corporate Governance Board. This is not the end of the story as further improvements are constantly under review.
So within the constraints of a high-level strategic document such as this I believe that this Police and Crime Plan lays the foundations for an holistic approach that will put an emphasis on prevention and partnership, empowering local communities to help themselves to build safe and prosperous communities.
In closing I would point out that the Design work is in a very early stage and would ask you to concentrate on the content of the plan rather than its appearance.
I would ask the Panel for any recommendations that it wishes to make.
Item 7
Corporate Governance Board Update
Thank you Chair.
The Corporate Governance Board system, or CGB, which I instituted soon after I came into office, is a robust and effective way to hold the Chief Constable to account for the spending of the budget allocated to him and the maintenance of an effective and efficient police force and for the delivery of those parts of the Police and Crime Plan that lie within his purview.
This paper sets out the most recent CGB held in July.
The Panel will note the item on Neighbourhood Policing. This is a subject that featured in the manifesto of our new national government, so I am looking forward to the government delivering on its promises and giving the Chief Constable and myself the tools and resources that we need.
The Force Management Statement is an internal self-assessment exercise. Panel members may be aware that His Majesty’s Inspectors have recently carried out an external police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy [or PEEL]inspection. As yet the final report has not been received.
The Finance Report is, as always, of critical importance. As we move towards the months dedicated to setting the Budget for next year this will no doubt take up increasing amounts of time. As noted here an updated approach has been agreed.
I would ask the Panel to make any recommendations in relation to this matter.
Item 8
Violence Reduction Network Annual Report
Thank you Chair
As noted earlier, an emphasis on crime prevention will be a feature of the Police and Crime Plan. To date the Violence Reduction Network [VRN] has been a key part of our work in this respect.
This Annual Report, prepared by the Director of the VRN, gives a comprehensive update on the work of the VRN over the past year. I would commend to this Panel the excellent work that the VRN has achieved.
May I express the hope that the VRN will be able to continue with its excellent work in to the future. The long term nature of many of its programmes means that consistency and long term commitment is essential.
Item 9
Prison Early Release Scheme
Thank you Chair
Well, I don’t think any of us wanted to be here discussing the early release of prisoners.
Members of this Panel will have views on this subject, as do I. However, I would remind everyone that our business today is to look at the local situation and the measures in place to deal with the additional demand placed upon local agencies involved.
I can reassure the panel that I, or my Deputy, have had regular briefings via our Monday morning meeting with the Chief Officer Team about the impact of Early Release. I am confident that the impact across LLR has been well managed by the Chief Constable and that he has allocated sufficient resource should it be needed, thankfully it has not yet been required.
I would draw the Panel’s attention to the multi-agency actions taken to date.
I would welcome any recommendations that the Panel might wish to make.
