Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

The Panel was provided with a report which provided details of Police recruitment and Retention within Thames Valley.

The Chief Constable summarised the key parts of the report:

·         In the year 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2020, TVP appointed 470.3 new officers. 376 of these were recruits and 31 officers transferred in from other forces.

·         Year to date (1st April 2020 to 31st July 2020) TVP have appointed 149 new student officers. 7.4% of these recruits are from a BAME background, 28.2% are female. The Panel congratulated the Chief Constable on these figures.

·         This year police officer leavers have significantly reduced from a predicted average based on the last two years of 26 per month to 17 per month. This was due to officers delaying plans to retire, transfer out or resigning due to the uncertainty caused by Covid 19. Transfers out were predicted to increase to previous yearly averages but resignations were likely to remain lower.

·         Recruitment had not been significantly affected by Covid 19. Processes had been adapted to enable TVP to continue on bringing people into TVP e.g. online assessment centres. The recruitment pipeline was very healthy with enough candidates to fill intakes through to the new year. There were a further 10 intakes/courses of 19 students each planned for this year. (Total for year 20 courses).

·         Operation Uplift - In September 2019 the government announced an uplift of 20,000 officers over 3 years across the country. In year 1, TVP were awarded 183 of that number and TVP were on track to exceed that number by 31st March 2021. Numbers for years 2 and 3 had not yet been announced by the Home Office but it was predicted that TVP would get a further 150 officers in each year.

·         Officers from the 1st Uplift tranche were all being posted to the frontline ICR teams.

·         Detectives - Forces across the country had been experiencing a shortage in detectives. At the end of July TVP had 24.3 vacancies - but this was a reduction of 18.9 on the months before and represented a significant improvement. There were an increased number of officers taking the National Investigators Exam (96 enlisted for Sept) and there were increased numbers applying to become DCs.

·         TVP had undertaken a number of initiatives to encourage applications, including increased exam support and the process that enabled PCs to join CID before they took the National Investigators’ Examination, alongside the recruitment events which were held for DCs.

·         Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire DC establishments were forecast to be close to 100% of establishment over the next three months.

·         TVP were currently open for recruitment for the Specialist Entry DHEP programme which starts in early 2021. There was also a Police Now detective cohort starting in January. This was a combined total of 48 new aspiring detectives.

·         Police Community Support Officer numbers were 60.1 under their establishment of 413. This was partly due to a significant number joining to be police officers.

·         There was a high turnover of staff within Contact Management. There were currently 30.34 under their establishment of 521.47. Planned intakes had been significantly reduced due to Covid 19 and it was predicted that they would finish the year 39.22 under establishment.

In relation to positive engagement and Action Team, a dedicated team of officers had been set up to work on the recruitment, development and retention primarily of BAME officers. Reference was made to the last recruitment phase where 24% of applicants were from a BAME background; this was encouraging.

The team had been reaching out to BAME communities and supporting BAME individuals who had expressed an interest in joining TVP. Their work had been constrained by Covid 19 which meant that face to face events/meetings had to be cancelled. However, they were able to carry on their work online e.g. Facebook Live events and by telephone with individuals.

The team had put together a mentoring scheme for new officers so that they had someone to support them once they join TVP. There had been a positive action development scheme developed to support BAME officers from PS to Chief Inspector.

For new Entry Routes, in November this year the current recruit programme, would be replaced by two new entry routes: the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship and the Degree Entry Holder Programme. Both these routes were being run in conjunction with Bucks New University.

Recruits joining would not need to be a degree holder but, if they were not, they would join through the PCDA route. This was a three-year programme at the end of which the officer would have a practical policing degree.

The TVP People project aimed to improve the retention of officers and certain groups of police staff where turnover is high e.g. Contact Management.

Issues discussed included the targeting of ex-servicemen and women for recruitment; the shortfall in Police Community Support Officers, particularly in Milton Keynes, and the repercussions this had for community policing.

The Chief Constable reported that in relation to Contact Management, he was pleased to report that the average time to answer a 101 call was now 100 seconds which was a vast improvement.

In response to a question about attracting more women to the Police, the Chief Constable reported that women were well supported in the staffing numbers; with 56% of the whole Police Force (staff and police officers) being women and 37% being Police Officers.

RESOLVED – That the report of the Chief Constable be noted and the Force be congratulated on the positive news in relation to recruitment and retention.