Agenda item

The Chair to be heard.

The Chair addressed the Board and provided the following verbal update.

APCC

The PCC election will be held next month and a high turnover of PCCs was expected.  There was a significant opportunity to ensure that Fraud is higher on PCC agendas and the Force and Authority were working with APCC to draw up a schedule of events and communications to support this. The Chair asked that this be brought to the Economic & Cyber Crime Committee in May (11/2021/P).

Broader Engagement

The Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner McLaren had an initial meeting with the policy unit in Number 10 Downing Street, who are looking at what can be done around tackling Fraud. It was extremely positive that Fraud and Cyber were now being considered at the highest political levels.  It was further evidence of the need for a joined-up stakeholder engagement programme between Force, Authority and Corporation. 

The Chair met last week with RUSI together with officers from the Force and Authority to follow up their work on tackling cyber-crime and how that might enable broader engagement.

The Chair was working with the Authority Team and the Force around a number of upcoming events over the next 12 months that will support stakeholder engagement and promote the work of the Force around Protective Security, Economic Crime, Cyber. These would be shared as they became more developed.

National Crime and Policing Measures 

On the 14 April, the Policing Minister wrote to all PCCs confirming the new national crime and policing measures. which set out the Government’s key national priorities on crime.  The measures fall under the following headings:

• Reduce murder and other homicides,
• Reduce serious violence,
• Disrupt drugs supply and county lines,
• Reduce neighbourhood crime,
• Tackle cybercrime,
• Improve satisfaction among victims – with a particular focus on victims of domestic abuse.

Progress against the national measures would be reviewed on a quarterly basis by the Crime, Policing and Performance Board (CPPB), chaired by the Policing Minister.

The CPPB would monitor and seek to understand the trends and drive real improvements in outcomes over the next three to four years, against a baseline of June 2019.  Success against the measures would be judged at a national level. Their introduction does not represent a return to force-level numerical targets, but the effect may not be too distant.

It was also clear that Government was looking to evidence how the uplift programme is having an effect on tackling crime and we need to be very mindful of that.

There was far greater accountability being placed on PCCs, in this case the Police Authority, regarding performance management of the Force. This would include the publishing of a narrative assessment of Force performance on the Authority website, which the Chair has requested the Police Authority Team to refresh.  This was ready to go although the imagery would require updating as we move forward.

The new Strategic Planning & Performance Committee meeting on the 4th May would be a good opportunity to begin discussing the implications of the introduction of national crime and policing measures and how we plan to proceed.  We would need to ensure that Corporation’s Corporate Strategy & Performance Team and the Force’s Strategy team work on developing the appropriate performance management framework/arrangements.

These measures link into the recommendation from the first part of the Home Office PCC review to amend the Specified Information Order (SIO) to include a requirement for PCCs to publish on their website a narrative assessment of how well their force is performing in relation to (a) the Government’s crime measures; and (b) HMICFRS PEEL inspections of their force area.

The Police Authority Team was bring a paper to the next PAB on the National Crime and Policing Measures  and the Home Office Review of PCCs to highlight what we need to be doing differently and what the plan is to do to achieve this.

Cyber

The incorporation of the Cyber Security Working Group into the E&CCC worked well given the focus on Cyber in the National Crime and Policing Measures. It meant that the work of the E&CCC would need to focus on how effective the Force tackles cybercrime; oversight of the work of the Force recognising the Commissioner’s NPCC Lead role in Cyber

The Board needed to build momentum in the joint work around Cyber between the Corporation and Force and ensure that the Policy and Mayoralty agenda had a strong locus in this area as part of supporting financial and professional services and fintech in the City, London and UK. A report was to be submitted to the upcoming E&CCC on this, explaining the impact of the National Crime and Policing Measures and indeed greater responsibility of PCCs and the Police Authority (12/2021/P) [It is one report but to go EC&C – providing scrutiny on Cyber - AND PAB]

Policing Plan

The latest version of the Policing Plan 2020-23 was now on the Police Authority and Force website and the Chairman stated he would be presenting to the May Court of Common Council.  The broader inclusion of a focus on Equality & Inclusivity was a priority and whilst it had received good press coverage, it was important to follow this up with action.

Equality & Inclusion: Update

With regards to progress since the March PAB, the Chair was pleased to hear that the CoLP was responding to the outcomes of the Tackling Racism Taskforce (TRTF) and our diversity statement.  At the recent meeting of the CoLP’s Equalities & Inclusion (E&I) Strategic Delivery Board on 9 April, it was clear that they were supportive of the recruitment target of 40% and the Board awaited a plan for implementation. The Force also confirmed that it will explore/look at opportunities under the Equalities Act around positive action.

In forthcoming weeks the Chair would be meeting with the Black Police Association (BPA) and others involved in Equality and Inclusivity within the Force together with the Deputy Chair of the Board, Chair of Professional Standards & Integrity Committee (PS&I) and the Authority’s Policy lead officer. The plan is to listen to their views to improve recruitment, progression, retention and exit with dignity.

The Chair was expecting an update on the Force’s activity with regards to the PAB Policy Statement, the 40% target, positive action and the implementation of the other recommendations of the TRTF to go the May PS&I. Members were clear that work in this area relied on pace, momentum, action and reporting back on a timely (quarterly) basis. This was deemed critical to the Force’s credibility in this area.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.