Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Nicholas Bensted-Smith, Helen Marshall and Deputy James Thomson.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 February be agreed as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

Officers Present

The addition of Richard Woolford, City of London Police

Minute 4 - Internal Audit Review

The removal of the reference to the ‘Bridgehouse Estate’.

All Minutes - The replacement of the title ‘Commissioner’ with ‘Assistant Commissioner’.

RESOLVED – That the draft minutes of the Performance and Resources Management Sub-Committee held on 24 February 2016 be received.

Report of the Town Clerk.

RESOLVED – That the list of outstanding references be noted.

2. Barbican CCTV

In response to a question concerning delays to the project, the Commissioner advised that a procurement process needed to take place before an implementation date could be identified but was on track with the project timetable which was provided to all Members at the previous meeting.

4. Police Pensions Sub-Committee

Alderman Luder, Chairman of the Police Pensions Sub-Committee, reported that an issue regarding the payment of expenses for one of the Scheme Member representatives appointed at the last meeting.

While the payment of ‘reasonable travel expenses’ would be possible, the Scheme Member appointed lived in France and had indicated that he would only be prepared to attend meetings if the full cost of his travel expense were met.

Alderman Luder subsequently recommended that another Scheme Member representative would need to be appointed, and also that that both the Commissioner and himself be given delegated authority to appoint members to the two vacancies.

The Commissioner also undertook to promote the Scheme Member vacancies at future events involving retired Police officers.

RESOLVED – That

1)            A replacement Scheme Member representative be advertised for; and

2)            The Commissioner and Alderman Luder, Chairman of the Police Pensions Sub-Committee, be given delegated authority to make appointments to the two scheme member vacancies.

The Committee welcomed Steven Otter and Brian Quinn from Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary for the National and London Region (HMIC) who were present to update on the CoL Police’s PEEL (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy) assessment for 2015. Mr Otter advised that the role of HMIC was to promote improvements in policing to make everyone safer and they would only make recommendations where there were real areas of concern.

The Committee noted that the purpose of the PEEL inspections was to provide information on how the police were performing in a way that was comparable both across England and Wales, and year-on-year. Mr Otter advised that the assessment recognised that the CoL Police were quite unique however it was still required to work to a national standard.

The Committee was advised that the CoL Police were rated ‘Good’ in most areas. It worked effectively to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour and protected most victims well. It was also adequately prepared to face its future financial challenges and had improved its understanding of the demands it faced.

In response to questions concerning areas for improvement, Mr Otter advised that the force needed to evidence better its response to child sexual exploitation, and also needed to understand better the reasons for its apparently high use of Stop and Search and Taser.

The Commissioner reported that the inspections were very helpful and it was useful to have independent validation. He further advised that they would be seeking to address the areas for improvement.

On behalf of the Committee the Chairman thanked Mr Otter, who was shortly retiring, for attending the meeting and also for all his work and support over the last four years.

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner detailing issues raised by the community and the police response to those issues since the last report presented in January 2016.

The Committee was advised that the principal focus of the Communities Teams had been, and remained, to support the Force-wide counter-terrorism priority, and  Communities officers continued to participate in Project Servator deployments aimed at deterring and disrupting potential terrorist activity. Also following the recent events in Paris and Brussels, more officers had been deployed to the City’s residential and business communities to provide reassurance and to increase awareness.

In response to a question concerning approaches to community engagement and community messaging the Commissioner advised that work was currently being undertaken to review and improve the communications strategy in general, particularly in relation to the use and effectiveness of community messaging and social media such as Twitter and that this would be reported to a future meeting.

The Commissioner also reported that they would need to consider what community issues actually were and the best way to communicate with the community.

RESOLVED  - That the report be noted.

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner updating on Equality and Inclusion activities conducted since the last report presented in January 2016.

The Committee passed on its congratulations to all those involved in the Health and Wellbeing Initiative that had officially launched on 12 April.

A Member of the Committee commented that some statistics in relation to the activities undertaken would be helpful in future.

RESOLVED – that the report be noted.

There were no further updates.

The Committee received a joint report of the Chamberlain and Commissioner updating on the Revenue Budget 2016/17 following the decision of the Court of Common Council to increase the Business Rates Premium by 0.1p to 0.5p in the £ from April 2016 with the additional income, estimated at £1.6m a year, being allocated to the City of London Police to cover recently identified cost pressures relating to security.

The Committee was advised that the underlying financial position remained challenging and further steps would be required to achieve a balanced financial position over the medium term. The Committee was further advised that it was

intended to present a further report on the strategy for restoring financial

balance by 2017/18 together with an updated programme of capital and major

revenue projects over the medium term.

RESOLVED – That the updated revenue budget for 2016/17 be approved.

The Committee received a report of the Chamberlain reporting the outcomes of Internal Audit Review of Insolvency which had been agreed by management, and the implementation of  which would be monitored by the Audit and Risk Management Committee.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

NB: This report will also be considered by the Policy and Resources Committee this day and by the Planning and Transportation Committee on 26 April 2016.

The Committee received an information report concerning the City Anti-Terrorism Traffic Regulation Order (ATTRO) which was being presented to the Planning and Transportation and Policy and Resources Committee for decision.

Members of the Committee questioned some of the wording contained within the order, some of which they considered was unclear, and stressed the need to ensure the document was robust enough to stand up to judicial review.

After discussion a vote was case resulting in the paper being received with one Member voting against.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

A Member questioned whether the up and coming PCC elections would provide an opportunity to promote the CoLP system of having a Police Committee.

The Chairman reported that he would shortly be stepping down as Chairman and he expressed his thanks to all Members and officers for their support.

The Committee also expressed thanks to Deputy Joyce Nash who was also stepping down after serving ten years on the Committee, and agreed that her wisdom and common sense would be sorely missed.

MOTION - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 25 February 2016.

RESOLVED – that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 25 February be agreed as a correct record.

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Committee considered and approved a Gateway 5 Authority to Start Work report of the Commissioner of the City of London Police which request approval to commence work on the Ring of Steel Compliance and Stabilisation Project.

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

The Committee considered a report of the Commissioner concerning the annual review of the Travel Concession Agreement for police officers.

Alderman Alison Gowman will provide a verbal update.

A Member of the Committee reported on a recent meeting with the Custody Suite Manager to assess how the custody suite and the police force as a whole were treating mental health.

Commissioner to be heard.

The Commissioner of Police was heard concerning on-going and successful operations undertaken by the City of London Police.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.