W Carratt, in the Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting.

R Hindley and J Griffin were welcomed to their first meeting as co-opted Members of the Panel.

Apologies for absence were noted as above.

The Chair informed the Panel that Councillor Garbutt would be standing down as a Councillor and therefore this was his last meeting as a Member of the Panel. The Chair thanked Councillor Garbutt for his contributions and wished him well for the future.

Councillor Garbutt thanked Members and Officers and stated that he had focused on two issues, domestic abuse and sustainability, whilst a Member of the Panel.

The Commissioner thanked Councillor Garbutt for his contributions and stated that sustainability was a key issue for South Yorkshire Police. He reminded Members that if they had a particular interest it could be added as an agenda item.

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 Andrew Shirt, Council Governance Officer (Host Authority for the Police and Crime Panel) by email – andrewshirt@barnsley.gov.uk

There were no 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 Andrew Shirt, Council Governance Officer (Host Authority for the Police and Crime Panel) by email – andrewshirt@barnsley.gov.uk

There were no questions to the Police and Crime Panel.

Matters Arising / Action Log

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

W Carratt requested that the wording on page 13 of the minutes should be amended to accurately reflect how the budget allocation from the Home Office influenced the precept.

RESOLVED –

i)          That the minutes of the Police and Crime Panel meeting held on 3 February 2023 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 was submitted to inform Members that the Commissioner was 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 was 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 3 February 2023.

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

The following key points were noted:

·       The OPCC were currently between delivery plans.

·       The OPCC were devising a new plan which would be linked to the PCC’S Police and Crime Plan for 2023-2025 that was submitted at the meeting held on 3 February 2023. Members had provided valuable feedback on the plan.

·       The Baroness Casey review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service had created ripple effects across other police forces, with cultural work ongoing at SYP.

·       South Yorkshire was one of the areas that had received additional funding for Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) from the government.

·       SYP had reached the officer uplift target, with the offer of an additional 15 new recruits on top of the uplift target.

·       A period of priority-based budgeting would commence shortly, which was discussed at the Panel meeting on 3 February 2023. SYP would have to make significant savings due to medium-term financial challenge, and consultants would commence this work from 2 May 2023.

·       Rural network meetings would be held in the forthcoming weeks, with the first at Penistone. The Commissioner noted that Members had expressed concerns around rural crime and the impact on communities.

·       External funding totalling £650,000 had been secured which would be used to run domestic abuse perpetrator programmes.

Councillor Ransome thanked M Buttery and The Commissioner for the update on rural crime.

Councillor Ransome asked a question regarding about the ASB funding and why South Yorkshire had received it.

M Buttery responded that the Home Office allocated funding based on reported ASB and geographical spread.

Councillor Garbutt queried whether the new ASB funding would mean that ASB figures would be co-ordinated between SYP and Local Authorities.

The Commissioner agreed that a partnership approach was required.

Councillor Milsom asked if the new ASB funding raised an opportunity for a new reporting tool.

The Commissioner reported that the Home Office were planning a new reporting tool for ASB.

R Hindley raised a query regarding the new police officers that had been recruited and where they had been deployed.

The Commissioner responded that SYP had 1400 new officers who were completing training, which should take 2-3 years. The OPCC had infographics of where new police officers had been deployed and would share these with Panel Members.

Councillor Davison noted the difficulties surrounding a shortage of detectives and asked if the numbers had increased in South Yorkshire.

The Commissioner  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Commissioner informed the Panel that the Home Secretary had recently visited South Yorkshire to discuss CSE and had talked about whether the police could be inhibited in their investigations due to nervousness around reporting the ethnicity of gang members. However, The Commissioner took the view that progress had been made in this area since 2014 and this was not an issue for SYP. SYP had been commended by HMICFRS for their understanding of CSE and particular reference had been made to the partnership work in Rotherham between SYP and the Local Authority.

The Commissioner also commented that this could narrow the vision in regards to CSE, and perpetrators were from various different backgrounds with significant crime now happening online.

A report was submitted which set out the Quarterly Police and Crime Plan Performance Report for the period April to June 2022 (Quarter 4 2022/23), produced from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC’s) Police and Partners Performance Framework.  

The report aimed to provide information about how the police and partners, as well as the Office of the PCC (OPCC) are working to achieve the outcomes and priorities set out in the Police and Crime Plan for South Yorkshire.  

The Quarterly Performance Report for the period October to December 2022 (Quarter 4 2022/23), was set out in Appendix A to the report and noted by Members.  

The following key points were noted:

·       Overall crime was trending upwards for the past 12 months, this was partly due to comparing data from the Covid-19 pandemic.

·       The arrest rate for domestic abuse had fallen, which the force was continuously tracking. The legal definitions of domestic abuse had changed slightly which could account for some of the decreases in arrest rates. The arrest rate for South Yorkshire was still higher than the national average.

·      The charge summons rate for rape had increased and was now higher than the national average.

·       Residential burglaries were still high, however not as high as pre-pandemic levels. This was still high compared to the most similar forces.

·       The grant scheme which used money seized from criminals to provide community grants continued to be utilised effectively.

Councillor Garbutt referred to stop and search positive outcomes and asked The Commissioner whether the 27% figure was sufficient.

The Commissioner explained that this figure tended to fluctuate but continued to be monitored by the force.

Councillor Davison asked about current 101 response times.

K Wright drew Members attention to the average waiting times as set out in report. The figures for both 101 and 999 calls would be included in the June performance report.

Councillor Ransome referred to the data surrounding road safety and stated that driving whilst under the influence was also a major concern to residents alongside mobile phone use.

K Wright responded that the data from the stakeholder surveys, such as the priority and precept surveys, were used to capture community concerns, and that up to data analysis results from the stakeholder surveys would be included in future precept reports.

W  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

A report of the Chief Finance Officer, OPCC was presented setting out the consolidated financial position for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2022.  The report also set out forecasts of the year end position as at 31 December 2022.

On 28 February 2022, the PCC approved a revenue budget of £310.7m.  The PCC also approved a capital programme of £24.920m for 2022/23, anticipating that £22.770m borrowing would need to be undertaken in-the year to fund the programme.  The programme was decreased to £16.48m in July 2022 to take account of slippage, re-phasing and adjustments.  The PCC approved this revised programme on 27 July 2022.

The following key points were noted:

·      There were significant impacts on interest and inflation rates, which could impact on capital financing costs, pay and inflation, and in the medium terms employers contributions to the pension fund (due to fluctuations in actuarial valuations). This tied in with difficulties within the employment market in terms of staff recruitment and retention. 

·       At 31 December the projected year end out turn position is a £0.048m underspend on the Chief Constable’s budget, net of external funding.

·       The improved cashflow, and favourable interest rates had significantly overachieved on income which has contributed to a further net £844k shift in the outturn.  The position was being reviewed and changes would be reflected in the 23/24 budget.

·       In regard to commissioning and partnerships, income had been secured totalling £4.7m in this financial year, for use within the county.  Also, a successful £1m bid would be delivered by local authority partners in Doncaster and Sheffield.

·       Priority based budgeting work would commence with PwC consultants shortly.

R Hindley asked a question regarding risk and uncertainties and asked how they were mitigated.

E Eruero responded that risks were based on assumptions made in the budgeting process which could be visited again later in the year. It was noted that it was difficult to quantify especially when risks were interconnected.

M Buttery further added that training regarding financial risk was provided in new Member inductions, and that a deeper analysis of financial risk could be included in the Budget Working Group meeting agendas.

Councillor Milsom asked about how rising fuel costs had a significant impact on the budget and what the OPCC were doing to mitigate this.

The Commissioner informed the Panel that SYP had a sustainability officer, and that the recently opened Wombwell police station was self-sufficient in regard to energy.

W Carratt queried additional income this fiscal year and asked how this compared to previous years.

M Buttery responded that additional income was dependent on government policy and announcements, and that the OPCC bid for additional funding every fiscal year.

Councillor Garbutt asked about the impact of climate change on police forces workload and budget.

The Commissioner responded that this had been tested in the past with flooding events and the extreme weather in July last year, and these events had meant closer collaboration working between emergency services and Local Authorities which would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Cllr Milsom – Safer Sheffield Partnership – 23 March 2023

Cllr Knowles – Safer & Stronger Doncaster Partnership Board – 28 March 2023

Cllr Haleem – Safer Rotherham Partnership – 8 February 2023

Councillor Milsom provided an update from the Safer Sheffield Partnership held on 23 March 2023. Key points included:

·         PCC funding focused on liaising with community groups had been secured to the sum of £243,000.

·         The VRU had been formally assessed by the Home Office, which had evaluated the VRU as ready and engaged.

·         Various projects had been launched and were ongoing such as knife crime awareness and the nighttime economy strategy,

·         Work around hate crime had been undertaken with Disability Sheffield.

·         Project work surrounding violence and women and girls had been focused on one to one and group interventions.

·         Community funding had enabled project work in schools, such as the sexual harassment project which had trained 47 pupils and 92 teaching staff.

Councillor Knowles provided an update from the Safer and Stronger Doncaster Partnership Board held on 28 March 2023. Key points included:

·         The Joint Strategic Intelligence Assessment was in year 3 of the cycle.

·         Priorities for the forthcoming year included ASB, serious violence, hate crime and substance misuse.

·         Discussion took place regarding sharing more good news stories.

·         The review of MARAC was also a priority for the Board.

·         The Draft Youth Justice plan showed strong work in Doncaster.

·         The CSR grant had been confirmed by the PCC.

Due to the absence of Councillor Haleem, there were no updates from the Safer Rotherham Partnership.

Councillor Garbutt asked if there was a link between ASB and domestic abuse.

Both The Commissioner and K Wright confirmed there was no established link between domestic abuse and ASB in the data available.

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

A report of the Panel’s Support Advisor was presented to Members regarding the appointment of the Monitoring Officer/Legal Advisor to the Panel.

The Monitoring Officer and Legal Adviser for the Police and Crime Panel, Jason Field, who was also Head of Legal Services, Barnsley MBC, left the Council in January 2023 and Members were informed of future arrangements for Monitoring Officer / Legal Adviser support to the Panel, including the Panel’s Complaints Procedure.

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

(i)            Appointed Sukdave Ghuman, Service Director – Law and Governance, as the Panel’s Monitoring Officer / Legal Adviser with effect from 1 February 2023.

(ii)           Noted the appointment of Sukdave Ghuman, Barnsley MBC as the Legal Adviser for the purposes of the Complaints Procedure and authorised him to delegate any of those duties to such officers within Barnsley MBC Legal Services as he sees fit.

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 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)              Note the update.  

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

Members considered the 2023/24 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.  

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 2023/24 Work Programme.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel be held on Monday 12 June 2023 at 1:00 pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Church Street, Barnsley.