Agenda and draft minutes

Minutes of the Staffordshire Police and Crime Panel Meeting held on 28 January 2013

Present: Frank Chapman (Chairman)

Also in attendance: Matthew Ellis

Apologies: Michael Heenan

PART ONE

30.             Declarations of Interest

None at this meeting.

31.             Minutes of the meeting held on 17 December 2012

The Commissioner advised the Panel that the statement at minute 20 in respect of backroom support staff misinterpreted his comments where it stated “He expected that he would only need approximately one third of this support…”  The Panel accepted this and it was:

RESOLVED - That, with the removal of the sentence above, the minutes of the Police and Crime Panel of 17 December 2012 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

32.             Minutes of the Confirmatory Hearing held on 17 December 2012

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Confirmatory Hearing held on 17 December 2012 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

33.             Draft Interim Police and Crime Plan 2013/14

The Commissioner had produced an Interim Police and Crime Plan to fit in with the legal requirement on him to publish a Plan by 31 March 2013. However, the intention was to consult widely on a more detailed and ambitious plan, with this being finalised by June 2013.

The Draft Interim Plan referred to the need to invest now in technology and the Panel asked how the Commissioner intended to finance such investment. This would be partly funded through reserves that had previously been set aside for a similar investment project.

Anecdotally it was understood by Panel Members that Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) were in favour of this innovation, but highlighted the importance of integrating the software successfully. The Commissioner acknowledged that this was a concern, however work was ongoing to ensure that any new system would integrate as far as possible to enable effective data collection and information sharing between forces. It was hoped that this investment would avoid duplication, support more visible policing and enable officers to receive information in real time.

The Draft Interim Plan included targets and measures for policing priorities 2013/14 and the Panel sought clarification on whether the information covered both Staffordshire and Stroke-on-Trent, which the Commissioner confirmed it did. They also asked for details of previous year’s figures to be included in future plans to act as a reference point in helping establish how well targets were being met.

The Panel noted that investment in technology systems would be an area of capital spend, however no capital budget had been included in the papers to the Panel. The Commissioner agreed to supply the Panel with details of the capital budget.

The Panel noted the Draft Interim Plan set out the Commissioners intention to bring together the Police, Courts Services, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and victims  ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.