West Mercia Governance Board
Notes of Meeting
Date: 28th May 2024
Time: 10:00hrs
Attendance:
John Campion (JPC) Chair, Police and Crime Commissioner
Richard Cooper (RC) T/Deputy Chief Constable
Gareth Boulton (GB) Chief Executive Officer
Paul Benfield (PB) Treasurer
Grant Wills (GW) T/Assistant Chief Constable, Local Policing & Operations
Richard Muirhead (RM) Director of Commercial Services
Diane Cleaver (DC) Senior Finance Officer
Charity Pearce (CP) Policy Officer (Minute taker)
Apologies:
Marc Bayliss (MB) Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner
Alex Murray (AM) T/Chief Constable
Anthony Morriss (TM) Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Rachel Hartland-Lane (RHL) Director of Business Services
Rachel Jones (RJ) Assistant Chief Constable, Crime & Vulnerability
Minutes
Ref/01/28/05/2024
Introduction / Attendance / Apologies. Welcome and apologies were made.
Ref/02/28/04/2024
Minutes and Action Log for the previous meeting
The minutes were recorded as an accurate record. The action log was updated accordingly.
Ref/03/28/04/2024
Money Matters- For Decision.
The paper was presented and discussed.
The PCC raised questions in relation to the trend in accident and repair costs, particularly around the spike in costs in March. Reassurance was provided that there is various levels of governance in place to manage this and the PCC asked that this is reported in future money matters updates.
The PCC raised concerns that sergeants are being used in custody to cover the work of detention officers and sought assurance that full costs are being recovered from Bidvest Noonan.
Linked to the above, safeguarding shouldn’t be an additional cost as the force resource for a full custody suite.
A number of recommendations were put forward.
The PCC asked for clarification on the request from the force relating to the carry forward of the £0.650m. It was confirmed that this was in relation to the approval in the 2024/25 Budget that the force could utilise up to £0.650m from the 2023/24 underspend to support delivery of a balanced budget. As the force reported position for 2023/24 was a small overspend, the force has a 2024/25 budget gap. The request is not in relation to wider use of the consent provided under the corporate governance arrangements. The PCC referred to the following paper which will set out how reserves will be utilised in 2024/25 to support expenditure.
Decision: The PCC approved the following recommendation set out in the paper.
- The outturn position of a £3.357m underspend is approved and that this is transferred to reserves.
- The virements at section 2d are approved.
- Capital carry forward of £10.684m in relation to DST, Change and Fleet into 2024/25 is supported.
Estates Capital carry forward of £3.601m is supported.
Ref/04/28/05/2024
Reserve Statement 31 March 2024 (Paper) – For decision.
The paper was presented setting out how the reserves have been utilised in 23.24 and how they can be utilised in 24/25.
PCC focus that reserves are used for short term / single investment decisions.
PCC states his agreement that the utilisation of some of the reserves is subject to further approval and in particular business cases. PCC is open to changes to the use of reserves in the future as a result of the co-production of business cases and agreement of some elements of the request made. If the draw down is not required, then there is option to support other elements of priorities that may be needed. This is not the only opportunity to review how reserves are used.
Force us grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the process of deciding how reserves are utilised and to consider using reserves in the future.
Decision: The PCC agreed the below recommendations,
- The balances held on named earmarked reserves as at the 31/03/24 totalling £19.687m as shown in section 3 of the report.
- The utilisation of £8.368m reserves during the 2024/25 financial year as set out in proposed allocation subject to the further approval as delegated as detailed in section 4 of the report.
- Noting the allocation of reserves to support commitments made in the MTFS/Budget Report/decisions made.
- Noting the continued support for use of reserves, rolled over from the previous financial year.
- Approve the new requests for use of reserves in 2024/25 as listed in the report.
Ref/05/28/05/2024
Op Lincoln May 24 Update- For Information.
The paper was presented and discussed.
The PCC is concerned about the delivery of outcomes in the context of how this will be afforded in the future. T/DCC agreed with this and provided assurance that focus is proportionate and in the public interest, conversations are ongoing with the CPS to ensure charges are realistic.
A MTFS is to be agreed with a financial envelope. In the next 12 months the force should know about any gross negligence charges which would feed into corporate negligence. This will help secure any sustained funding.
Action 2024/68: Op Lincoln update in 6 months’ time to provide an overview of the investigation including the budget envelope.
Ref/06/28/05/2024
Health and Wellbeing (Paper) – For Information.
The paper was presented and discussed.
The PCC highlighted that low morale in the force is not overtly referenced within the paper and what the expectation is around outcomes from having this in place. Also raised that the paper does seem to have much focus on supporting individuals to build self-resilience and their own coping mechanisms.
Reassurance was provided that this element is considered within things discussed in the paper such as the blue light framework.
Ref/07/28/05/2024
Final update on £400k spend – For Information.
The paper was presented and discussed detailing the allocation and successes from the funding including learning points from the force around the optimism to deliver a number of different projects.
Ref/08/28/05/2024
Developing our understanding of user experience – For Information.
The paper was presented setting out how the force hope to broaden their approach to understanding the experience of the public including making more use of digital methods. DCC stated that a lot of the paper is for information, and the report could have included more from the executive to lead the discussion. This paper has been prepared at a relatively early stage in developing the approach, and further work required to define what force wants to do to improve their understanding and knowing what the impact and experiences of the public are.
This will be progressed through the forces Victim Satisfaction Board, where OPCC are represented.
The PCC sought clarity on what role the public has in shaping or contributing to the designing of any changes. This will take place as part of the advisory group set out in the proposal although likely to include providing the group with options to consider.
There are no clear timescales for introducing any changes yet, the force want to work though the options and enable consultation with the OPCC and the public.
Ref/09/28/05/2024
HMICFRS PEEL Preparedness – For Information.
The PCC welcomed the update alongside the fuller update provided at the Assurance and Accountability meeting on the 20th May. The PCC asked when an outcome could be provided on the self-assessment being undertaken by the force.
Action 2024/69: Force to provide an update on HMICFRS self-assessment activity as part of update in July.
Ref/10/28/05/2024
Change and Transformation – For Information.
The Paper was presented and discussed.
Ref/11/28/05/2024
Portfolio Updates- For Information.
Business Services Update There is significant underspend linked to PCSO vacancies earlier in the 23/24 year. The PCC sought reassurance that activity is underway to get recruitment to where it needs to be. The force is doing all they can to prioritise it but this area of recruitment has some significant challenges.
Crime & Vulnerability Nothing of note.
Local Policing & Ops Analysis linked to motorcycle fatalities has been developed by the force and is being used to develop the forces problem solving approach to this cohort.
The force is seeing a peak in the volume of XL bully’s being seized, however they are confident that this is the peak and will tail off. The cost to the organisation is being absorbed through force ops budget.
There is a focus on improving call taking where a number of technical challenges have presented. A recent SAAB update has seen a recent improvement in performance.
Improved data has been trialled in Redditch to support hotspot policing work through Power BI.
Action 2024/70: PCC to receive briefing on new power BI system including the data picture behind front facing system.
Commercial Services The force is working to draw together a number of DST elements. The T/CC has taken the lead on work to utilise AI within the force and it is expected this will accelerate. However, the next stage is to work on the storage that is required for AI as it uses cloud-based storage.
Ref/12/28/05/2024
AOB/Forward Plan. An update on recruitment in the public contact centre is to be included as part of the update at the July meeting.
Sustainability reporting is being brought quarterly starting from the June meeting.
