Agenda item

The North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner will be in attendance to provide an update on the Victims Commissioning work she is leading on and the Police and Crime Plan refresh.

The Police and Crime Commissioner gave an update on the following issues:

(i)           New Arrangements for Probation Services

Discussions had taken place with the Police and Crime Commissioners regarding the new arrangements for probation services.  It had been agreed to set up an overview board to monitor the contract for the area.

(ii)          Victims Commissioning

Details were given of the Victims Commissioning work that was taking place.  From October 2014, Police and Crime Commissioners would be given funds to commission services locally for victims.  Victims’ Needs Assessments were being carried out.  The work involved looking at the overall service that victims received, including the service delivered by the Police.  The work was taking part in three stages:

·        an exercise around the profiling of victims

·        qualitative research through talking to victims

·        quantitative work in terms of benchmarking. 

The findings would be used to develop the service specification.  It was also important that the Police provided a more victim focussed service.  The first report was due to be available in April and the qualitative work would then follow.  A key issue would be victims of domestic abuse.

The Police and Crime Commissioner was asked if there would be consultation on the victims commissioning work. She stated that the research would be evidence based to ensure impartiality but that she would be pleased to report back to the Committee on the findings.

(iii)        Police and Crime Plan Refresh

Details were given of the refresh of the Police and Crime Plan.  A thorough review of the Plan was about to commence.  The revised plan would be more evidence based than the existing plan and a more extensive consultation with stakeholders would take place. 

Members asked what action was being taken in respect of hate crime and suggested that more could be done to raise awareness of this issue.  The Police and Crime Commissioner stated that she shared the concerns regarding this matter and, as part of the work that was taking place, the views of victims of hate crime would be sought as to how improvements could be made. 

The Police and Crime Commissioner was asked about links that had been made with the universities.  She stated that she had recently met with the University of York regarding issues in respect of community safety.  There was a dedicated Police Community Support Officer for the students and a member of the Student Union focussed on student safety.  Work was ongoing to understand students’ requirements in respect of safety. 

The Police and Crime Commissioner was asked about the funding arrangements for the Safer York Partnership.  She gave details of the proposed funding arrangements for York and North Yorkshire and stated that historically York had received 33% of the funding and the remainder had been allocated to other areas within North Yorkshire.  The proposed future allocation would result in York receiving 30% of the funding.  The proposed allocation had taken account of issues such as the amount of reported crime/anti-social behaviour and the number of victims.  An outcome based specification would be in place in order to improve the situation for victims.  From October there would be funding available for which the Safer York Partnership could bid.  The Police and Crime Commissioner stated that she believed that currently some of the community safety funding was being used for purposes that should be provided from the police core funding.  Through the victims commissioning process there would be more services available, for example mediation and counselling facilities, but these may be accessed differently.  Members’ attention was also drawn to the commitment of resources to the Anti Social Behaviour Hub.

A Member expressed concern at the proposed 3% reduction in the share of funding allocated to York and commented that this did not reflect the percentage of crime that took place in the city compared to other areas of North Yorkshire. Clarification was sought as to whether this ratio would also be reflected in the policing allocated to the city.  The Police and Crime Commissioner stated that she was aiming to be as fair as possible in the allocation of resources across the North Yorkshire area.  The approach taken was not based solely on the number of incidents of crime but also the impact that it had on victims.  Currently the focus was too offender and location based.

Details were also given of the Community Fund.  The Police and Crime Commissioner stated that the criteria for accessing this funding was likely to be reviewed. 

It was noted that details of funding was available on the Police and Crime Commissioner’s website.

The Police and Crime Commissioner stated that a fundamental review of police resourcing was taking place.  Although it was not envisaged that any radical changes would be implemented, it was possible that there could be changes to management and ranks and consideration as to whether some positions could be carried out by civilians.  There would also be investment in mobile technology.

The Police and Crime Commissioner was asked about the action that was being taken to address internet fraud.  She stated that this was a major area of concern and work was taking place at a national level.  Nationally there were some issues regarding the obtaining of information from telecommunications providers.  Police and Crime Commissioners were lobbying hard regarding this matter.

The Chair thanked the Police and Crime Commissioner for her attendance at the meeting and accepted her invitation to return to speak to the Committee once the work on the victims’ needs assessment was complete¹.

Resolved:  That the update from the Police and Crime

                   Commissioner be noted.

Reason:     To ensure that the Committee is kept updated on the priorities of the Police and Crime Commissioner.