The report will be presented by Councillor Barrie Patman, Chairman of the Budget Task and Finish Group which met on 20 January 2021.

Members were informed as in previous years; the Thames Valley Police & Crime Panel formed a Budget Task & Finish Group to assist in discharging its statutory duty to scrutinise the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Thames Valley’s proposed Council Tax precept for 2021/22.

Councillor Barrie Patman, the Chairman of the Budget Task and Finish Group presented the report. He thanked Ian Thompson and Linda Waters for attending the Group and updating Members on the PCC’s draft budget proposals.

The report provided Members with the main changes highlighted as a result of the Home Office Police Grant Final Settlement announcement and the papers issued for the PCC’s Level 1 meeting with the Chief Constable of TVP on 19 January 2021.

The report contained details of Thames Valley’s response to the settlement which included:

·       The overall settlement and the flexibility that the PCC has been allowed for council tax precept levels was extremely encouraging which demonstrated the importance the government placed on the services delivered by the police service and the difficulties and challenges being faced.

·       This was only a one-year settlement and reference was made to the impact of Covid-19, which would impact on all public services. Priorities included:

•         Recruiting and training the additional officers awarded to TVP under the Police Uplift Programme (PUP)

•         TVP as an organisation needed to be adapted to the changing crime patterns and increasing levels of vulnerability. 

•         Technology needed to be used to improve the productivity of officers and their ability to respond to and protect the vulnerable is critical. Software such as Pronto, needed to give officers instant information to improve and adapt responses

•         Additional funding would allow TVP to invest for the medium term to achieve ambitions for improving the service delivery such as Neighbourhood Policing and PCSOs, the Rural Crime Task Force, County Drugs Line (CDL) Enforcement, Domestic Abuse (DA) Capability and Cyber/Fraud.

·       Additional funding from the full council tax increase would allow additional investments totalling £5.4m, and include Forensic Services and Digital Investigation (£0.5m), Effective Demand Management (£0.5m), Safeguarding and Vulnerability (£1.0m), End to End Investigation Processes  (£1.6m) and Operational End User Devices (£1.8m)

·       Reference was made to TVP receiving confirmation of 361 officers, and the anticipated further 170 - 220 in the third year (2022/23). However, this barely addressed the officer numbers lost since 2011, compounded by the significant numbers of police staff that have been removed from their establishment.

·       It was noted, that prior to the announcement of the council tax flexibility, 192 officers of the additional police officers (from the National Uplift Programme) were to be used in areas of policing over the coming years that they would rather not. They would be performing an operational policing function but one that could be and was currently performed by police staff. The cost of not replacing these posts with new police officers and maintaining the current staff, would be around £7.7m over the MTFP period, with £2.5m of this falling in 2021/22. 

A recommendation had been put forward which was debated during the next item as follows:-

That the Panel approve the Police and Crime Commissioner’s precept for 2021/22 as set out in the OPCC report ‘Revenue Estimates 2021/22 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2021/22 to 2024/25’ subject to satisfactory responses to the questions raised and any other supplementary questions asked at the Panel meeting.