Agenda item

RESOLVED that:

a)    The Panel requests that a visit to Darby House for Panel members be combined with briefing sessions with the Chief Constable and the Chief Fire Officer on their respective service’s priorities and challenges.

b)    The Panel agrees that Panel members should suggest topics for future briefing sessions to the Secretariat to enable a programme of sessions to be produced. 

c)    The Panel agrees to include a briefing session on the use of telematics in Northamptonshire in the programme of briefing sessions.

d)    The Panel agrees that the agenda for its meeting on 14^th April 2022 should include the following items of business:

·         An overview of work on Early Intervention and Adverse Childhood Experiences in Northamptonshire.

·         An overview of priorities in Northamptonshire with regard to managing fire safety risks in residential properties, including risks associated with houses in multiple occupation.

·         Short updates on the Police and Fire & Rescue Authority 2021/22 budget positions.

The Democratic Services Assistant Manager presented the report setting out the latest version of the Panel’s work programme, highlighting the following points:

·         The work programme reflected resolutions from the last Panel meeting requesting a report on fire safety risks in residential properties for the meeting on 14^th April 2022 and identifying children and young people’s involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour as a possible topic for future scrutiny, subject to further consideration of the practicalities involved. 

·         The PFCC had offered to give the Panel a presentation on the telematics system earlier in the current meeting.

·         The potential for Panel members to visit Darby House had been highlighted again at the current meeting. 

The Chair suggested that a visit to Darby House should be combined with a briefing session with the Chief Constable and Chief Fire Officer as the Panel had previously intended. The Chair also highlighted that the reserve Panel meeting on 17^th February 2022 did not need to take place as the Panel had supporter both of the proposed precepts for 2022/23.

The Panel considered the report. Members highlighted modern slavery and the role of Trading Standards in dealing with crime as potential topics that the Panel could include in its work programme. The Chair noted that trading standards was more of a topic for local authority scrutiny. The PFCC advised that he could provide briefings to the Panel on a range of topics, such as modern slavery or the vehicle fleet. He encouraged the Panel to identify the topics that it wanted to cover so that the Panel Secretariat and the OPFCC could produce a schedule.

The Panel went on to consider how to move forward with potential work on children and young people’s involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour. Members made the following points during the course of discussion:

·         This was a pressing issue affecting the county. If there was an opportunity for the Panel to help to address it then it should do so.

·         It would be a good starting point for the Panel to seek a presentation from those involved in work on this topic. That would help the Panel to identify if a piece of task and finish work was necessary.

·         The Panel could scrutinise whether the PFCC was holding the force to account effectively for the contribution it was making to preventing young people from becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour.

·         The proposed topic was very broad. The Panel should be clear about the focus of any work.

·         Any work by the Panel should reflect that its role was to scrutinise and support the PFCC. It could be counterproductive for the Panel to seek to scrutinise issues for which the PFCC was not responsible.

·         Many aspects of the suggested topic were likely to be covered by the work of the Community Safety Partnerships. However, it could still be useful for the Panel to have a briefing.

·         The topic of children and young people’s involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour could be linked to priorities set out in the PFCC’s Police & Crime Plan.

The Chair identified the potential for the Panel to request a presentation on work on Early Intervention and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Northamptonshire as a way of moving forward. However, the Panel would also need to consider how this could be scheduled given that it only had one more meeting in 2021/22.

The Democratic Services Assistant Manager made the following points during the course of discussion:

·         The Panel was encouraged to be clear about the aims of any in-depth scrutiny work that it proposed to do. This would then help it to identify the best approach and the timescale for the work.

·         The Panel was able to change the priorities within its work programme. It might consider rescheduling the proposed report on fire safety risks in residential properties, or the regular update reports, from the Panel meeting on 14^th April 2022 if it considered that other business was a higher priority.

The PFCC made the following points during the course of discussion:

·         The Panel’s and the PFCC’s respective remits should be reflected in any potential work on children and young people’s involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour.

·         The force was not solely responsible for dealing with anti-social behaviour.

·         The Early Intervention & ACES team operated by the OPFCC dealt with an aspect of the wider topic. He was happy to discuss the team’s work. He currently had concerns about their ability to work with the Children’s Trust and around data-sharing and vulnerability.

·         He could present shorter budget updates to the Panel meeting on 14^th April 2022 if requested, particularly given how early it would be in the financial year.

RESOLVED that:

a)    The Panel requests that a visit to Darby House for Panel members be combined with briefing sessions with the Chief Constable and the Chief Fire Officer on their respective service’s priorities and challenges.

b)   The Panel agrees that Panel members should suggest topics for future briefing sessions to the Secretariat to enable a programme of sessions to be produced. 

c)    The Panel agrees to include a briefing session on the use of telematics in Northamptonshire in the programme of briefing sessions.

d)   The Panel agrees that the agenda for its meeting on 14^th April 2022 should include the following items of business:

·         An overview of work on Early Intervention and Adverse Childhood Experiences in Northamptonshire.

·         An overview of priorities in Northamptonshire with regard to managing fire safety risks in residential properties, including risks associated with houses in multiple occupation.

·         Short updates on the Police and Fire & Rescue Authority 2021/22 budget positions.