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Communities, Housing and Environment Committee

16/10/18

 

 

External Board/Outside Body

 

External Board/Outside Body

Kent & Medway Police & Crime Panel

Councillor(s) represented on the Outside Body/External Board

Cllr Fay Gooch

Report Author

Cllr Fay Gooch

Date of External Board/Outside Body Meeting Attended

27/09/18

 

 

Purpose of the External Board/Outside Body:

To hold the Kent Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott to account by:

·         reviewing all aspects of the PCC’s work

·         reviewing and reporting on the PCC’s actions and decisions

·         approving the precept the PCC wants to raise for policing

·         reviewing the PCC’s ‘Safer in Kent’ Plan and Annual Report.

 

The panel meets quarterly at County Hall. It has 20 members, made up of councillors from each district council in Kent, Medway Council and Kent County Council, together with two independent members, and is chaired by Mike Hill OBE. The Vice Chairman is Gurvinder Sandher.

I am delegated by the Leader to represent Maidstone Borough Council.

 

 

Update:

The PCC updated the Panel on actions to improve the integrity of the recording of police crime data. He reassured us that the problems with internal audit processes have now been fixed, and close working with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) enabled a successful resolution. The PCC is confident that the next (routine) HMIC inspection will be positive

 

Year on year data comparisons are difficult to analyse as the Home Office regularly change crime categorisations and how they are counted. Hopefully meaningful comparisons will be available by next March.

 

Mental Health is a standing item on the agenda, and a key principle of the PCC’s approach has been to encourage other services to take more responsibility and not rely on the Police. ‘MIND’ members in the Control Room have made a difference, however much police time is wasted in some hospital A&E’s waiting areas; capacity within the mental Health system is a challenge.

 

Recruitment of 200 new police officers is progressing well. The delay in seeing them ‘on the street’ is due to various stages in the training process. Part of the PCC’s role is to ensure the Chief Constable has the resources he needs to deliver effective policing across the county, and an additional 200 officers are being recruited to cover resignations and retirements.

 

The PCC’s report on Preparations for leaving the European Union lacked doom and gloom, but was proactive and on the front foot. In July this year the PCC co-chaired a national meeting of all PCCs, the National Crime Agency, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Border Force to discuss preparations. This resulted in his writing to the Home Secretary to lobby for a bespoke deal on policing and security to cover extra resources.  The Panel has asked for a further report once more details on Brexit are known.

 

The PCC holds Chief Constable Alan Pughsley to account at quarterly Performance and Delivery Board at Police HQ Sutton Road. These are open to the public, and I find they give an interesting insight as to how the PCC’s strategies and policies are put into action at an operational level. At a more local level, they are reflected in the outcomes of Safer Maidstone Partnership meetings, which I also take an interest in.