Agenda item

RESOLVED that:

a)     The Panel requests that the planned workshop session on the 2021/22 Police and Fire & Rescue budget positions be held in-person at Darby House, Wellingborough, with an option for members to join remotely, on a date to be confirmed following the current meeting.

b)     The Panel agrees to use local authority venues in Northampton as the normal location for Panel meetings.

c)     The Panel agrees that independent co-opted members of the Panel should be paid an annual allowance of £500 from 2021/22, subject to confirmation of the provision of Police & Crime Panel grant funding to the host authority.

d)     The Panel endorses the outline work programme for 2021/22.

The Democratic Services Assistant Manager presented the report setting out the latest version of the Panel’s work programme and specific matters relating to the operation of the Panel, highlighting the following points:

·         The Panel was invited to review and agree or amend the work programme as considered necessary.

·         The Panel had agreed that its work programme should include a workshop session open to all members on the 2021/22 Police and Fire & Rescue Authority budget positions. The OPFCC proposed that this session take place on 13^th October 2021. The Panel should consider this date and whether the session would take place in-person or as a remote meeting.

·         The report proposed that the Panel should agree to use local authority venues in Northampton as the normal location for its meetings. This was based on a technical solution for webcasting that had not worked at the current meeting, for which apologies were offered. It was hoped that issues could be resolved with further investigation. The Panel still needed to determine where its future meetings would take place.

·         The report provided further information on the question of introducing remuneration for independent co-opted members, confirming that there were other examples of other panels that took this approach using the Home Office Police & Crime Panel grant. The provision of grant funding in 2021/22 had been confirmed. The Panel should determine how it wished to proceed on this matter.

The Panel considered the report and members made the following points concerning the work programme during the course of discussion:

·         It was hoped that the Panel would be able to consider the PFCC’s draft Police & Crime Plan and Fire & Rescue Plan in December 2021 as currently scheduled, particularly as putting this back would result in a large amount of business for the meeting in February 2022.

·         The requested visit to Darby House for Panel members should be combined with one of the other proposed briefing sessions.

·         Some members were not available to attend a workshop session on
13^th October 2021. A new date should be sought. It would also be helpful for members to have the option of participating remotely or in-person.

·         The Panel should ensure that it did receive a report on action being taken in Northamptonshire to respond to the outcomes of the Kerslake Report and the Public Inquiry into the Manchester Arena terror attack.

The PFCC advised that he did not want to give an absolute commitment that his new draft plans would be presented to the Panel in December. There were risks that could affect this, although work was underway and the new plans would be an evolution of previous ones.

The Panel considered the locations to be used for its future meetings and members raised the following points during the course of discussion:

·         Northampton or Wellingborough would be the best locations. The report identified Kettering as a possible location but it was arguably not central enough in the county to be considered.

·         Northampton still seemed to represent the best fit for the priorities identified by the Panel provided that the proposed webcasting solution could be made to work.

The Panel then considered the question of introducing remuneration for independent co-opted members. Various councillor members supported introducing a small allowance, highlighting the disparity that councillors received a basic allowance for carrying out their role including as Panel members; that participating in Panel meetings and other activity involved commitment; and that an allowance could help to attract and retain good Panel members. The Chair also noted that Home Office representatives emphasised that the Police & Crime Panel grant could be discontinued in future if panels did not make full use of it.

Councillor Pritchard asked for it to be recorded that he did not support remuneration for Panel members given that there were comparable roles, such as acting as a magistrate, that were carried out on a voluntary basis.  

RESOLVED that:

a)     The Panel requests that the planned workshop session on the 2021/22 Police and Fire & Rescue budget positions be held in-person at Darby House, Wellingborough, with an option for members to join remotely, on a date to be confirmed following the current meeting.

b)     The Panel agrees to use local authority venues in Northampton as the normal location for Panel meetings.

c)     The Panel agrees that independent co-opted members of the Panel should be paid an annual allowance of £500 from 2021/22, subject to confirmation of the provision of Police & Crime Panel grant funding to the host authority.

d)     The Panel endorses the outline work programme for 2021/22.