Agenda and minutes

(1)  A member of the public attended the meeting and made reference to  Minute No. J32(1) of the previous meeting of the Police and Crime Panel held on 31st March, 2014. At that previous meeting, the same member of the public had asked: “Would Elected Members please summarise their efforts to publicise these Panel meetings in their own Council areas to increase awareness and involvement by the public and community groups throughout South Yorkshire ?”

The member of the public explained that the recorded decision within Minute No. J32(1) had been complied with, in that he had now received a written response to his question. Panel members were also provided with copies of this written answer.

The member of the public further explained that he had decided to attend today’s meeting and ask the same question again to the Panel, because in his opinion he did not consider that the written response provided to him had properly answered his original question.

The Chairman of the Panel advised the member of the public that he should communicate with Panel officials again in writing, stating the reasons why the response provided did not answer his original question. In turn, the Chair agreed to have discussions with the officers responsible for the administration of the Panel about the original question, the written response provided and the further communication to be received from the member of the public. After that discussion, the Chairman will arrive at a judgement on the response provided and decide whether he considers it to be sufficient, or whether an additional response needs to be sent to the member of the public.

(2) Councillor R. Davison stated that he had received a question from a member of the public and wished to raise the matter at this meeting of the Panel, on behalf of that person. The Chairman advised Councillor Davison to submit the question in accordance with the Panel’s agreed procedures, for consideration at the Panel’s next meeting.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting of the Police and Crime Panel held on 31^st March, 2014.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 31^st March, 2014 be agreed as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

The following information was noted, concerning matters arising from the minutes of the Panel’s previous meeting:-

(a) (Minute No. J35) – Joint Working Protocols – the report will be submitted to the Panel’s next meeting, to be held on 30th July, 2014;

(b) (Minute No. J36) – Memorandum of Understanding with the Police and Crime Commissioner - the report will be submitted to the Panel’s next meeting, to be held on 30th July, 2014;

(c) (Minute No. J37) – Task and Finish Group for the Internet Website – the report is included on the agenda for this meeting (refer to Minute No. J43 below);

(d) Training for Members of the Police and Crime Panel – the Chairman asked that a report be submitted to the Panel’s next meeting, to be held on 30th July, 2014, to facilitate discussion about the training needs of Panel members;

(e) (Minute J36) – Quarterly Finance, Performance and Risk Monitoring Reports – this issue is to be the subject of discussions between officers supporting the Panel and officers of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, during May 2014. The report to be submitted to the Panel’s next meeting, to be held on 30th July, 2014, will include details of the work of the Task and Finish Group established to consider this subject;

(f) (Minute No. J37) – Task and Finish Group about the issue of Domestic Abuse – to date, no members had volunteered to participate in the work of this Task and Finish Group; therefore, this subject will be discussed again at the Panel’s next meeting, to be held on 30th July, 2014, when a further attempt will be made to establish the Task and Finish Group.

Further to Minute No. J28 of the meeting of the Police and Crime Panel held on 13th March, 2013, the Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright presented the draft of his refreshed Police and Crime Plan, for the period 2013 to 2107, as required by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. The Act permitted the Police and Crime Commissioner to vary the Plan when required, allowing the Commissioner, in consultation with the Chief Constable and taking account of any recommendations from the Police and Crime Panel, to respond to issues and priorities which emerge during the life of the Police and Crime Plan.

After undertaking considerable public consultation during the past twelve months, the Commissioner has determined that his strategic policing and crime priorities, listed below, remain unchanged:-

- reducing crime and anti-social behaviour

- protecting vulnerable people (especially women and girls)

- improving visible policing

The Commissioner described the contents of the Police and Crime Plan, including the following salient issues:-

: Executive Summary and priorities;

: the Strategic Planning Process – taking account of national policing priorities and the requirements of the Government, via the Home Secretary and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary;

: the National Strategic Intelligence Assessment and the Force Strategic Intelligence Assessment;

: Operational Policing Priorities – child sexual exploitation; burglary; vehicle crime; violent crime; anti-social behaviour;

: Policing Requirements for South Yorkshire – neighbourhood policing and working in partnership with other statutory agencies; the delivery of protective services; the management of risk;

: the need to ensure value for money;

: improving victim satisfaction, when solving crime (from October 2014, the commissioning of services to help victims of crime and anti-social behaviour recover from their experiences);

: the proposed establishment of an Ethics Panel, during 2014/15, comprising independent members;

: the need to tackle serious and organised cyber-crime (and cyber-enabled crime), which makes use of Internet communications;

: the four policing and crime priorities identified as part of the scrutiny process: child sexual exploitation; violent crime / assaults; anti-social behaviour; domestic violence;

: the policing and crime priorities identified by the partner organisations in South Yorkshire : the local authorities, Community Safety Partnerships and the Local Criminal Justice Board;

: crime in South Yorkshire remains at its lowest level for 25 years; however, crime reduction throughout the country has begun to plateau, with some Police forces in England experiencing increases in recorded crime;

: the Police and Crime Plan contained a range of crime-related statistics;

: the Police and other agencies will have new responsibilities imposed by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014;

: review of the South Yorkshire Police ‘101’ telephone service, enabling all agencies to have a consistent approach to tackling anti-social behaviour;

: collaboration with other Police forces and using such collaboration to effect financial savings, as required by Government;

: establishment of a Victims Commissioning Advisory Board;

: introduction of the Victims’ Code;

: ensuring the better management of offenders and effecting more restorative justice;

:  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Consideration was given to a report, presented by the Police and Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright, containing information about the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) into South Yorkshire Police’s Response to the investigation of Child Sexual Exploitation. The appendix to the submitted report contained the text of the response by the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner to the HMIC report.

The report stated that the protection of vulnerable children in South Yorkshire, especially those at risk of child sexual exploitation, is a priority of the Police and Crime Commissioner. During 2013/14, the Commissioner approved significant financial investment, as well as extra resources for the South Yorkshire Police, to help tackle the problem of child sexual exploitation.

In August 2013, the Commissioner invited the HMIC to provide:-

i) an independent assessment of the effectiveness and resilience of the current arrangements in place within South Yorkshire Police to protect children from sexual exploitation; and

ii) recommendations for improvement.

The HMIC report, resulting from this assessment, was published on 11th November, 2013 and can be obtained from both the Commissioner’s and HMIC’s website (www.southyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk and www.hmic.gov.uk) respectively.

The report concluded that South Yorkshire Police had made considerable efforts to improve its child sexual exploitation response.  However, HMIC considered that the force-led focus and commitment to this was not truly and consistently replicated in all districts. Although there were examples of good and effective practice (most notably in Sheffield), the approach taken to tackling this kind of offending varied significantly across the force’s four districts. The report had concluded that there should be a consistent high standard, across the County, for the protection of all children in South Yorkshire.

The recommendations for improvement, arising from the HMIC assessment, were summarised in the report submitted to this meeting.

The Commissioner stated that:-

: child sexual exploitation remains a serious and complex crime, affecting all areas of the country;

: tackling this crime will remain a priority of the Police and Crime Commissioner;

: additional resources will be allocated during the next two years, to the extent that the South Yorkshire Police will move into the top quartile of Police forces in terms of spending on this issue;

: specific resources are now being allocated to the problem, examples being :-

- assisting victims (children and young people) to give evidence in Court

- mapping hot spot areas in the County, to assist the Police response to this crime

- introduction of the use of polygraph testing for alleged sex offenders

- increased resources for the management of sex offenders

- centralised unit within the South Yorkshire Police, in addition to Police staff in the four districts, to tackle child sexual exploitation.

The Commissioner reported that all of the recommendations of the HMIC assessment report have now been implemented within the required timescale. There will be a re-inspection of the South Yorkshire Police, against the report’s findings, which is due to be completed before the end of June,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Further to Minute No. J28 of the meeting of the Police and Crime Panel held on 31st January, 2014, consideration was given to a report presented by co-opted member Mr. A. J. Carter, concerning the production of an Internet website for the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, which will be developed by the Online Team within Rotherham MBC, the lead authority for the Panel.

The submitted report sought approval to the recommendations made by the newly established Task and Finish Group, which had met on 8th April, 2014, about the options available for developing this website. The Task and Finish Group recommended approval of the development of a “galaxy” site (within the Rotherham MBC website), to include a pen portrait and photograph of every Police and Crime Panel member, as well as the political composition of the Panel. Another recommendation was for the testing of the draft website to be undertaken by representatives of the community, as agreed by the Panel.

It was noted that a similar “galaxy” website was being developed by the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel and had been suggested as an exemplar to follow.

It was suggested that the Panel should agree to the work continuing on the development of the website. However, the details about each individual Panel member ought not to be published until after the Annual Meetings of the four constituent local authorities, because of possible changes in the Panel’s membership for the 2014/2015 Municipal Year.

Resolved:- (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That continuing work on the development of a “galaxy” website for the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel, to be hosted by the Rotherham MBC website, be approved, in accordance with the details contained in the report now submitted.

(3) That this matter be considered further at the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel, to enable decisions to be made about the following issues:-

(a) the inclusion of pen portraits and photographs of individual members of the Police and Crime Panel;

(b) the selection of a group of community representatives to test the prototype website;

(c) the need to investigate the way in which other media may be used to facilitate engagement and interaction with the community at a later stage;  and

(d) ensuring that arrangements are in place for the future editing and maintenance of the Panel’s Internet website.

(During consideration of the above item, the Chairman, Councillor H. Harpham left the meeting in order to attend a prior engagement. In his place, the Vice-Chairman, Councillor J. Akhtar, assumed the Chair for the remainder of the meeting)

It was noted that two complaints had recently been received which would require consideration by the Police and Crime Panel.

Resolved:- That the Director of Legal and Democratic Services and Monitoring Officer, Rotherham MBC, shall contact Panel Members and arrange a meeting of the sub-committee authorised to undertake the initial consideration of complaints, in accordance with the established procedure.

Resolved:- That the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel be held at the Town Hall, Rotherham on Wednesday, 30th July, 2014, commencing at 1.00 p.m.