West Mercia Governance Board
Notes of Meeting
Wednesday 20th July 2022 – 14:00 – 16:30
MACF2, OCC
Attendance
- John Campion (JC) Co-Chair – Police & Crime Commissioner
- Tracey Onslow (TLO) – Deputy Police & Crime Commissioner
- Paul Benfield (PB) – Treasurer
- Pippa Mills (PM) Co-Chair – Chief Constable
- Richard Muirhead (RM) – Director of Commercial Services
- Rachel Hartland-Lane (RHL) – Director of Business Services
- Rachel Jones (RJ) – ACC Local Policing
- Richard Cooper (RC) – ACC C&V
- Julian Moss (JM) – Deputy Chief Constable
- Rachael Thorold (RT) – Notetaker, OPCC
Apologises
Gareth Boulton (GB) – Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Minutes
Ref 01/20/07/2022
Attendance and apologises as above
Ref 02/20/02/2022
Minutes and action updates for the meeting held on the 22nd June – (for Agreement) (paper)
Decision: The minutes for June were recorded as an accurate record.
Action updates: Refer to the spreadsheet for updates.
The following actions were agreed as completed and action could be closed
Reference – 1, 2, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25
Ref 03/20/07/2022
Deep Dive – Serious Violence – (for discussion).
The paper was circulated, presented, discussed and noted with the additional comment made.
Recognition that in future need to look at engagement with partners, particularly where they can provide analytical support and that it doesn’t just fall to SP&I to complete Joint Strategic Needs Assessments.
Discussion on looking at aligning the governance for the Serious Violence Duty with the Combatting Drugs Partnerships approach to ensure that it is working effectively, recognising the different boundaries that partners all have.. It was noted a paper omitted input from the OPCC. PMB/JM had previously agreed that in future that all deep-dive sessions will have a joint approach to provide WMGB with a collaborative produced paper.
Ref 04/20/07/2022
Money Matters – 2022/23 Qtr 1 Report.
The paper was circulated and discussed.
– The PCC queried whether the saving relating to the reduction budget following the RCCO at the end of 2021/22 financial year was included in the savings. RM confirmed it was. Agreed that this would be transferred into OPCC budget.
Action: RM to vire the 2022/23 budget saving on capital financing as a result of the RCCO to the OPCC budget codes.
– A discussion took place around the pay award. RM provided a verbal update on the potential budget impact based on best, reasonable and worse case scenarios. PCC reiterated his assertion from budget setting for 22/23 that the Force would manage the impact of the pay award. The associated risks and mitigation/implications are to be understood by the Force and will be reported through Money Matters and / or the monthly Budget Setting Group meeting.
– Position on savings was reviewed, Treasurer queried whether diesel savings plan was in relation to the price of fuel or to savings from how much fuel is used. RM confirmed that it was in relation to price and so given current inflation was not achievable. PCC was asked to agree the undeliverable savings target.
– The PCC asked for clarification around the timeline for the production of Money Matters to ensure there is an opportunity for the PCCs’ Treasurer to review with WMP Head of Commercial Services prior to WMGB.
Action: RM to agree with PMB a timetable to review the quarterly MM report.
Decisions:
- The budget report was noted as the financial position at the end of June 2022.
- Q1 Virements to be reviewed & agreed by the Treasurer
- PCC notes the current position on delivery of 2022/23 saving plan and the highlighted unachievable elements.
- PCC reiterated that the saving target is still required to be delivered in full, and that changes required to achieve the savings target are brought to the PCC as appropriate.
Ref 05/20/07/2022
Detention Officers – Paper – For Decision.
The report was circulated and discussed.
– The PCC is asked for clarity as to the additional amount of money being asked for. It was clarified that an additional £283K is being sought to provide continuity of service for 12 months, whilst allowing time to determine the most appropriate operating model in the future. The PCC was supportive of the paper in principle recognising the operational nature of the decision and that any additional resource implications will need to be managed within the agreed allocated budget.
– The Recommendation is to go with Option 1b.
Decision: Option 1b, spend of £131,000 in 2022/23 to support the extension of the contract for 12 months. An indicative cost of £283,000 in 2023/24 was supported, subject to following procurement rules and to manage spend within agreed budget allocation.
Ref 06/20/07/2022
Prevention Strategy Delivery Plan – Papers – for Decision.
The report was circulated and discussed.
– The delivery plan is to be agreed, together with the potential governance arrangements.
– The PCC highlighted that the OPCC would struggle with the governance capacity to support an additional monthly forum and how would it successful engage with partners, need to ensure that the delivery plan is a collaboration document.
– In line with the covering paper it was agreed that there should be joint governance of the delivery plan. It was agreed that it will be reported to the Local Policing & Ops Board at which the PCC already has representation, along with a 1 page highlight report on the Prevention Strategy delivery plan taken to the Crime Reduction Board, on a quarterly basis. This was agreed.
Decision: The Prevention Strategy Delivery Plan was agreed.
Ref 07/20/07/2022
Prevention Network bid – paper – for Decision.
The paper was circulated and discussed.
– The PCC is concerned around elements of activities not being clearly defined with outcomes. The force response was that they were confident that the Prevention Network Hub was the effective way of supporting the Prevention Strategy Delivery Plan and also the Serious Violence Duty.
Action: the PCC/JM are to have a discussion on this outside this meeting.
Decision: No decision was made on the recommendation to support the budgetary proposal in the paper, pending further information to be provided.
Ref 08/20/07/2022
Op Lincoln quarterly update – papers – for information.
The paper was circulated discussed and noted.
– PCC welcomed the paper and the comprehensive nature of it. The PCC sought reassurance on the duration of the project and that they were taking the most effective approach to manage costs over the length of the investigation. RC stated that this would be reviewed and managed through the year as individual cases are taken through the established review process and associated costs are understood.
Ref 09/20/07/2022
Local Policing Community Charter Delivery Plan – papers – for information.
The papers were circulated, discussed and noted.
– The PCC/DPCC welcomed and commended the work around the Charter.
– The CC proposed this is included within the September update report for the PCP, recognising it as a good piece of work. This was agreed by the PCC.
Action: The PCC to include reference to the Local Policing Community Charter Delivery Plan is included in the September PCP activity report.
Ref 10/20/07/2022
Section 60 authorisation – paper – for information.
The paper was circulated, discussed and noted.
Ref 11/20/07/2022
Pension Forfeiture – paper – for information
The PCC sought reassurance that all officers who are convicted of a criminal offence committed in connection with their service as a member of a police force, would be considered for pension forfeiture.
The DCC provided that assurance to the PCC and that all policy decisions be retained on Tribune.
Ref 12/20/07/2022
Transforming Road Safety through Technology – paper – for Decision.
The paper was circulated and discussed.
– The PCC indicated that the proposals felt very similar to the proposals submitted as part of the budget setting process. The PCC asked how much of the money asked for would be spent on the landing the Community ANPR Scheme? The Force confirmed that no resources were currently being allocated.
– The PCC reiterated that he was committed to seeing Average Speed Cameras expanded across West Mercia.
– The Force stated there is currently not sufficient data received to support further Average Speed Camera schemes.
– The PCC felt it was difficult to work out the ‘so what’ for the Public, elements of the paper.
Decision: No decision was made on supporting the recommendations in the paper, pending further information to be provided.
Ref 13/20/07/2022
Summary of HMICFRS activity – paper – for information.
The paper was circulated, discussed and noted.
Ref 14/20/07/2022
C&T Update – paper – for information.
The paper was circulated, discussed and noted.
– The CC recognised this was a well constructed, informative paper.
– Telematics; The PCC asked what the milestone referred to in the paper was. The force confirmed the milestone was the Proof of Concept report on the conclusion of the pilot scheme of 30 vehicles.
Ref 15/20/07/2022
ACC/ACO Updates – papers – for information.
The papers were circulated, discussed and noted.
– County Lines; It was confirmed that the force is expecting to receive the majority of the County Lines income budgeted for. There has been an agreed change by all regional partners which has meant that methodology for the distribution of income had been changed, resulting in a reduction in the amount distributed to West Mercia.
– Homicide rate; This is still high but not currently considered as national outliers and not being directly monitored by the Home Office.
Ref 16/20/07/2022
AOB.
Scheduling of the Deep Dives.
The PCC raised a capacity issues in meeting the current forward plan for the Prevention deep dive scheduled for August WMGB. It was agreed that the Prevention Deep Dive would be removed from the Forward Plan.
It was agreed that the September Deep Dive will be Inclusion. It was agreed by the PCC & CC that the paper needed to be a collaborative presentation with a joint brief agreed.
Action: GB/RHL are to formulate a brief on what the content of the Inclusion Deep Dive will be, for approval by CC & PCC.
Fleet Operational Gap Issue.
RHL raised the prospect of a request for funding of a single operational vehicle which had been written off. The PCC confirmed that the Corporate Governance Framework would be reviewed later in the year to include consideration of delegation for write off approvals. RHL indicated she would submit the request to the OPCC in the meantime for the individual vehicle to be considered by the PCC.
Action; RHL to submit the request to the OPCC.
Thanks and Appreciation.
The CC and her team expressed their thanks, appreciation and best wishes to the DPCC on stepping down from the role.
Ref 17/20/07/2022
Date of next meeting.
17th August 2022, 14:00hrs
Thematic area:
Deep Dive: – None.
