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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED that the report be noted.
RESOLVED that the report be received
RESOLVED that the report be noted
RESOLVED that the report be noted.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillor William Powell.
Member Agenda Item No Interest Mrs H. Thomas All items Any discussion concerning the Living Wage – A Family Member is involved in the discussions Cllr S. Hancock All items Family member is a serving Police Officer within Dyfed Powys Police Force Cllr S. Wright All items Family member is a serving Police Officer within Dyfed Powys Police Force
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel held on the 24th January 2025 be signed as a correct record.
The Commissioner updated the Panel noting after the last meeting, there was an announcement by the Home Office in relation to some additionality of funding linked to the Neighbourhood Pledge from the current UK Government. Additional funding in receipt of £750,000 has been granted to the Pledge which does not change the bottom line of the budget set out for last year, as it will go out in expenditure linked to the Pledge.
5.1 - Over the years the Panel has received reports of young people going missing particularly those from care homes. With the spotlight recently on grooming gangs nationally, has the PCC had a conversation with the CC to ensure Dyfed Powys Police and partners have robust systems in place nowadays to protect these vulnerable young people? Thank you for the very timely question, there has been a focus on this recently. Many of you may have picked up on the Home Secretary’s response to some of the media attention in relation to the undertaking of audits. Baroness Casey is co-ordinating an audit in early Spring and we await the terms of reference for the audit. Baroness Casey has vast experience in these matters. I am supportive of an audit. I raised this question with the Chief Constable through the policing board structures we have. I asked a specific question to the force in relation to the need for us not to be complacent within Dyfed Powys. We work with partner agencies on the wider safeguarding of children and young people across the Dyfed Powys region and have robust structures in place. The Chief Constable has responded and is quoted: “The Force takes child welfare very seriously and have defined processes in place to prevent abuse and support vulnerable children. Policing across our force area is not complacent and continues to work with partners to identify issues of this nature and make the safeguarding of children a priority for all. Whilst no categorical assurance can be given in any matters in policing, I can-not be 100% certain that there isn’t a victim or somebody that has been affected by this type of criminality within the force area. I can confirm that we are alive to the risk of grooming gangs. I am aware that similar assurances have been shared with the Children’s Commissioner for Wales through the Police Liaison Unit.” We have given assurances to the Children’s Commissioner for Wales as articulated here today. We have a service delivered by Llamau. This is a service provided for children that go missing and is a debrief service. This debrief service is fed back into a multi-agency assessment of the vulnerability of the young person. We are seeking to see how Llamau can be further embedded into a wider refresh of a school’s programme across the force area.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that the report be noted.
[NOTE: Mrs H. Thomas and Councillors S. Hancock and S. Wright earlier declared an interest in this matter, remained in the meeting during its consideration and voted.] The Panel received a deep-dive report, which scrutinized how Dyfed-Powys Police handled cases of stalking and harassment. This is an important area for scrutiny activity. The report noted that in 2023, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner carried out a deep dive scrutiny review of stalking and harassment. As a result of the review, several recommendations in the areas of Resourcing, Training, Data, Perpetrator, Interventions, Perpetrator Monitoring and Victims were made and progress against each is reported to the Panel on a six-monthly basis. The Panel commended the report and all the hard work that had been inputted by officers in preparing the information. The comments/observations raised were responded to as follows:- · The Commissioner advised, in response to a question regarding the long-term funding for the Domestic Abuse and Stalking Perpetrator Co-Ordinator post, that confirmation was being sought in relation to funding arrangements. · In response to a question regarding the budget for the Champion training programme, the Commissioner advised that information would be provided direct to members outside of the meeting. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that the report be received
[NOTE: Mrs H. Thomas and Councillors S. Hancock and S. Wright earlier declared an interest in this matter, remained in the meeting during its consideration and voted.] The Panel considered a report on decisions taken by the Commissioner between 12th October, 2024 to the 31st January, 2025. The Panel noted that Section 28(6) of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 requires it to review decisions made and actions taken by the Police and Crime Commissioner in connection with the discharge of his functions and to also make such reports and recommendations to the Commissioner in relation to those decisions and actions as the Panel considers appropriate. The following questions or concerns were raised by the Panel: · In response to a query regarding the success of the Aeron Arts project based in Aberaeron and for a possibility of delivering similar projects across the force area, the Police and Crime Commissioner agreed to provide an end of year report to share result analysis and rationale. · A question was asked regarding the £960,000 investment to the Offender Diversionary Scheme. The Commissioner advised that the multi-agency scheme would address offending behaviour at an earlier stage in an individual’s offending journey and would reduce re-offending. RESOLVED that the report be received
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that the report be noted
[NOTE: Mrs H. Thomas and Councillors S. Hancock and S. Wright earlier declared an interest in this matter, remained in the meeting during its consideration and voted.] The Panel received the Progress report of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Business Plan for Quarter 3 – 2024/25. The report outlined the progress that had been made in delivering the requirements of the business plan in alignment with the priorities in the Police and Crime Plan. It was noted that the report highlighted a number of changes in RAG status during Quarter 3. The Commissioner’s Chief Executive referred to the OPCC Business Plan progress report and the Policing Protocol Performance report and informed the Panel that due to a number of cross cutting themes between the two, it was proposed that from April 2025 they would form one Operational Report. The following issues / questions were raised on the report: · In response to a question regarding the future of the Preventative and Treatment Services, the Commissioner advised that discussions were ongoing with the existing provider and work would continue over a number of months to try and resolve. · The Panel was advised that under-represented groups were engaged with to strengthen relationships within communities. This interaction was necessary to increase the diversity of the workforce and volunteer groups and to understand their feelings, views and experiences and to also provide information. RESOLVED that the report be noted
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED that the report be noted.
[NOTE: Mrs H. Thomas and Councillors S. Hancock and S. Wright earlier declared an interest in this matter, remained in the meeting during its consideration and voted.] The Panel considered a performance report in relation to the Policing Protocol for Q3 of the financial year 2024-25. It was reported that this Quarter had seen the change in performance of a number of actions, 1 action had changed from Green to Amber and 8 had moved from Amber to Green. The following questions or concerns were raised by the Panel: · A question was asked regarding the availability of data on the environmental sustainability activities. The Police and Crime Commissioner in response, informed members that the force had a member of staff that dealt with sustainability and decarbonisation issues and that he would provide a report at a future meeting. · The Commissioner advised in response to a question regarding the PDR for the Chief Constable, that the Chief Executive of Staff was CIPD qualified and that the office was adequately resourced to undertake such duties. RESOLVED that the report be noted.
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