002/2014: Police Innovation Fund 2014-15 – 30 April 2014

Executive summary and recommendation:

The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims wrote to all Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) nationally on 7 March 2014 detailing the timetable for the 2014/15 Police Innovation Fund and invite nominees for the Police Innovation fund event held on 1 April 2014. The Commissioner had representation at the meeting on the 1 April 2014 where detailed arrangements for the 2014/15 bidding round were set out.

The Police Innovation Fund 2014-15 formally opened on 31 March 2014 and closes at 5pm on 30 April 2014, with any bid requiring formal sign off by the Commissioner. This Decision Notice once signed will comply with these requirements in full.

The funding for the Police Innovation Fund was achieved by top slicing all Police and Crime Commissioner allocations nationally totalling £50m per annum. The importance of submitting comprehensive bids that cover a range of activity across the Police and Crime Plan is crucial to not only enable the delivery of the goals within the Police and Crime Plan but to maximise funding opportunities as they arise.

This Decision notice provides a comprehensive suite of Police Innovation Fund bids carefully designed to support the key priorities within the Police and Crime Plan and to compliment the Commissioners investment in services locally.

The bid submissions are also complimentary to the key strategic areas of government policy in relation to Police and Crime Commissioner areas of business as follows: –

 

 *ASB = Anti Social Behaviour, IT = Information technology), EDRMS = Electronic Data Records Management System, PSNP = Public Services Network Project

**This item is sponsored by the North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner on behalf of the Rural Crime Network. There are currently 24 Commissioners nationally that have signed up to this submission at the time of writing. The actual bid documentation is not yet available at this draft stage and will be provided by Mr Nick Payne who is authoring the document on behalf of the network.

The key outcomes across the range of bids above are as follows: –
Be Safe, Feel Safe
Community focused
• Better outcomes and reduced costs
• Improved trust and confidence in communities
• Understanding Victim Needs and supporting Victims through a consistent, managed and reassuring service
• Protecting vulnerable people
• Increased capabilities to prevent and detect harm/crime/ASB

Collaboration
• Coordination with public sector partners, academia, third sector
• Enhanced collaboration with partners
Efficiency and Effectiveness
• Evidence based approach – Improved data quality and intelligence
• Reducing duplication and bureaucracy
• Maximise efficiency and effectiveness
• Improved officer safety
• Ensuring the most effective infrastructure

Police and Crime Commissioner decision:  Approved

Signature: 

Date:  30 April 2014

Title:  Police and Crime Commisisoner

Part 1 – Unrestricted facts and advice to the PCC

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims wrote to all Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) nationally on 7 March 2014 detailing the timetable for the 2014/15 Police Innovation Fund and invite nominees for the Police Innovation fund event held on 1 April 2014. The Commissioner had representation at the meeting on the 1 April 2014 where detailed arrangements for the 2014/15 bidding round were set out.

1.2. The Police Innovation Fund 2014-15 formally opened on 31 March 2014 and closes at 5pm on 30 April 2014, with any bid requiring formal sign off by the Commissioner. This Decision Notice once signed will comply with these requirements in full.

1.3. The funding for the Police Innovation Fund was achieved by top slicing all Police and Crime Commissioner allocations nationally totalling £50m per annum. The importance of submitting comprehensive bids that cover a range of activity across the Police and Crime Plan is crucial to not only enable the delivery of the goals within the Police and Crime Plan but to maximise funding opportunities as they arise.

1.4. This Decision notice provides a comprehensive suite of Police Innovation Fund bids carefully designed to support the key priorities within the Police and Crime Plan and to compliment the Commissioners investment in services locally.

2. Matters for consideration

2.1. The Police Innovation Fund has defined assessment criteria against which bids are assessed. A copy of the assessment criteria is provided at Appendix 1a.

2.2. The Commissioner has clearly defined goals within the Police and Crime Plan with a range of activities underpinning successful delivery. The activities within current plans must be managed robustly within the financial constraints of public sector funding. The impact of the current economic climate, and the Commissioners response to these financial challenges, was reflected in the 2014/15 budget setting report (DN091/2014). The Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) clearly articulated the scale of the financial challenge with the reduction in funding for 2014/15 over and above the original forecasts set out in the indicative 2014 Spending Announcement in June 2013. The total core funding position shows a reduction of £3.8m (4.47%) between 2013/14 and 2014/15 financial year on a like for like basis. In addition to effectively managing existing resources the Commissioner recognises the need to proactively identify any potential complimentary funding opportunities to support front line services.

2.3. The Police Innovation Fund 2014-15 represents a potential funding opportunity although there will be significant requests nationally against this limited fund. The Commissioner and the Chief Constable have carefully assessed those priority areas that would benefit from innovation funding to support the objectives within the Police and Crime Plan. A summary table of the bid areas and how they support the Police and Crime Plan goals/outcomes is provided below. This is followed by a short summary of each bid area: –

*ASB = Anti Social Behaviour, IT = Information technology), EDRMS = Electronic Data Records Management System, PSNP = Public Services Network Project
The key outcomes across the range of bids above are as follows: –

Be Safe, Feel Safe

Community focused
• Better outcomes and reduced costs
• Improved trust and confidence in communities
• Understanding Victim Needs and supporting Victims through a consistent, managed and reassuring service
• Protecting vulnerable people
• Increased capabilities to prevent and detect harm/crime/ASB

Collaboration
• Coordination with public sector partners, academia, third sector
• Enhanced collaboration with partners

Efficiency and Effectiveness
• Evidence based approach – Improved data quality and intelligence
• Reducing duplication and bureaucracy
• Maximise efficiency and effectiveness
• Improved officer safety
• Ensuring the most effective infrastructure

Information Security considerations
• Information Sharing protocols/agreements will be required to facilitate any collaborative and partnership arrangements contained within the Police Innovation Fund bids and any future arrangements of this type irrespective of external funding sources.
• The Public Services Network Project is a key enabler to a range of collaborative arrangements irrespective of external funding sources.

Approach to ranking the bids for consideration by the Home Office: –
• Contribution to the Police and Crime Plan
• Home Office assessment matrix
• Level of risk
• Level of financial support required
• Stage of development of the activity
• Deliverability of the activity

In order to provide an indicative assessment of the factors listed above a short analysis of the key documentation has been performed in order to produce a summary ranking matrix for each of the bid submissions. This is not an exhaustive analysis but is utilised to provide an indication of how bids may be ranked for submission to the Home Office. The assessment is provided at Appendix

Insight Centre (Appendix 2)
A new ‘Insight Centre’ that will harness the power of data and intelligence more effectively to shape services based on evidence and insight.
The Insight Centre, as referred to into the Police and Crime Plan, will be a point of co-ordination and a contacts network for knowledge, skills, information and data from a range of sources (including internally to NYP, public sector partners, academia, third sector) facilitating the provision of multi-agency intelligence and analytical products to NYP, OPCC and community safety meetings at county level for the Health and Wellbeing Boards and new County CSP. This will support effective decision making and informed assessment of the impact of those decisions and consequent activity at primarily strategic, but also tactical, level – again both internally to NYP and also across multiple organisations.
The outcome from the bid at Appendix 2 will be the development of the Insight Centre to provide confidence that local priorities are identified and the provision of services is ‘fair’ as it is based on evidence of local need; a commissioning strategy that is based on local needs and measured against local outcomes.
Crime: Digital Evidence (Appendix 3)
The Crime Digital evidence bid will support more efficient and effective crime investigation through enhanced information management and intelligence sharing covering the online environment. Whilst crime occurs geographically within our physical communities where an activity takes place (burglary, assault, Anti social behaviour, drugs etc) there is also criminal activity that takes place within our virtual communities. Internet enabled crime can come in a number of forms but is mainly presented within the media as the sharing of images, online bullying and online fraud. The main issue with Internet enabled Crime is that it can cross geographical, national and international borders instantaneously.

The outcome of the innovation bid at Appendix 3 will be to further assist with the challenges associated with reducing crime and more successful investigations associated with cyber crime.

Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) – Multi Agency Hub (Appendix 4)
North Yorkshire Police (NYP) is developing its future sustainable service delivery model for reducing ASB and improvement of victim services through neighbourhood policing, as outlined in the Police and Crime Plan. The key phases identified in the pre-cursor 2013-14 innovation fund bid were as follows: –
• Phases 1 (Apr 14) – Deliver a joint working capability to improved delivery of neighbour policing services within the City of York. (DN077/2013)
• Phases 2 (Jan 15) – Expansion of the City of York model to include additional partners such as clinical commissioning groups and third sector partners
• Phases 3 (Apr 15) – Seeking to expand the model across NYP area with county and district local authorities, thereby testing the model in rural and urban areas covered by unitary and 2 tier local authorities
• Phases 4 (Jan 16) – Develop the model to a stage where it can be presented to Yorkshire and the Humber region
• Phases 5 (Apr 16) – Presentation to HMIC with a view to providing national best practice
The hub is now successfully live to the original timescales. The innovation fund bid at Appendix 4 seeks to build on this success and develop Phase 2. The successful implementation of these phases would contribute to the Police and Crime Plan in terms of developing and embedding strong partnerships at a local level to tackle anti-social behaviour and build on the set up of an ‘anti-social behaviour task force’ to share best practice and use resources effectively.

This activity will support enhanced delivery in communities leading to on-going reductions in anti-social behaviour at a local level.

Together: York initiative – Mental Health services (Appendix 5)
The Police and Crime Plan has clearly stated goals and objectives for more effective services and support to Vulnerable People working with key partners to develop better services and support – including data sharing and practical problem-solving.

The Commissioner and Chief Constable are clear that vulnerable people will be prioritised and their needs met to protect them from harm.
The innovation fund bid at Appendix 5 builds on the significant developments in North Yorkshire and the City of York in terms of services to support those vulnerable people suffering from mental health issues. The establishment of the first places of safety in Scarborough Hospital and Bootham Hospital respectively have been complimented by investment in Street triage services working in partnership with Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust (DN076/2013).
The existing services also support the Commissioners commitment in putting people first by assisting Response Officers in managing situations involving sufferers of mental ill-health, and providing mechanisms to enable follow-up contacts and appropriate signposting towards long-term solutions.
The innovation fund proposals are for the “Together: York” initiative. Together: York will support the work of the Mental Health Street Triage team, mental health services and emergency services, by providing intensive preventative and supportive community interventions, engaging high end users of emergency services (who may not meet criteria for statutory service intervention, and yet may be in considerable mental distress) to re-engage with networks and communities; gain skills in coping and relating; and increase wellbeing.
The Together: York proposals will support the provision of effective services whilst maximising use of available funding to focus on new and innovative joint service delivery with health partners.
Information Technology Strategy
The Commissioner set out the requirement to ensure the service is Fit for the Future and is supported by a comprehensive and robust IT Strategy.
To achieve this a fundamental and comprehensive IT review has been undertaken to identify service delivery needs; what officers and staff need to enable them to be as responsive, effective and efficient as possible and how we can improve community access and engagement. This work has operated in tandem and been driven from operational policing requirements.

The outcome is for a costed strategy and delivery plan which transforms IT capability and which is responsive, and flexible enough to keep pace with future needs and opportunities. The Executive Board have received initial drafts of the IT Strategy business case that will provide for £10m of investment over a four year time period to ensure the appropriate support and capabilities for operational policing and future partnership and collaborative working.
The innovation fund bids at Appendices 6 and 7 seek to build on the proposed investment set out in the IT Strategy business case. Two key projects are put forward for support covering ongoing sustainability of critical infrastructure and innovative development of data records and management information to streamline business processes.

Electronic Data Records Management System (EDRMS) – (Appendix 6)
Having electronic storage of documents will be fundamental and underpin our strategic approach to delivering mobile working and having an agile and flexible workforce. We understand that by achieving these outcomes we will:
• Improve performance and productivity
• Improve the work life balance for our staff by enabling them to work from any location
• Secure savings through use of video collaboration and conferencing (particularly important in our large rural area)
• Provide our staff with the right tools to do the job
• Drive up staff morale and this is turn will improve the service delivery to our customers

Public Services Network Project (PSNP) – (Appendix 7)
The Public Services Network is a UK Government programme to unify the provision of network infrastructure across the United Kingdom public sector into an interconnected “network of networks” to increase efficiency and reduce overall public expenditure.
The closure of the Police National Network (PNN3) framework and the introduction of replacement Public Service Network (PSN) solutions will impact every force, agency and department currently connected to existing criminal justice networks as well as every application and service provided over these networks.
These networks enable most operational policing activities and provide the link between forces and criminal justice partners to enable them to share information.

Crime: Internet Enabled Crime (Appendix 8)
Traditionally policing has been undertaken within geographical boundaries aimed at protecting communities from physical threats of harm. Technologies like ANPR and CCTV underpinned by safer neighbourhood and patrol policing seek to disrupt, deter and detect crime and anti social behaviour caused by those individuals that come into communities to cause harm. This aspect of policing enables the police to manage the services they provide to their communities and a structure for dealing with those that cause harm.
Developments in technology and the expansion of internet enabled functionality is increasingly common for individuals, communities and businesses to interact both within the physical community and within the virtual community. More and more people have separate virtual and physical lives and their behaviour changes dependant upon the environment they are in.

Fire/Police Collaboration (Appendix 9)
Police and the Fire and Rescue Service in North Yorkshire are collaborating more closely to promote public safety and drive efficiencies.
The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for North Yorkshire, Julia Mulligan and the Chairman of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (NYFRA), John Fort, have signed a statement of intent, in which they announced plans to improve public safety across York and North Yorkshire and provide a more efficient service through closer collaboration and the sharing of support functions. Closer collaboration would also generate efficiencies that would help both services to build resilience, protect frontline services and support the local economy.
The Statement of Intent with the Fire Service followed the success of a recent pilot by the organisations to jointly provide combined safety services to vulnerable older people across the Dales, namely the ‘Safety Service’. Activities included joint home fire safety and crime prevention visits, along with the promotion of joint safety campaigns.
This innovation fund bid provides for an ambitious and exciting approach with the Fire Service in terms of support services. The initial pre-cursor 2013-14 bid provided for an independent assessment of the various different delivery vehicles that may be considered for future delivery of services to local communities. This bid and the activity associated with it has all been completed successfully.

The innovation bid at Appendix 9 has two aspects to the proposals. The first recognises that there is a requirement for appropriate support resources to enable successful delivery in addition to the establishment of a ‘Third Entity’ for support services there is a requirement to produce business cases for those services over a period of time as proposals develop. Both North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service/Authority and North Yorkshire Police have agreed to commence this business case activity with the first services considered being for a shared Police/Fire Transport and Training Business Cases. The current Safety Service for North Yorkshire is also developing and seeking to build on the excellent start to the service and the positive feedback received from local communities.

All of the above projects will require their respective resources to ensure successful and managed delivery. To further reinforce the bids and the associated risk management and business continuity activity associated with them it is proposed that the current part time Business Continuity post is increased to a full time FTE for the next 18months to provide for the necessary support to the business areas involved with these bids. In order to facilitate this it is proposed that most appropriate bid document to provide this resource and associated costs within is the Fire/Police partnership item.

National Rural Crime Network (Appendix 10)
This is a collaborative bid on behalf of 26 Police and Crime Commissioners supporting this bid. The lead force for this bid is North Yorkshire. The other committed partners in the NRCN include the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), National Farmers Union, Crimestoppers, National Neighbourhood Watch, National Community Safety Network, Farmers Weekly magazine, Countryside Alliance, NFU Mutual, English Heritage, alongside the Rural Services Network which has developed the concept with the participants.
The national policing lead for Rural and Wildlife Crime, Chief Constable Simon Prince, is also supportive of this proposal as is their counterpart for Heritage and Cultural Property Crime, Chief Constable Andy Bliss.

Other options considered, if any

There have been several areas considered for Police Innovation fund bid submissions however the Executive Board are considering the priority projects listed above and a decision is required on those that will be formally submitted to the Home Office. These projects provide the greatest requirement for enabling support to achieve the necessary objectives and outcomes.

Contribution to Police and Crime Plan outcomes
The table at paragraph 2.3 provides a full matrix of how each individual PIF bid supports the Police and Crime Plan.

Consultations carried out
The proposed PIF bid topics were agreed at Executive Board. Each individual submission has required consultation with the relevant operational department in order to populate and complete the proforma templates.

Financial Implications/Value for money

The financial implications associated with each bid are still in the process of being quantified and validated. Estimates have to be provided at this stage and for the actual submissions on 30 April 2014. This is due to the innovative nature of the items proposed and the requirement to work up detailed costs/benefits as part of due diligence activity. A summary of the current estimated position for all bids is provided below: –

Some of the innovation fund bids listed have some recurring revenue implications associated with them. Where this has been identified as an issue and subject to progression to the Home Office it is recommended that the Delivery Board assess these requirements and modify savings targets accordingly.

The savings and benefits sections of each individual innovation fund bid provides the detail in terms of how each bid will contribute to value for money.

There will be resourcing implications of each of the innovation fund bids and therefore an impact assessment on deliverability. However subject to those that are formally submitted, and subsequently approved, a further piece of implementation work will be carried out to address these issues.

Legal Implications

To be completed.

Equality Implications

The Equalities implications associated with each bid will be fully assessed by the Authors of the individual bids should they be approved by the Home Office. This will require further refinement and detailed work to enable a full assessment therefore it was not assessed as practical to conduct this for all of the bid submissions at this stage.

Appendix 1 – Police Innovation Fund 2014-15 Assessment criteria matrix

Appendix 2 – Insight Centre – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 3 – Crime Digital Evidence – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 4 – ASB Multi Agency Hub – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 5 – Together: York Initiative – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 6 – IT Strategy EDRMS – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 7 – IT Strategy PSNP – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 8 – Internet Enabled Crime – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 9 – Fire/Police Collaboration – Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Appendix 10 – National Rural Crime Network- Draft PIF Bid 2014-15

Public access to information
The Police and Crime Commissioner wishes to be as open and transparent as possible about the decisions he/she takes or are taken in his/her name. All decisions taken by the Commissioner will be subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

As a general principle, the Commissioner expects to be able to publish all decisions taken and all matters taken into account and all advice received when reaching the decision. Part 1 of this Notice will detail all information which the Commissioner will disclose into the public domain. The decision and information in Part 1 will be made available on the NYPCC web site within 2 working days of approval.

Only where material is properly classified as restricted under the GPMS or if that material falls within the description at 2(2) of The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011 will the Commissioner not disclose decisions and/or information provided to enable that decision to be made. In these instances, Part 2 of the Form will be used to detail those matters considered to be restricted. Information in Part 2 will not be published.
Is there a part two to this decision notice?  No

Originating Officer Declaration – Author name: G. Macdonald, Collar number: 005299
Head of Department has reviewed the request and is satisfied that it is correct and consistent with the NYPCC’s plans and priorities.

G. Macdonald, 005299, 24/4/14

Legal advice has been sought on this proposal and is considered not to expose the PCC to risk of legal challenge or such risk is outlined in Part 1 or Part 2 of this Notice.

Financial Advice – The CC CFO has been consulted on this proposal, for which budgetary provision already exists or is to be made in accordance with Part 1 or Part 2 of this Notice.

G. Macdonald, 005299, 30/4/14

Equalities Advice – Either there is considered to be minimal impact or the impact is outlined in Part1 or Part2 of this Notice. Author to complete as Equalities matters are mainstreamed within departments.

G. Macdonald, 005299, 24/4/14

I confirm that all the above advice has been sought and received and I am satisfied that this is an appropriate request to be submitted for a decision

Signature G. Macdonald Date 8th April 2014