The Vice-Chair, Councillor Cherryholme took the Chair for today’s meeting and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were noted as above. 

The Panel noted that today would be L Noble’s and M McCarthy’s last Panel meeting. 

On behalf of the Panel, Councillor Cherryholme said that it had been an honour to have had the opportunity to work alongside two extremely knowledgeable and committed officers, who had guided Panel Members, the Chair and Vice-Chair extremely well.

The Panel thanked L Noble and M McCarthy for their support and dedication to the Panel and wished them both every happiness for the future.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business which by reason of special circumstances the Chair is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting; the reason(s) for such urgency to be stated.

None. 

To identify items where resolutions may be moved to exclude the public and press.  (For items marked * the public and press may be excluded from the meeting).

None. 

None. 

The Panel’s Rules of Procedure and the procedure for asking questions of the Commissioner and the Panel is available at: https://www.barnsley.gov.uk/sypcp

If any member of the public wishes to ask a question of the Police and Crime Commissioner at the meeting, they should be submitted in writing at least 5 working days before the meeting and be no more than 100 words in length.  They must not relate to an individual case, and must not repeat, or substantially repeat, any question that has been asked and answered at a meeting of the Panel meeting in the six months preceding the date of the meeting.

Questions should be submitted to Linda Noble, Service Improvement and Scrutiny Officer (Host Authority for the Police and Crime Panel) by email – lindanoble@barnsley.gov.uk

There were no public questions to the Police and Crime Commissioner.  

If any member of the public wishes to ask a question of the Police and Crime Panel at the meeting, they should be submitted in writing at least 5 working days before the meeting and be no more than 100 words in length.

They must not relate to an individual case, and must not repeat, or substantially repeat, any question that has been asked and answered at a meeting of the Panel meeting in the six months preceding the date of the meeting.

Questions should be submitted to Linda Noble, Service Improvement and Scrutiny Officer (Host Authority for the Police and Crime Panel) by email – lindanoble@barnsley.gov.uk

There were no public questions to the Police and Crime Panel. 

Matters Arising / Action Log

The Panel discussed and noted progress in respect of agreed actions captured on the Panel’s Action Log set out in Appendix A to the minutes. 

RESOLVED –

i)           That the minutes of the Police and Crime Panel meeting held on 4 February 2022 be agreed and signed by the Chair as a correct record. 

ii)          Noted that the Panel’s Action Log would be updated following discussion and agreement at today’s meeting. 

A report of the Chief Finance Officer, OPCC was presented setting out the consolidated financial position for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 December 2021.  The report also set out forecasts of the year end position as at 31 December 2021. 

Members noted that the PCC had approved a revenue budget of £296.0m for 2021/22.  Based on current assumptions, the forecast outturn position for the revenue budget was an underspend of £1.267m as at 31 December 2021.

The following key points were noted:

·            As at 31 December 2021, the total year to date COVID-19 spend was £1.0m.

·            The Force was required to underspend by £1.2m to repay the amount paid out last year from reserves to South Yorkshire Pensions Authority for staff pension lump sum prepayment.

·            There were underspends in staff pay due to vacancies, particularly within growth areas and the Force Control Room.

·            As at 31 December 2021, the projected year end outturn position was a £266k underspend on the Chief Constable’s budget, net of external funding.  Full details were outlined in the Chief Constable’s budget monitoring paper, attached at Appendix A to the report. 

The PCC and OPCC budget forecast year end position was an underspend of £322k, based on information as at 31 December 2021. 

Additional in year funding of £5.330m (including £1.6m for the VRU) had also been received since the budget was set. 

The main reasons for the underspend and variances form the budget were presented within the report.

Members noted that the PCC had approved a revised capital programme of £19.63m in July 2021.  Expenditure to date amounted to £10.76m, and the programme was currently projected to spend in full. 

As at 31 March 2021, the overall level of revenue reserves available was £64.96m.  This included general reserves of £42.2m, earmarked, and insurance reserves of £10.6m and £12.1m respectively.  The expected movement in year, based on projections at the end of December 2021, were detailed in a table at paragraph 6 of the report.

Hillsborough, the Stovewood enquiry, and CSE civil claims were currently showing a combined underspend of £0.175m. 

Paragraph 7 of the report set out a number of risks and uncertainties in the reported financial position, which had been previously reported and largely remained unchanged. 

Councillor Davison referred to the Chief Constable’s budget.  He asked what the difference was between ‘Specific Grant Funding’ and ‘Grant Expenditure’. 

S Abbott replied that, to her knowledge, ‘Specific Grant Funding’ related to grant income received.  Whereas ‘Grant Expenditure’ related to specific grant under / overspend.  S Abbott agreed to ascertain with the Force and provide a response to Councillor Davison after today’s meeting. 

The Commissioner wished to place on record his thanks to S Abbott, D Carrington and M Carroll, together with officers working in both the OPCC and Force Finance Teams.  He paid tribute to all their hard work undertaken during the last year around finances, additional grants, and meeting very strict deadlines. 

RESOLVED – That the Police and Crime Panel:-

i)           Noted the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Commissioner reported that there were currently several national and international issues which were concerning him.  Furthermore, they should also concern all Panel Members, due to it leading to unpredictability and uncertainty about the future of crime and policing. 

Firstly, as a result of the Ukraine war, there were thousands of refugees moving across Europe and entering the UK.  A large number of the refugees would be very vulnerable as a result of the war.  In particular, women and children who had been uprooted from their homes. 

The Commissioner said that organised crime gangs would see this as an opportunity.  He highlighted that everyone needed to be very sensitive to the fact that there would be vulnerable people who would be open to criminal exploitation by gangs trying to traffic people.

The Commissioner said that this was something that the Police here in the UK and across Europe had to keep on top of and keep a close eye on. 

Secondly, the Commissioner said that he would never have thought in his lifetime he would have to say that the UK has a Prime Minister who now has a criminal record.  He considered that this was a very difficult place to be in, especially when the police were trying to encourage everyone to abide by the law. 

The Commissioner said that this situation was unsettling and unnerving.  Furthermore, he did not like the way in which Fixed Penalty Notices had been issued against those attending Downing Street and Cabinet Office parties intermittently through the system.  He considered that this method should be ended as soon as possible, due to everyone wanting to have trust and confidence in political leadership, and trust and confidence in the police. 

Referring to the report on today’s agenda, K Wright provided the Panel with a high-level overview of the Quarterly Performance Report for the period October to December 2021 (Quarter 3 2021/22), as set out in Appendix A to the report. 

Councillor Ransome commented that, although local residents did value the Force’s call back option, they had found that they were waiting much longer than 10 minutes for their 101 calls to be answered.  Residents had tended not to use the 101 service because it was taking too long for their calls to be answered. 

The Commissioner replied that the vast majority of callers would have had their call answered within 10 minutes.  He said that it would be helpful if residents could report the date and time when they had experienced a problem when calling the 101 service to enable him to investigate fully. 

Professor James referred to Cyber-crime and Fraud.  He reported that figures for fraud were not included in local crime data due to them being collated centrally.  He asked if a solution could be found to enable the Panel to understand how many vulnerable people are victims of cyber-crime and fraud. 

K Wright replied that referrals of fraud go via National Action Fraud, and are then fed back to local police  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

A report of the Commissioner was presented to inform Members that the Commissioner is supported by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) in delivering his Police and Crime Plan, and in effectively discharging his wide range of legal responsibilities.  The OPCC has a Delivery Plan which outlines how this is undertaken each year. 

The report provided Members with an update on key PCC and OPCC activities against the new Delivery Plan since the Panel’s last meeting held on 4 February 2022. 

The report also provided Members with information on the decisions taken by the PCC since the Panel’s last meeting.

The key activities reported for the period under the headings within the OPCC’s new Delivery Plan were detailed in the report and noted by Members.

In response to a request from Professor James, M Buttery agreed to provide him with a copy of a template which posed a series of questions to help Members of the Stop and Search Scrutiny Panel determine whether Stop and Searches had been conducted properly. 

In response to a question from Professor James, M Buttery confirmed that the Stop and Search Scrutiny Panel would be able to review the grounds of suspicion used by officers for making the stops. 

Professor James reported that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) had recently published a National Stop and Search Learning report.

The report contained a number of recommendations for the Home Office, National Police Council and Chief officers.  He asked what steps the Commissioner had taken to ensure that the Chief Constable was responding appropriately to the recommendations contained within the report. 

M Buttery replied that each time a new report was published, the Commissioner would raise this at his weekly meeting with the Chief Constable.  In addition, M Buttery had weekly meetings with the Deputy Chief Constable where any recommendations arising from reports were tracked in an Action Plan. 

It was confirmed that the Stop and Search Scrutiny Panel and Independent Ethics Panel would be fully appraised of the recommendations arising from the IOPC’s National Stop and Search Learning report. 

Professor James asked if the Commissioner was satisfied that the Stop and Search Scrutiny Panel had been established to conform with the recommendations set out in the IOPC’s National Stop and Search Learning report.  

The Commissioner acknowledged the question and agreed to check following today’s meeting. 

Professor James asked if he could receive a copy of the PCC’s Assurance Framework (PAF) for risk, governance and internal control. 

This request was acknowledged. 

Professor James asked if rehabilitation measures in each of the Community Safety Partnerships were being measured. 

M Buttery replied that she would need to check each of the individual Community Safety Partnership’s Plans to ascertain if they have a specific item in their plan in relation to the rehabilitation of offenders.  In relation to reducing re-offending, M Buttery agreed to access data from the Yorkshire and Humber Partnership. 

Councillor Garbutt referred to a demonstration which had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

A report was presented to provide the Panel with an update on the work that the Police and Crime Commissioner is maintaining an oversight of in relation to Female Offenders within South Yorkshire. 

The Panel were reminded that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had published a Female Offender Strategy in 2018. 

The Strategy set out Government’s commitment to a new programme of work for female offenders, driven by three priorities. 

The Panel noted that local progress had been impeded by COVID, probation reform, and the absence of any discrete funding to South Yorkshire to support local delivery of the ambitions set out in the Strategy. 

In January 2021, the MoJ had published the Concordat on women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System.  The second section looked at improving outcomes at a local level, including through establishing a whole system approach to respond more collaboratively and effectively to the multiple and complex needs of women in or at risk of contact with the Criminal Justice System. 

The Strategy also contained a commitment to publish a data tool to enable local areas to better understand the needs of women in the area. 

The Panel noted that work to support local delivery of the ambitions contained in the Strategy and the Concordat had continued over the course of the last year. 

During 2021/22, the Force had committed to developing a Female Offender Strategy.  A first draft of the Strategy had been produced by the Force Lead and was currently being considered. 

Upon unification of the Probation Service in June 2021, a Female Offender Commissioned Rehabilitative Service for South Yorkshire had been available delivered by a local consortium of specialist female providers led by Changing Lives. 

The Panel noted that, on behalf of the Local Criminal Justice Board, the countywide Rehabilitative and Reduce Reoffending Steering Group (RRRSG) had co-ordinated and progressed local partnership working in relation to females. 

On 9 February 2022, the PCC had welcomed more than 60 delegates to a ‘Women and girls in or at risk of entering the Criminal Justice System’ virtual event.  Further details were presented in the report and noted by Members. 

Professor James commented that he was pleased to note the developments beginning to take place and welcomed the multi-agency approach which had been developed. 

Professor James noted that there was a commitment to publish a data tool to enable local areas to better understand the needs of women in the area.  He asked if a specific dashboard could be produced for South Yorkshire and if this could be included in future quarterly Performance reports. 

M Buttery acknowledged Professor James’ request and agreed to discuss with K Wright to consider if it would be feasible to include this data in future quarterly Performance reports, or if updates could be provided in the PCC’s quarterly Update reports. 

In response to a request from Professor James, the Commissioner agreed to provide the Panel with regular progress updates in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

A report was submitted to update Members on current events – national, regional and local, together with future plans in respect of learning and development for the Panel. 

Suggestions for any other learning and development opportunities Members may have to support the Panel’s learning and development were welcomed. 

A summary of the events which had taken place since the last meeting together with details of proposed future events were set out within the report for Members’ information. 

RESOLVED – That Members of the Police and Crime Panel:-

i)           Noted the update.

ii)          Agreed to provide suggestions for future learning and development. 

Councillor Cherryholme provided the Panel with a detailed update on the key issues, priorities and work currently being undertaken by the Safer Barnsley Partnership. 

Councillor Milsom provided the Panel with an update from the Safer Sheffield Partnership meeting held on 24 February 2022. 

On behalf of Councillor Haleem, L Noble provided the Panel with an update from the Safer Rotherham Partnership meeting held on 7 April 2022. 

No update was available in relation to the Safer and Stronger Doncaster Partnership Board. 

RESOLVED – That Members of the Police and Crime Panel noted the feedback. 

Members considered the 2022/23 Work Programme and were reminded that they could submit issues for the Work Programme that fall within the Panel’s Statutory role in supporting and scrutinising the Commissioner. 

All issues would be given full consideration by the Chair, Vice-Chair and Commissioner at the pre-agenda planning meetings. 

Additionally, Members were encouraged to attend the meetings of the Commissioner’s Public Accountability Board (PAB) to increase their operational knowledge.  These were currently being held virtually and Members could obtain details to ‘dial in’ to the meeting from A Shirt. 

Members were reminded that they could also submit questions for PAB through the OPCC, with 5 working days notice prior to the meeting. 

RESOLVED – That Members of the Police and Crime Panel noted the contents of the 2022/23 Work Programme. 

RESOLVED - That the Annual meeting of the Police and Crime Panel be held on Monday 6 June 2022, at 1:00 pm, in Barnsley Town Hall. 

The Commissioner and M Buttery thanked L Noble and M McCarthy for all their hard work and wished them both all the very best for the future.