Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered an update report of the Commissioner regarding Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Inspection reports and the following points were made.

·         In response to a question from a Member raised earlier in the meeting, the Chairman replied that HMICFRS did not take into account cost implications for the Force when making recommendations. Moreover the Force was not obliged to adopt HMICFRS recommendations, but in the event of not doing so, the Force’s reasons for not doing so should be robust and reasonable. A regular dialogue with HMICFRS was maintained.

·         A Member welcome the progress made towards the recommendation regarding child protection.

·         A Member commented that, compared to the plentiful number of red recommendations the Force faced a number of years ago, he was pleased to see that in spite of COVID there was a strong focus in the Force on dealing with HMICFRS recommendations and so credit was due to the Assistant Commissioner and his team.

·         In response to a question regarding recommendation 5 (child protections - management of sex offenders and violent offenders) the Assistant Commissioner noted that the Force had focused on meeting the recommendation and would review the structures and processed involved once they were working in practice. He highlighted the wider work the Force was undertaking on child protection, including joint working with the British Transport Police to monitor activity around stations and hotels.

·         The Commissioner noted that the update reporting was necessarily concise given it was designed to give Members a summary oversight, and assured Members that the Force took the recommendations seriously and indeed perhaps held them as red for longer than external observers, including HMICFRS, would deem necessary.

RESOLVED, that the report be received.