Agenda and minutes

The Panel were asked to formally co-opt Council Members to the Police and Crime Panel following the decisions taken at the meeting held in June 2022.

Following that meeting, and in accordance with the Panel's wishes, nominations were sought from the relevant councils as follows:

It was therefore proposed that Members formally co-opt the above-named councillors, subject to the agreement of the Secretary of State, onto the Derbyshire Police and Crime Panel for this municipal year.

RESOLVED that the Panel:

1)   Agrees to formally co-opt the Councillors specified above as members of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Panel; and

2)    Notes that the appointments are subject to formal approval by the Secretary of State.

To receive declarations of interest (if any)

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the non-exempt minutes of the meeting of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Panel held on 23 June 2022

RESOLVED to approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2022.

Panel Members were asked to consider the proposed Annual Report of work undertaken by the Panel, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting. To demonstrate that the Panel had met the Key Performance Indicators for the year 2021 to 2022, a report of the work undertaken by the Panel for the municipal year of May 2021 to May 2022 is attached as an appendix to the report.

The Panel noted that these again included the provision of an Annual Report. The production of such a report may also be considered as being best practice and contribute towards engagement with the public.

RESOLVED that the Panel:

Approves the Annual Report attached at Appendix 2 to the report to demonstrate that the Panel had met the Key Performance Indicators as specified in the Grant Agreement for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. 

Question 1: from Dr Stephen Handsley

During a previous PCP meeting, I raised the issue of the way children, and in particular, the case of a young black 15-year-old female, had been strip searched, by female police officers from the Metropolitan Police. A recent report by The Children’s Commissioner has found this was not, however, an isolated case. Indeed, more than six hundred children underwent “intrusive and traumatising” strip-searches by the Metropolitan Police over a two-year period, with black boys disproportionately targeted, figures show. Could the Commissioner provide any such figures with regard to Derbyshire Police and, if so, can we as a panel, be reassured that such incidences have never occurred, nor do they form any part of current day to day police operations?

PCC Response:

This question was answered at the time. I stated that this specific case had been discussed with the Chief Constable at the time it became public. I had already asked for reassurance from the force that this is not how our force conducted themselves and that the Chief Constable had reviewed their practices and reassured me, accordingly, confirming that such incidents have not occurred in Derbyshire and this practice does not form part of day-to-day operations.

Following the incident in the Metropolitan Police a review of Derbyshire’s position was undertaken in relation to stop and search and in particular where these led to the strip search of a juvenile. During 2021/22 there were 5 strip searches carried out on under 18’s which was 3% of all strip searches during the same time period. The reason for all of the searches was to find controlled drugs and all U18 strip searches took place in the safety of the custody suite environment. Within Criminal Justice a custody Inspector monitors and reviews all searches. Each one is reviewed to ensure appropriateness and forms part of CJ oversight directly into the Superintendent and ACC.

Derbyshire have a stringent scrutiny process around stop and search in a bid to improving legitimacy which has been recognised as good practice by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue. Internally, all stop searches on BAME individuals are scrutinised by the respective local policing Inspector who covers the area where the search took place. This review covers a number of areas including the legitimacy and legality of the search, whether any force used was proportionate and whether the grounds for search were reasonable. In addition to this, there are 30 monthly randomly selected searches scrutinised including a review of Body Worn Video (BWV) by stop and search leads, where any identified learning is fed back to searching officers and their supervisors and any trends or themes help shape training.

Externally Derbyshire have 2 separate scrutiny groups (Independent Advisory Group and OPCC) who each sit monthly and review 10 randomly selected searches. These groups also have access to unedited BWV. In addition to this the force also run external Youth Scrutiny panels in a similar manner. Any concerns raised are escalated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31/22

The Police and Crime Commissioner attended the meeting and provided the Panel with a summary of the work she had conducted in the delivery of the Derbyshire Police and Crime Plan 2021-25, since the last meeting.

The paper which had been circulated to members in advance of the meeting provided an overview of the key work undertaken by the Police and Crime Commissioner in relation to her Police and Crime Plan from 23 June until 31 August 2022.

Members thanked the PCC for her detailed summary and commended her for the good work and large number of activities she had undertaken. However it remained that following a similar discussion at the last meeting, a number of members felt that it was hard for them to reflect on how they could actually reference these against the Police and Crime Plan, and the Chair requested again that the style of the report be adapted in the future to include details of the outcomes/feedback/performance indicators from the many areas of work undertaken to enable members to scrutinise these effectively.

The PCC commented that the OPCC was reviewing the way in which it provided this information.

RESOLVED that the Panel:

Note the update in relation to progress against delivery of the Police and Crime Plan 2021-25

Angelique Foster, Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire, presented the draft Annual Report for the period 13 May 2021 - 31 March 2022 in accordance with Section 12 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. 

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and also made a number of comments and observations on the Annual Report, to which the Police and Crime Commissioner responded.

RESOLVED that the Panel:

(1) recommend to the Police and Crime Commissioner that the Annual Report 2021-22 be issued subject to the proposed amendments; and

(2) that the report be published via the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Website, www.derbyshire-pcc.gov.uk.

RESOLVED to note the decision taken by the Police and Crime Commissioner concerning the restructure of the office as detailed in Appendix A to the report.

The Police and Crime Commissioner made the following announcements:

-      Performance Scrutiny Meeting to be held in October focused around the Commissioner’s Rural Crime priority within her Police and Crime Plan.

-      Performance Scrutiny Meeting to be held in November focused specifically around Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG).

-      The Commissioner’s Road Safety Grant will close in December.  

-      Decisions on the next round of Anti-Social Behaviour prevention grants will be made in October.

-      A date will be arranged in October for members to attend Police HQ and receive a finance briefing.

To hear an oral update on forthcoming events (if any)

It was hoped that a Training event for all Panel Members provided by Frontline Consulting would be held on Teams with a suggested date of 27 October 2022.

It was proposed that 3 working groups would be set up to look at Budget/Precept, Performance and the Panel, and Complaints. Each would have its own Terms of Reference. 

Following the meeting Panel members would be contacted and asked to volunteer to sit on the Working Groups.

The date of the next meeting was noted.