To receive any apologies for absence.

The Chairman welcomed the new Thames Valley Police Superintendent (Bhupinder Rai) to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors John Bowden and Lisa Targowska.  It was noted that Councillor Malcolm Alexander was kindly subbing.

It was announced by the Chairman that the meeting was being recorded and that the audio would be published to the RBWM website.

To receive Declarations of Interests from Members in respect of any items to be considered at the meeting.

None.

To confirm the Part I minutes of the Crime & Disorder Overview & Scrutiny Panel held on the 27 October 2015.

The Part I minutes of the meeting held on the 27 October 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

The Chairman requested the actions in the minutes be chased up as Members had to date not received the information promised by officers during the last meeting.

To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 26 November 2015.

The Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services, Craig Miller, informed Members that the report on pages 15-26 of the agenda was a mid point review of the Night Time Economy (NTE) enforcement pilot approved by Cabinet at its meeting of 26 February 2015.  Members were informed that the purpose of the report was to update Cabinet on the pilot.  The Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services explained that it was recommended that the Pilot continued until its scheduled conclusion in December 2015.

Members were informed that the report summarised the progress of the pilot to date and covered five main areas which were:

·           background

·           performance

·           patterns of enforcement

·           pilot outcomes

·           future options

The Head of Community Protection & Enforcement Services explained that initial findings from the first phase of the pilot suggested a night time economy function was a positive addition to the council’s enforcement services.  It was noted that to date, more than 100 hours of foot patrols and just over 180 hours of vehicle patrols had been undertaken as part of the pilot resulting in over 300 licensing checks being completed and 135 environmental protection investigations undertaken.  Members were informed that anti social behaviour complaints associated with the NTE in the period between July to September 2015 had decreased by 27% compared to the same period in 2014.  It was noted that whilst this could not solely be attributed to the NTE pilot it was likely to have been a contributory factor. 

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  That Cabinet would decide if they wanted to continue the NTE service provision beyond the pilot period utilising permanent Community Wardens resources bolstered by supplementary resource from a  wider pool on a voluntary arrangement in February 2016.

Ø  That if continuing with a permanent service was decided then continuity of service was needed.

Ø  That the Mantra and Liquid (now Atik) nightclubs had been closed for a number of weeks during the initial phase of the pilot which may have contributed to the reduction in the number of NTE complaints made to the Council.

Ø  Concerns were raised that there was a risk that an enforced working pattern might affect officer goodwill and morale and could result in some officers discontinuing their employment with the Council.  Members stated that whilst they felt the scheme itself resulted in a better quality service which was benefitting residents they did not want the Council to lose valuable members of staff if a contractual change to contracts was made. 

Ø  That the pilot had highlighted that the operation of a NTE service drew 28 hours from the normal daytime Community Warden service.  It was noted that this represented 4% of the total daytime service hours for the warden service (based on 18 FTE working 37 hours a week) and that this draw could reduce the flexibility and resilience that the daytime service had compared to operation without NTE.  Members were informed that this had meant that some requests for warden  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

To comment on the report to be considered by Cabinet on the 26 November 2015.

The Strategic Director of Operations, Simon Fletcher, explained that the report proposed a new four-year strategic plan for the Royal Borough.  It was noted that the plan set out the Council’s vision to make the Royal Borough a great place to live, work, play and do business.  Members were informed that the four strategic priorities underpinning the vision were carried through from the Council’s previous strategic plan because they remained relevant.  The Strategic Director of Operations explained that the four strategic priorities, which staff delivered against daily, were: Residents First, Value for Money, Delivering Together and Equipping Ourselves for the Future.

The Strategic Director of Operations explained that the paper recommended that Cabinet approved the draft plan, attached at Appendix A, and send it to full Council for their consideration on 15 December 2015.

In the ensuing discussion the following points / comments were noted:

Ø  That the Council Strategic Plan was a very important document that allowed the Council to effectively allocate resources and set expectations.

Ø  That the Strategic Director of Operations would welcome Members views on how close the report was to meeting their aspirations.

Ø  Superintendent Rai stated that this was probably the simplest and most straight forward strategic plan she had seen to date. 

Ø  Page 2 of the Plan – it was queried whether the Council could deliver ‘Residents will enjoy healthy lifestyles and be supported into old age.’

Ø  Page 2 of the Plan – it was requested that ‘Residents will enjoy vibrant town centres benefitting from Crossrail and other major infrastructure investments while retaining the unique character of our towns, villages and green belt countryside’ be reworked.

Ø  Page 6 of the Plan – that business community resilience be included along with the part the businesses play (r.e. safer communities and improving business economies).

Ø  That an A5 version of the Plan be sent out with the Council Tax document in April.

Ø  Page 6 of the Plan – It was queried what indicated success with regard to ‘Number of families supported by the Intensive Family Support Programme’. 

Ø  Page 2 of the Plan – that ‘More residents will have the opportunity to own their own home’ be moved somewhere more appropriate in the document.

Ø  Page 6 of the Plan – be amended to read ‘We will work to safeguard our residents’. 

Ø  Page 8 of the Plan – that ‘CIL review once increased numbers of residents helped on to the housing ladder’ be reworded.

Ø  Page 9 of the Plan – that a link be added to the transformation programme / Corporate Project tracker.

Ø  Page 6 of the Plan – that the Police be included.

Ø  That ‘partnerships’ were not really mentioned in the document.

Ø  Page 7 of the Plan – The ‘Amount of external funding drawn down’ be reworded.

UNANIMOUSLEY AGREED; The Crime & Disorder Overview & Scrutiny Panel unanimously agreed to recommend to Cabinet the following:

i.     Approve the draft Council Strategic Plan 2016-2020 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

A presentation by Superintendent Rai (Thames Valley Police).

Superintendent Rai gave Members an update on the Thames Valley Police.

With regard to Priority Based Budgeting it was noted that there would be financial constraints for the next five years or longer which would no doubt result in less resources being available.  The Thames Valley Police had looked at what they do, how they do it and how they would fund it.  Superintendent Rai explained that it was about risk assessing offences and ensuring they were properly resourced.  It was noted that it was about listing down prioritised things that the TVP needed to ensure they had the right resources for and deciding how best to allocate them.  Members were informed that people based crime and cyber crime had changed / were emerging.  It was noted that the Thames Valley Police had looked at what the demand profile would look like over the next few years. 

It was noted that the Thames Valley Police currently dealt with local crime (including serious assaults) at force level.  It was noted that Superintendent Rai had volunteered her services to help with work streams in order to ensure they were appropriate for Windsor and Maidenhead and worked for local residents. 

Superintendent Rai explained that the changes to the structure aimed to be fairly seamless with no reduction in service externally so that priorities could be made and resources could be moved around as necessary.

Members were informed that the major crime unit would be retained which would allow Superintendent Rai to have the flexibility to concentrate resources on high stress areas.

It was noted that the strapline around finances meant the Thames Valley Police were trying to protect their workforce so they were able to commit to doing the job in hand.  Superintendent Rai explained that if a choice had to be made between spending money on a building or keeping the number of frontline staff in place she would always protect her staff.

In the ensuing discussion the following points were noted:

Ø  Superintendent Rai explained that she would still have a local budget to do partnership work with but that it would probably be smaller than in past years.

Ø  That the local budget could be spent on what Superintendent Rai felt appropriate.

Ø  That residents seemed to currently be bothered by fraud (people phoning or knocking on doors).  Superintendent Rai explained that the way the police dealt with fraud had changed over the years and was now done via a filtering process called Action Fraud.  It was noted that the Thames Valley Police communicated to residents that the Thames Valley Police were addressing the issue by educating people and by looking at preventative measures / work.

Ø  The Chairman explained that there had also been a spate of identity thefts in areas of the Royal Borough, by stealing post.  Superintendent Rai explained that it was about ensuring messages were appropriate and timely to local residents via the alert system.  It was noted that the Thames Valley Police needed to look  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

·         Monday 18 January 2016.

·         Tuesday 12 April 2016.

The Chairman informed Members that the dates of the next meetings were as follows:

·         Monday 18 January 2016.

·         Tuesday 12 April 2016.