10 July 2024

ITEM 1: Attendance:

DCC S Bisset

T/ACC W Fox - Specialist Operations

Insp D Anderson – Staff Officer to DCC

L Branford-White – Chief Finance Officer

M Chappell – Head of Corporate Communications

L Stitt – Assistant Chief Officer

I McClelland – Governance Support Officer

Apologies:

CC T Forber (CCC Meeting)

ACC C Clarke – Local Policing & Safeguarding (AL)

ITEM 2: Review of Minutes from 26^th June 2024.

Summary of Discussion:

The Minutes from the meeting held on the 16.06.24 were reviewed; minor amendments made and the Minutes were approved for publication.

ITEM 3: Action and Decision Log:

Summary of Discussion:

Action #497 – Leadership Development Courses.  Audit completed which will be reviewed by COT on 24^th July.   The Leadership offer will be that all Ch Insp and above to be enrolled on a Leadership pathway, for which budgetary considerations will be required.

Action #532 – Alternative Travel Options.  Progress being made with train operators who are prepared to offer Police Officers and Special Constables subsidised travel whilst on duty including travelling to work. Northern Rail have confirmed they support Police Officers and Special Constables travelling on duty (including for commuting purposes) as has been the case for other Forces in the region. The policy has been checked by PSD.  Further details to follow. Noted that the MCA now have Travel Executives within the organisation. 

NEW ACTION: #596.  Insp Anderson to prepare a letter for DCC to write to Trans-Pennine to explore a similar arrangement to Northern Rail.

Action #533 – Transport Decision Tree.  The reviewed Decision Tree is currently at Consultation and should be ready to be reviewed in August.  Updated transport finance paper from the Chief Finance Officer being presented to COT on 31^st July.  Discussions on claiming variable milage rates per journey, and the tax implications, will be covered.  NYP’s policy on use of private cars has been reviewed and published regarding rates, mileage boundaries and limits.  Requests for a hire car must be approved at Ch Insp and above level. 

NEW ACTION #597.  CFO to liaise with NYP Legal to confirm current pence-per-mile rates. 

NEW ACTION #598.  The Transport Decision Tree is to be an agenda item for DCC at the next JNCC. 

NEW ACTION #599.  Head of Estates & Fleet, T Edwards, is to review the control measures in place for booking a hire car and any identifiable trends around hire car spend. 

Action #555 – Structure of Community Webpages.  ACC Local Policing (CC) to present recommendations at a future date to fix. Suggested this forms part of the current review of Neighbourhood Policing and reports back in October.

Action #564 – Positive Action Team (PAT).  Following a review, the PAT are to move under People Services.  Action complete.  Close.

Action #565 – List of Collaborated Estate.  Noted as not due for review until Aug.

Action #566 – Collaborated Estate with applied funding formula. Noted as not due for review until Aug.

Action #571 – Police Officer Recruitment Options.  Noted as not due for review until Aug.

Action #588 – Driver Standards Paper.  Noted as not due for review until Aug.

Action #591 – Retail Crime Comms.  Noted as not due for review until Oct.

Action #592 – KPIs and KPOs.  All agreed.  Action complete.  Close.

Action #594 – Pension Abatement.  Letter to affected officers drafted by Head of People Services will be reviewed and signed off by DCC to prevent delay.  Action complete.  Close.

Action #595 – Cost to Complete Abatement.  Costs will be presented to COT on 24^th July.

ITEM 4: Review EB Forward Planner:

Summary of Discussion:

R Baran, Head of Corporate Development, joined the meeting. 

 A more detailed and complete HMICFRS update will be provided by DCC at the next EB, prepared by T Clee, Inspection & Assurance Manager, which will include processes in place, progress made, approach to improvement, forward plans, recommendations that have been completed and signed off and the key risks to the outstanding Areas For Improvement. 

L Flight, Risk Manager, will be providing DCC with an update regarding the organisational risks prior to the EB. 

ITEM 5: Performance:

Summary of Discussion:

D Southern, Data & Insight Lead, joined the meeting. 

A detailed and comprehensive update was provided examining Q1 24/25 Force performance.  Areas were scrutinised and challenged.  No areas of significant concern were evident.

Recorded crime showed a 2% reduction within the Force, comparison with the National picture was not possible as national data is currently only available up to Dec 24.  When the national data becomes available a comparisons exercise will be carried out.

Response times of police to incidents within rural areas was discussed and remain a challenge.

The volume of robberies and burglary cases will receive further scrutiny at Quarterly Performance Meetings.  Burglary cases showing lower outcome rates.  Hate crime showed a downward reporting trend. 

Officer sickness rates are on the rise, but in comparison favourable to regional Forces.  DCC noted the broadly encouraging picture across all areas of performance. 

NEW ACTION #601.  T Ansbro, Crime and Incident Registrar, is provide Quality Assurance on the recording of Domestic Abuse incidents and crime to assure accurate recording in light of reported reductions?   To be reported to COT 24/7.

ITEM 6: People Management (inc Ch Insp Postings):

Summary of Discussion:

L Consett, Head of People Services, joined the meeting.

Out of Force Requests – Secondments:  Discussions were held on the merits of advertising national level secondment opportunities.  Applicants would require HoF agreement and be brought through COT.  DCC was content for the posts to be advertised.  Budgetary effects of secondments also discussed and will be further clarified by a paper from CFO.

Op SALTA.  An updated Recruitment and Promotion Policy has been published including direction on conflict of interest following an update and guidance from IOPC.  PSD were fully involved in the process.

Pension Abatement Letter.  Linked to Open Action #594, the letter to affected officers will be reviewed and signed off by DCC to prevent delay.  Further discussion focused on the roles that the officers are employed within, any potential subsequent risk to the organisation, and financial implications of the new pension abatement regulations.

Promotion to Chief Inspector and Chief Inspector Postings.  Vacancies, internal moves, promotable Inspectors, officer welfare, the needs of the Force, risks and funding arrangements were all discussed thoroughly.  Multiple options were presented.  All agreed promotions and postings were noted by Head of People Services.  Consultation will take place within departments regarding promotion and moving dates.  Limited formal postings will take place before September to ensure stability within Commands during the busiest summer period.  Head of Corporate Communications will prepare an article for publication by the end of this week for circulation.

ITEM 7: Urgent Financial Decisions and Updates:

Summary of Discussion:

 Prioritisation Process.  Chief Finance Officer proposed that the prioritisation process should be heard at the Savings and Efficiency Board on 15.07.24.  Following discussion and rationale, this was approved.

ITEM 8: COT Forward Planner:

Summary of Discussion:

The Forward Planner was discussed, two further items are to be added:

 Mobile Police Technology Paper will be presented by Head of ICT on 04.09.24.

Capital Prioritisation Plan FY25/26 will be presented by the Chief Finance Officer on 17.09.24.

ITEM 9: Serious & Organised Crime (SOC) & Inspection Preparedness:

Summary of Discussion:

T/Det/Supt J Sygrove and DCI F McEwan from the Major Crime / SOC Team joined the meeting.

 Since taking over as Head of Major Crime and Serious Organised Crime, T/Det/Supt J Sygrove has overseen a full review of both areas.  Gaps were identified and action has been taken.  Liaison has taken place with partner agencies and other Force SOC.  Review also undertaken of DCI functions; their portfolio, aims, objectives and milestones.  Succession planning within SOC is well advanced to prevent loss of knowledge and skills.  A new and comprehensive data dashboard is in the final stages of development and will be released later this month.

SOC Inspection.  Significant work has been undertaken in readiness for the HMIC SOC Inspection; the aim has been set to achieve an ‘outstanding’ inspection result.  SOC objectives were reset from ‘green’ to ‘amber’ with all areas undergoing a thorough review, with the emphasis on ‘show me and prove it’.    Training and support packs have been enhanced, as has the training of further officers to advanced detective qualifications (PiP3).  Risks and threats are regularly being reviewed and several initiatives, staff uplifts and embedding of SOC expertise across the Force area has been implemented.  Evidence has been captured showing the significant work carried out in readiness for the inspection.  Partnership Meetings remain well attended and actively participated in (Local Councils, NHS, Probation Service etc).  Structures and governance are in place.   

DCC noted the progress. 

ITEM 10: Any Other Portfolio Updates by Exception:

Summary of Discussion:

Joint Ripon Fire/Police Station Refurbishment. Lisa Stitt provided an update to the COT.

Review of Structure of Community Webpages.  M Chappell, Head of Corporate Communications, presented the paper.  Linked to Open Action #555, ACC Local Policing is to review the paper and present it at a future COT giving recommendations on enhanced methods of communicating within neighbourhood policing.

ITEM 11: Chief Officer Team Commitments:

Summary of Discussion:

 The commitment sheets for the next two weeks were reviewed.

ITEM 12: Any Other Business:

Summary of Discussion:

 Plan-on-a-Page.  The final draft of the new Plan-on-a-Page was reviewed and approved. 

DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

Date of next meeting: 24^th July 2024 at York.  

Time:                        11:00am