Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Deborah Oliver.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 27 February 2020.

In considering Minute 8: City of London Police Budget Monitoring Q3, Members requested that the second bullet point be amended to read:

“A Member noted that the Performance and Resource Management Committee had not been able to scrutinise the pay items in the budget to an appropriate degree.”

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 27 February 2020 be approved as a correct record subject to the above amendment.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Commissioner regarding public outstanding references and the following points were made:

• The Governance Review was still open to individual submissions and Members were encouraged to provide any further contributions to Lord Lisvane (11/2020/P).

• Work was ongoing to progress options for the provision of an exercise yard at Bishopsgate Police Station via a small minor works project with the expectation that works would be undertaken during Summer 2020 (37/2019/P).

RESOLVED, that the update on outstanding references be noted.

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard an update from the Commissioner on Operation TAMAR and the following points were made:

·         The City of London Police was part of the Pan-London Strategic Coordinating Group which worked to deliver a consistent approach to policing across London.  The City of London continued to be very quiet as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, although there had been some issues around social distancing in public open spaces at the start of the lockdown period which had been now been resolved.  The majority of business remained closed but building sites were re-opening where social distancing measures could be put in place.  The Police had issued penalty notices to three people breaching lockdown by travelling to the City on non-essential journeys and had made a number of arrests relating to non-residential burglaries.  There had been no increase in reports of domestic abuse during the lockdown period.  The City of London Police was engaging with the debate on exiting lockdown and continued to work closely with businesses in the City.  It was likely that there would be a staged return of the City’s workforce over time, with levels of remote working remaining high in the short to medium term and with pubs and restaurants remaining closed for the foreseeable future. 

·         The number of City of London Police staff self-isolating was extremely low with an overall workforce sickness rate of 2.5%.  One officer remained in a serious condition in hospital, and seven members of staff were self-isolating at present, of whom four were non-symptomatic.  Police officers could access COVID-19 testing via NHS Test Centres and there were no concerns over the current stock or future supply of PPE.  Police officers and staff were still able to take leave which was supplemented by a workstream under the GOLD structure around the welfare of

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard an update from the Commissioner on National Lead Force and the following point was made:

·         The City of London Police were working closely with the National Crime Agency and National Economic Crime Centre in delivering its role as the National Lead Force for fraud.  COVID-19 related fraud had generated £14M losses in reported crime to date, including fake testing kits and e-mail scams.  A number of workstreams were underway to support the national response to this which included disseminating information and guidance to other Police Forces and members of the public.  It had not been necessary to transfer National Lead Force staff to other areas of service provision, such as the core uniformed policing role, and National Lead Force staff remained focused on tackling fraud.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner on Force Finances (New Finance Tracker) and the following points were made:

·         The provisional budget outturn for the 2019/20 financial year was looking positive and notification been received from the Home Office that costs relating to Extinction Rebellion activity during 2019 would be reimbursed, resulting in a positive variation of £240k.  At present, the budget for the 2020/21 financial year was showing expenditure over the planned budget of £200k, but this was a changeable picture due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it was anticipated that there could be £0.5M loss of income related to the stoppage of Training Academy courses as well as a reduction in the Transport for London grant.  Work was underway to explore how Training Academy courses could be delivered online; however, a number of trainers had been redeployed to the Economic Crime Unit to help tackle COVID-19 fraud.  In response to a question from a Member, the Commissioner confirmed that the 2020/21 budget offered far more granularity than previous years which would support robust analysis, including identifying areas of concern.  The Commissioner reassured the Board that that agency staff costs identified during 2019/20 were being managed closely.  The Chairman requested that the savings tracker be reported in non-public in future due to the sensitivities around reporting financial matters relating to business operations.

·         Recruitment remained a challenge with an ongoing focus on recruiting an additional 44 Police Officers funded by the Home Office.  This would include more uniformed Police Officers delivering community policing within the new geographical model as well as those supporting the National Lead Force workstream.  The Home Office funding covered all basic staffing costs including salaries, pensions and allowances, but the City of London Police would be responsible to cover any additional costs related to specialist skills.

The Chairman to be heard.

Members heard a public update from the Chairman and the following points were made:

·         The Chairman and Deputy Chairman received daily updates from the City of London Police during the COVID-19 lockdown which enabled good oversight of the work being undertaken. 

·         The City of London Corporation had suspended sub-committees during April 2020, with any necessary decisions being taken forward under urgency arrangements; however, measures were now in place to enable decision-making sub-committees to resume operation.  A record was being kept of all decisions made under urgency and this information would be publicly available.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner providing an update on economic crime and the following point was made:

·         The Economic Crime Unit was working hard to raise public awareness of COVID-19 fraud and other financial scams.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner providing an update on performance and resources management and the following points were made:

·         There had been significant increases over the rolling 12-month period for certain offences including residential burglary and theft from person which reflected an increase in these crimes at a national level, as well as the impact of high vacancy levels within the City of London Police Force.  Victim-based violence and acquisitive crime had also increased over the rolling 12-month period but it was anticipated that crime related to the night-time economy would be significantly lower during the COVID-19 lockdown.  Overall, total notifiable offenses for the rolling 12 months were projected to show an increase of 11%.  A Member was concerned at the increases shown for certain offences and queried whether the COVID-19 lockdown offered an opportunity to ‘reset’ crime levels to a lower level in future, supported by the new geographical model and increasing Police numbers.  Further information on areas flagged as ‘red’ as well as crimes showing an increase would be provided to Members following the meeting. 

·         In considering the HR Dashboard, a Member noted that it was planned to recruit to a number of posts during 2020/21 and requested an analysis of the diversity statistics for March 2020 be undertaken to identify key trends that could be used to support effective recruitment processes.

·         A Member noted the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services and requested that the current position on areas flagged as ‘red’ as well as the timetable for action be provided to Members and that the summary report be shared with Independent Members of Performance and Resource Management Committee

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Recruitment

In response to a question from a Member on recruitment to the Chief Superintendent of Uniformed Policing and Commander posts, the Commissioner confirmed that a recruitment process had been recently been undertaken for the Chief Superintendent of Uniformed Policing post but that no appointment had been made.  It had also proved difficult to fill other senior vacancies and consideration was being given to alternative approaches to recruitment.  There had been nineteen applications to a Chief Superintendent’s recruitment process undertaken in Spring 2020 but this had been paused as a result of COVID-19.

There was one item of urgent business.

The Chairman observed that as well as being the first formal virtual meeting of the Police Authority Board, this would be his final meeting as the Chairman after many years of service.  The Chairman gave his thanks to the Police Authority Team and all Board Members, particularly the Deputy Chairman and the Chairs of the Board’s sub-committees for their support, encouragement and challenge.  The Deputy Chairman led Board Members in expressing their appreciation of the Chairman’s hard work and commitment to the Police Authority Board. 

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 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 I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 27 February 2020.

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 27 February 2020 be approved as a correct record.

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Commissioner regarding non-public outstanding references.

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard a non-public update from the Commissioner on Operation TAMAR.

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard a non-public update from the Commissioner on National Lead Force

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard a non-public update from the Commissioner on Force Finances (New Finance Tracker)

The Chairman to be heard.

Members heard a non-public update from the Chairman.

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard a non-public update from the Commissioner on economic crime.

The Commissioner and Chief Officers to be heard.

Members heard a non-public update from the Commissioner on performance and resources management.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a non-public report of the Commissioner providing an update on professional standards and integrity.

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Chamberlain providing an update on Action Fraud – Next Steps.

4.00 pm – Members voted to extend the meeting under Standing Order 40.

Joint Report of the City Surveyor, Chamberlain and Commissioner

Members considered a joint report of the City Surveyor, Chamberlain and Commissioner providing an update on a request for a budget increase for the Police Accommodation Strategy: Decant Programme New Street.

There were no questions.

There was one item of urgent business.