Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Deputy Doug Barrow, Deputy Keith Bottomley and Alderman Alison Gowman.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes of the meeting held on 30 May 2017.

The Sub-Committee considered the minutes from last meeting, held on 30 May 2017.

Item 5 – Outstanding References

The lead member for anti-social behaviour (ASB) explained that she was still in the process of looking into the improved presentation of ASB data to aid Members’ understanding. (1)

Item 7 – HMIC Update Report

The Chairman requested that a standing item for information be added to future agendas providing an update to Members on the progress relating to the Deloitte review. (2)  The Assistant Commissioner explained that reassurance was given by the STRA report that 12 “quick wins” could be achieved with no extra resource requirements.

Item 10 – Internal Audit Update Report

It was agreed that a Project Management audit report, as mentioned at the last meeting, should be submitted to the next meeting of the Sub-Committee. (3)

RESOVLED – That the minutes be approved.

Report of the Town Clerk

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Town Clerk that summarised the outstanding actions from previous meetings.

OR3 – Guidelines to ASB Data

It was agreed that this item was still outstanding

OR6 – Licensee Responsibility for CCTV

The Chairman explained that the comments about the Licensing Committee not being supportive were surprising.  The Assistant Commissioner stated that he was also surprised by this, and agreed to follow it up.

OR8 – Forecasting Status Changes

The Chairman requested that this item remain “Ongoing”.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

Briefing note of the Head of Governance & Assurance, CoLP

OR9 – Newly RED Status Indicator

The Chairman requested that dates be added for closedown of items within the table.  The assistant Commissioner explained that there would be specific dates for Health & Safety and Force Vetting, and agreed to include confirmed closedown dates for the next report.

Briefing Note of the Corporate Communications Director, CoLP.

A Member welcomed this report, but stated his disappointment that it had taken so long to arrive.  He noted that they seemed to be carrying out less surveys.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that they had experienced survey fatigue, and were considering commissioning an external party to carry out surveys.  He explained that Corporate Communications would deliver the next survey in November 2017.  A Member stated that the issue was not whether or not an internal or external provider would deliver the survey, but rather to identify the correct area to survey.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that this was the aim, and identifying the correct area to survey would be the task of Corporate Communications.

A Member explained that the method of survey carried out was crucial, and getting business Members to respond can be very hard.  The Assistant Commissioner agreed and explained that perhaps a narrower target audience would be more effective.  The Member explained that having targeted questions would make respondents more likely to engage.  The Chairman requested clarification on the dates of surveys.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that this could be confirmed at the next meeting. (4)

Report of the Chamberlain

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Chamberlain providing Members with an update on the work of the Internal Audit that has been undertaken by the CoLP since the last report in May 2017.

The Chairman noted that there seemed to be slippage, and that a number of reports appeared to be 6 months out of date.  The Chairman asked for an update on this.   The Chamberlain explained that these outstanding reports are at the stage in which they have yielded some conclusions, but are awaiting discussion with the Commissioner before they can be finalised.

The Chairman asked if those marked as RED would have responses confirmed and the recommendations followed up.  A Member stated that RED/AMBER statuses do not provide a tangible feel for the true status, and suggested that increased background information and context would be useful.  The Chamberlain explained that all those marked as completed, had indeed been provided with background information at previous meetings.

In reference to paragraph 9, a Member asked for an update on why no security patches had been installed since 2015. The Chamberlain explained that they were working with the IT department on wide ranging issues with the transformation programme, within which this was included.  He explained that old patches do not apply to new technological systems.  He explained that Audit & Risk had just released a report on IT transformation developments.  The Chamberlain suggested that this be circulated to Members. (5)  The Chairman showed his concern over the length of time the It project had been deferred for.

The Chairman asked that all the outstanding reports be completed. (6)  The Chamberlain explained that many of the reports were essentially complete, though were awaiting completion of testing with Town Clerk’s department.  He explained that there was a fear of providing inaccurate recommendations if

Report of the Commissioner of Police

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police that provided Members with an update on the HMICFRS Inspection.

The Assistant Commissioner explained that good progress had been made, with 16+ new areas marked as GREEN, and 10 left as RED.

The Assistant Commissioner explained that the HMIC had extended its remit to include inspections of fire and rescue services in England, leading to its new title of HMICFRS.  He explained that no reports in the last period had been published on the CoLP.

The Assistant commissioner explained that an inspection on “effectiveness” was upcoming and would last for 3 days.

The Assistant Commissioner explained that many of the indicators were essentially ready to move to GREEN status.  The Chairman requested that closedown timelines are included for all open indicators. (8)

The Chairman asked for information on the approach taken by HMICFRS towards inspections.  The Head of Strategic Development explained that they were moving towards basing them on “Force Management Statements”, with the launch of requirements taking place on Monday 2 October.  The HMICFRS would look at crime data before making a decision on which areas to inspect.  He explained that the CoLP were in a strong position due to the STRA process.  He explained that there would continue to be thematic inspections alongside one-off inspections.

A Member asked about the status of Stop and Search data.  The Assistant Commissioner credited the team for their improvements to management of systems for Stop & Search data.

A Member asked about the status of the Deloitte review of workforce, which was marked as RED under an area for improvement within the report.  The Assistant commissioner explained that this was imminently about to move into GREEN status.  He explained that Officer Skills and Training Database systems were due to go live in

Report of the Commissioner of Police

The Sub-Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police that summarised performance against measures in the Policing Plan 2017-20 for the period 1 April 2017 to 30 June 2017.

The Assistant Commissioner explained that there had been a regrettable rise in victim-based crime, in correlation with national figures.  He explained that there was a focus particularly on vulnerability.

The Assistant Commissioner asked Members to note the allocation of resources to terror attacks in Manchester and London.

A Member asked why there had been increases in 3 crime areas, and the Assistant Commissioner explained that a threat matrix was responsible for allocation of resources.  With the current threat level unlikely to go down soon, there is a need to adapt. 

A Member asked if more people would be encouraged to commit crimes based on increased success.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that repeat offenders sometimes persist for as long as 20 years in some of these crime areas, and that a small number of offenders were responsible for a large volume of crimes.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that there are an increased number of CID officers on the street in uniforms, with the idea that prevention can replace investigation in many cases.

A Member asked if the focus had changed since the last Operation Mass event.  The Assistant Commissioner agreed to follow this up to confirm. (9)

The Chairman asked for data surrounding “capability” and “impact” to be sourced, as both were highlighted within the report summary. (10)

The Assistant Commissioner explained that Moped crime was popular as it was both lucrative and provided means for easy escape from the scene.  He also explained that, similar to acid attacks, the crime was part of a trend.  He explained that the offenders were generally not residents of the City of London, so

There were no questions.

There was no further business.

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 30 May 2017.

The Sub-Committee considered the non-public minutes from the last meeting, held on 30 May 2017.

Members requested that the One Safe City update report due to be submitted to the next meeting of the Police Committee, be submitted to the next meeting of the Performance and Resource Management Sub-Committee, on 30 November 2017. (14)

RESOLVED – That the non-public minutes be approved.

There were no non-public questions.

There was no further non-public business.