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ITEM CM5

COMMUNITY SAFETY SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

MINUTES of the meeting held on 5 February 2007 commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 12:30 pm.

Present:

Voting Members:               

Councillor John Farrow - in the chair

Councillor M. Altaf-Khan
Councillor Marilyn Badcock
Councillor Liz Brighouse (in place of Councillor Patrick Cartledge)
Councillor Ian Hudspeth
Councillor Lesley Legge
Councillor Charles Mathew
Councillor Rodney Rose
Councillor Olive McIntosh-Stedman
Councillor Carol Viney

By Invitation:                      

Cabinet Member for Community Safety: Councillor Ray Jelf.
Acting Chief Constable Sara Thornton and Chief Superintendent Shaun Morley (Thames Valley Police)

Officers:

Whole of meeting:
K. Coldwell and J. Dean (Chief Executive's Office).
Director for Community Safety and Chief Fire Officer.

Part of meeting:
C. Mitchell (Resources) (Agenda Item 7);
S. Belcher (Community Safety) (Agenda Item 9).

The Scrutiny Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting , together with a schedule of addenda tabled at the meeting and agreed as set out below.  Copies of the agenda, reports and schedule are attached to the signed Minutes.

1/07             APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND TEMPORARY APPOINTMENTS

Apologies for absence and temporary appointments were received as follows:

2/07             DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Lesley Legge declared a personal interest at Agenda Items 6 & 7 by virtue of being the signatory for the appointment of the Oxfordshire Coroner.

Councillor Carol Viney declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 5 by virtue of being a Board Member of Thames Valley Police Authority.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 9 (Carbon Monoxide update) by virtue of being a Director of Cottsway Housing Association.

Councillor Ian Hudspeth declared a personal interest at Agenda Item 9 (Carbon Monoxide update) by virtue of owning a Hardware shop.

3/07             MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 4 December 2007 were approved and signed subject to amending Minute 46/06 – Coroner’s Court Update as detailed at Annex 1 (amendments in bold italic and strikethrough).

Matters Arising

Minute 41/06 – The Oxford Health Overview & Scrutiny Sub-Committee – the Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer reported that individually named school governors did not hold responsibility for drugs and alcohol policies because governing bodies took collective responsibility for this area. He undertook to provide a further copy of the letter detailing this information to Councillor Farrow.

Minute 50/06 – the Committee had received 2 letters from the Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP regarding sprinklers in schools. These were circulated around the Committee.

4/07             SPEAKING TO OR PETITIONING THE COMMITTEE

The following requests to address the meeting had been agreed:-

Councillor Peter Handley, a West Oxfordshire District Councillor of seven years standing and Deputy Mayor of Carterton expressed concern that there was still no fire station in Carterton. He made the following points:

·        Carterton was a very large town with five primary schools, two petrol stations and two trading estates;

·        whilst Carterton had always received a good service from the Fire Service, some of the call out times were questionable;

·        he urged officers to look at the call out patterns, commenting that 85% of the calls were from Bampton to Carterton;

·        all of the fire fighters were part time and there were insufficient crew to maintain an adequate service;

·        terrorists could strike at any time on the RAF quarters;

·        a number of possible sites for a new Fire Station had already been identified. For example, the Town Council were willing to donate land; and

·        he urged officers to take his comments on board as part of the Fire Cover Review.

5/07             THAMES VALLEY POLICE AUTHORITY THREE YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN 2005 – 2008

(Agenda Item 5)

This item had been placed on the Agenda to enable the Committee to receive a presentation from the Acting Chief Constable Ms Sara Thornton, and Chief Superintendent Sean Morley (Basic Command Unit Commander) on progress made with regard to Thames Valley Police Authority’s Three Year Strategic Plan 2005 – 2008 and to conduct a question and answer session.

The Committee had invited Councillors from the County’s Parish, District and Town Councils to submit questions for consideration prior to the meeting and to attend the presentation. A copy of the presentation is attached to the signed Minutes.

The Acting Chief Constable made the following points:

·        the Force was part way through the 3 year strategy and was approaching the end of the second year;

·        the challenges facing the Force included neighbourhood policing, community cohesion and its budget;

·        revenue costs were £329m for this year. However, the Force had received less funding than it should have received due to the government formula, being subject to damping;

·        housing growth was an issue as an increase in population would require more police stations and possibly kiosks;

·        in terms of PPAF (Policing Performance Assessment Framework) grades, reducing crime and citizen focus had been given a grading of ‘fair’ whereas investigating crime, resource use and providing assistance had all been deemed ‘good’, and local policing had been graded ‘Excellent’;

·        over the last three years the British Crime Survey had recorded that crime had fallen by 5.8% in Oxfordshire in comparison to the figure for 2003/04, whereas the overall figure for the Thames Valley was a change of 6.8%;

·        there was less recorded crime in Oxfordshire than the Thames Valley average (53.3 crimes per 1000 population versus 66.6);

·        the challenge was to make use of police officers when needed whilst ensuring that everyone had access to a service;

·        in Oxfordshire, crime data was collected and analysed to enable the Force to focus their resources on periods when higher levels of crime took place.  For example, the highest incidences of common assault took place on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between 10 pm and 3 am;

·        the number of support staff in the Thames Valley had risen, which was at its highest ever figure, whilst the number of special constables had fallen;

there were now dedicated Neighbourhood Policing resources in Oxfordshire which included the creation of the post of Neighbourhood Specialist Officer (NSO) who would remain in the neighbourhood for 3 years;

·        the Force aimed to have 417 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOS) in place by the end of this year and 530 in place by the end of March 2008. However this was a new job and recruitment had been slower than recruitment to other posts as  potential applicants did not know anyone that had carried out the job before; and

·        the Police and Criminal Justice Act had just been passed. The Force would need to be much more responsive to local needs and every Local Authority was expected to set up a Crime & Disorder Reduction Committee/ Partnership.

The Committee then questioned the Acting Chief Constable and Chief Superintendent regarding the Plan. A selection of the questions asked together with their responses are listed below:

·        How could antisocial behaviour in young people be addressed?

The Force was committed to tackling antisocial behaviour as part of its neighbourhood policing strategy. However, with 1.5 police officers for every 1000 people in Oxfordshire it wasn’t possible to address all behaviour. Although the Police were responsible for enforcement, it was everyone’s responsibility to set a good example. The Police did not want to criminalise young people and worked with other agencies to tackle this issue. It was also important that young people were involved in neighbourhood action groups.

·        How much input did the Police have in partnership working, in order to assist young people to turn their lives around?

The Chief Superintendent was a Member of the Safeguarding Children Board and the Force was involved in the Safer Schools Partnership. It was important to divert young people into other activities before they became involved in crime.

·        What were the priorities in responding to calls? (as there was a general feeling that the police took too long to respond).

The Home Office set the criteria for responding to calls. An immediate response to emergency calls was required and the Force aimed to respond within 15 minutes. For most other offences, if the offender had already left the scene then there was no requirement on the Force to attend immediately or to put their blue lights on.

·        It appeared to be the case that Police Constables were placed  in areas of high crime whilst PCSOs were put into areas with lower levels of crime. Would it not be possible to have 10 Police Constables in place rather than 15 PCSOs? Were PCSOs funded by the Home Office and could this funding run out?

The Force had limited resources and had to use them wisely. PCSOs were not a substitute for Police Constables and had a different role to play. Thames Valley Police had deliberately kept the roles separate. The public appeared to welcome PCSOs.  The funding from the Home Office was specifically for PCSOs and the remainder of funding for PCSOs was police authority funded. The Force would be lobbying for the same levels of funding to be retained.

·        Would the training of PCSOs be brought back in-house and how was this training going?

New recruits were sent to Abingdon College for a period of training. They were then placed into police stations.

·        Why were many police stations only open for limited periods of time?

Resources were limited and had to be used intelligently. In cost terms it was not possible to put a police officer into every front office. However, it was also true that there were low levels of callers in many areas. Therefore, the Force had been working very hard to recruit volunteers to work in many of the County’s police stations.

·        What plans were in place in terms of publicity in the localities to present the real incidences of crime and therefore reduce fear of crime?

PCSOs were not being given some of the powers that they could be given in order to ensure that they were not taken away from the role of visibility in and engagement with the community.

The Chief Superintendent undertook to take account of the Committee’s suggestion that a newsletter could be produced setting out the levels of recorded and detected crime in an area and to consider other ideas that could be implemented as neighbourhood policing was rolled out.

·        Members of the public had complained that staff in the police enquiry centre did not know the geography of the area where the caller was located. Was this the case?

There were two police enquiry centres – one in Kidlington and one in Windsor. Given that they received in excess of 2 million calls per year it was unreasonable to expect staff to know where every road was. However, the Force tried to compensate for this by equipping them with mapping technology to enable them to identify the locality.

The Committee AGREED to thank the Acting Chief Constable and Chief Superintendent for their informative presentation.

Ms Coldwell undertook to:

·        circulate a copy of the presentation to all members of the Committee; and

·        provide the Acting Chief Constable with:

-          the contact details of those Parish/Town/District Councillors whose questions had not been answered in Committee,  to enable her to respond directly to them; and

-          Councillor Legge’s question requesting information on the nature of the self service facility that would be made available to victims and witnesses.

Any Members wishing to visit one of the Thames Valley Police Enquiry Centres (Kidlington/Windsor) were asked to contact Ms Coldwell, who would forward their request to the Acting Chief Constable.

6/07             CORONER’S COURT UPDATE

(Agenda Item 6)

The Committee had before them a revised scoping template which had clarified the focus of the review on the Coroner’s Caseload and Interaction with Oxfordshire County Council.

The Committee received a progress update on the review from Councillors Legge and Mathew who reported as follows:

·        The White Paper (Coroner Reform – Improving death investigation in England and Wales) had now been published;

·        The three main objectives of the review were to:

-                identify and review the various responsibilities involved in the delivery of the Coroner’s function;

-                make recommendations to ensure that the service was receiving adequate resource with which to discharge its functions efficiently and effectively, in particular, in light of the current demand on the service nationally; and

-                make recommendations to ensure that the delivery of the Coroner’s Service represented best value for the residents of Oxfordshire.

·        The Service was performing a remarkable job considering the circumstances in which it was working.

The Committee AGREED the amended scoping template subject to:

·        removing the wording ‘nominate one Cllr’ from the ‘Members responsible for tracking’ box; and

·        adding Mr John Kelly (County Emergency Planning Officer) to the list of Witnesses.

Members of the Committee were asked to submit any further comments as soon as possible to Councillor Farrow, if they so wished.

7/07             CORONER’S COURT: Q&A SESSION

(Agenda Item 7)

Concerns had been raised by the Chairman of this Committee with regard to charges made to the families of, or solicitors representing the families of military servicemen killed in active service, with particular reference to:

·        the cost of the full inquest report (£600) provided to solicitors on request; and

·        a £30 charge made for a transcript of the inquest report put on to a CD.

Mr Chris Mitchell (Proper Officer for the Coroner’s Service) and the Cabinet Member for Community Safety had been invited before the Committee to answer any questions which Members may have wished to ask.

Councillor Jelf reported that the charge of £600 for the full typed inquest report was no longer raised and that no charges would be levied to bereaved families in future for copies of the transcript of the inquest report on CD.

In response to a suggestion from the Committee, Mr Mitchell undertook to find out if the outcomes of tribunals held in Oxfordshire could be placed on the County Council’s web site, in order `to enable the public to find out the issues which had been raised at the Coroner’s Inquests.

8/07             SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME 2006/07

(Agenda Item 8)

The Committee had been asked to update its work programme.

Councillor Farrow drew the Committee’s attention to the suggestion by Trading Standards that the Committee might wish to conduct a review into the new controls governing the sale of alcohol. The aspects to be examined could include the following:

·        consistency of enforcement of the Licensing Act;

·        co-ordination of the information/intelligence around potential breaches/problem hot spots;

·        the effectiveness of the new Act and the Chief Executive’s Memorandum of Understanding; and

·        the extent of alcohol misuse across Oxfordshire (health and disorder implications).

The Committee noted that the former Oxford Health Overview and Scrutiny Sub Committee had already undertaken a review into alcohol misuse in young people.

Following debate, the Committee AGREED:

·     that it wished to undertake a review into the new controls governing the sale of alcohol;

·        that this review would focus only on those areas which fell within the Community Safety remit, for example, the impact of the Licensing Act; and

·        to note that:

-            Councillors Olive McIntosh Stedman, Rodney Rose and Ian Hudspeth would wish to participate in this review; and

-            no further items would be added to the work programme at this point in time.

The work programme would be updated to reflect that Ms Dean was now the contact officer for the Review into the Coroner’s Caseload and Interaction with Oxfordshire County Council.

9/07             TRACKING SCRUTINY ITEMS

(Agenda Item 9)

Report back on advice by this Committee to the Cabinet or Council.

·              Fire Service Control and Command Room

The Committee considered a written update (CM9) from Mr Colin Thomas (Community Safety Business Manager), regarding progress of the project to date.

The Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer reported that he had received the outline business case, which was predicated on a national saving. It was anticipated that the full business case would be released in the next 2 to 3 months. This would provide information on whether any savings would be generated.

The Committee AGREED to consider the full business case once it became available.

·              Service and Resource Planning 2007/08 - 2011/12

On 4 December 2006 this Committee had agreed to forward the following advice to the Cabinet via the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee:

·        to urge the Cabinet to fund Emergency Planning and Safer Communities from the remaining sum of money to be allocated across Directorates given that these areas were of vital importance; and

·        to advise the Cabinet that it wished the co-responder scheme to be centrally funded in recognition of the fact that it provided a life saving service to the residents of Oxfordshire, as evidenced by the figures given to the Committee by the Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer regarding the number of people assisted and the societal savings per annum (approx £7m).

On 16 January 2007 the Cabinet had agreed:

(a)               (in respect of revenue) to RECOMMEND Council to approve:

(1)          a budget for 2007/08;

(2)               a medium term plan to 2011/12;

(3)               a budget requirement for 2007/08;

(4)               a precept for 2007/08;

(5)               a council tax for band D equivalent properties;

(6)               virement arrangements to operate within the approved budget;

(7)               the allocation of the PSA reward grant between directorates and the corporate core;

(8)               the creation of a budget reserve in 2009/10 by deferring interest on developer contributions by one year; and

(9)               ask the County Council Management Team to consider how the higher AES target from 2008/09 can be achieved;

(b)               (in respect of capital) to RECOMMEND Council to approve:

(1)               that the schemes identified by the Capital Steering Group should be included in the Capital Programme for submission to Council in February 2007;

(2)               a Capital Programme for 2007/08 to 2009/10;and

(3)               prudential indicators from April 2007.

The Committee was pleased to note that:

·        the Safer Communities budget and Emergency Planning budget would not be reduced as proposed in the efficiency savings; and

·        funding had been restored to the budget in recognition of the valuable service provided by the co-responder scheme.

·              Carbon Monoxide

At its December meeting, this Committee had made a number of suggestions regarding how to reduce the incidence of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and had agreed to monitor progress on the implementation of their action points. They had also requested officers to provide them with information regarding action taken both locally and nationally by other district councils and other agencies to address this problem.

Mr Simon Belcher (Station Manager and Directorate Support Officer) provided an oral update on progress to date. Progress regarding each action point is listed below:

The Committee AGREED to:

·        note the progress update; and

·        thank officers for actioning their suggestions.

·              Car Boot Sales Scrutiny Review

The Committee noted that on 16 January 2007 the Cabinet had agreed to accept all of the recommendations relating to this review.

10/07         FORWARD PLAN

(Agenda Item 10)

Members were asked to suggest items from the current Forward Plan on which they may have wished to have an opportunity to offer advice to the Cabinet before any decision was taken.

No items were identified for consideration.

11/07         AVIAN INFLUENZA (BIRD FLU)

Mr Nigel Strick (Head of Trading Standards and Registration) gave an oral report  on the recent discovery of birds at Bernard Matthew’s Farm, Suffolk, suffering from avian influenza. He reported as follows:

·        Veterinary officers had confirmed that the virus in Suffolk was the H5N1 strain and had imposed a surveillance zone of 10 km around the farm; and

·        Officers in Oxfordshire had been watching for any suspected cases of avian influenza and an emergency plan had been drawn up in the event of a pandemic.

The Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer reported as follows:

·        the business continuity management plan identified the critical services that needed to be maintained for the first 7 days of an incident; and

·        the lead regarding a flu pandemic was with Health. Mr Jonathan McWilliam had now been appointed as the Director for Public Health in Oxfordshire. Work was underway regarding anticipated absenteeism and what could be done to address this.

In response to a question from the Committee, the Director for Community Safety & Chief Fire Officer undertook to look into measures which could be undertaken to educate the public (especially children) regarding what action to take if they came across a dead bird.

................................................................................... in the Chair

Date of signing.................................................................. 2007


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