Jo Coles - York and North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime

Jo Coles - North Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime

Executive Board Minutes – 28 May 2024

MINUTES EXECUTIVE BOARD

28 May 2024

 09:30 – 13:30 in the Haigh Room, HQ and via Microsoft Teams

Attending: David Skaith (DS)           – Mayor of York and North Yorkshire – Chair

Tim Forber (TF)             – Chief Constable, NYP

Scott Bisset (SB)         – Deputy Chief Constable, NYP

Simon Dennis (SD)         – Corporate Director OPFCC and Deputy Monitoring Officer for Mayoral PF&C Functions

Amanda Wilkinson (AW) – Director of Public Confidence, OPFCC

Michael Porter (MP)      – Assistant Director of Resources YNYCA and Deputy s73 Officer for PF&C functions

Mathew Walker (MW)   – Deputy Chief Fire Officer, NYFRS

Damian Henderson (DH) – Area Manager Director of Service Improvement and Assurance, NYFRS

Louise Branford – White (LB-W)– Head of Finance & S151 officer, NYP

Lisa Stitt  (LS)                       – Assistant Chief Officer Enable

Bethany Dollimore          – Business Governance Apprentice, OPFCC

Rachel Antonelli               – Interim Deputy Monitoring Officer YNYCA

Presenting:
Guests:
Apologies: Maeve Chappell (MC)  – Corporate Communications Lead, enableNY

Jenni Newberry (JN)         – Director of Commissioning & Partnerships, OPFCC

Tamara Pattinson (TP)    – Director of Delivery & Assurance, OPFCC

Xanthe Tait (XT)               – Director Evolve Legal Services

Jonathan Dyson (JD)      – Chief Fire Officer, NYFRS

James Farrar (JF)              – Interim Head of Paid Service YNYCA

 

 


1.        
Welcome, Introductions & Apologies
  SD took the chair to introduce the purpose and conventions of the meeting and to note that this was the first Executive Board meeting for the newly elected Mayor of York and North Yorkshire David Skaith EB members welcomed him to the Board.

DS took the chair.

2. Action Log/Minutes
  The minutes of the April 2024 meeting were approved.
3. North Yorkshire Police
  a.       Current and significant issues emerging

TF provided an update on the current and significant issues emerging nationally and locally. The Board discussed the conventions for public questions during the Online Public Meeting and best practice for this. SD provided assurance that steps are taken by OPFCC to ensure that questions are articulated in a way which is proper and lawful – an example being the adaptation of a question about protest and community confidence arising from the responsibilities of the MPC, which was articulated in a way which was answerable by CCNYP and meaningful for York and North Yorkshire’s public. A separate concern about the immediacy of social media questions was discussed and avoiding problems for due process – both the CC and the Mayor are minded positively towards local authority conventions for managing public questions, including deadline stipulations. [post meeting note: a paper on the subject will be sent to the July Board meeting for a formal decision].

 b.      For Information and Discussion

An overview of matters discussed at the last months Chief Officer Team meetings was provided to members. The minutes of these meetings are published on the NYP website for members to view.

 c.       Decisions Required

No decisions required.

 d.      Third party reports including update on HMICFRS progress against actions

SB updated the board on the progress in respect of the HMICFRS improvement plan.

4. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
  a.       Current and significant issues emerging

MW provided an update to the board of national and local issues themes emerging. It was important to note that the 7th anniversary of Grenfell was approaching which would trigger reflection on the human cost and would draw the issues and impacts of that tragic case into renewed sharp focus.

Members discussed pay offers and how this would need to be factored into budgets going forward. A detailed report on this subject will go to the next FRS SLB. The Mayor asked for further clarity and information on financial stability, which will be provided later in the agenda and amplified outside of the meeting.

b.      For Information and Discussion

MW provided members with an update of the key issues from the April Senior Leadership Board meeting. An update on the staff survey was given.

c.       Decisions required

No decision required.

d.      Third party reports including update on HMICFRS progress against actions

DH spoke to the report which was circulated to members in advance of the meeting. The Head of Assurance and Inspection Lead has completed their Inspection preparation and members were provided with the plans in place from the findings of this work. The Mayor was provided with reassurance that the work for this was on track.

5. enableNY
  a.  Current and significant issues emerging

No issues to report

b.  For Information and Discussion

Members discussed and noted the Ripon Estates paper and it was agreed that a meeting was to be scheduled outside of the board by LS in the form of a subgroup, in particular to focus on communications.

Members welcomed the candid acknowledgement in the paper of the difficult issues involved in the Ripon project and the importance of both assurance and similar candour to staff and the public in this regard.

c.   Decisions required

No decisions.

6.  
7. Legal Services
   a.       Updates

No papers provided.

b.      Collaboration agreement

Members were updated verbally regarding the developments in de collaboration of regional procurement, including the local vacancies. The collaboration agreement presented for approval related to continuity of provision of specialist legal advice on procurement law and commercial contracts, which had been provided for several years by West Yorkshire Police’s Office of the Force Solicitor. On behalf of XT who was unavoidably absent at short notice, SD reminded the meeting that Evolve had the capacity and aspiration to provide the service in due course but that capacity could in the meantime be applied, for example, to corporate transition issues relating to contracts.

The Mayor confirmed authority for SD to sign the collaboration agreement outside of the meeting.

In future a written covering paper for collaboration agreements (and a paper for general legal updates as they arise) would assist with digesting the agenda papers.

8. Finance
  a.       Updates

i)                    MP provided an overview on the last financial year, no significant negative financial outcomes from 23/24.

ii)                   Capital programme delivery was acknowledged to be a long-standing challenge for NYP – the CC indicated that a programme of more manageable scale and scope would be his intention.

iii)                 LS provided highlights about upcoming vacancies 24/25.

9. OPFCC
  a.       Commissioning & Partnerships

SD spoke briefly to the reports which were noted.

b.      OPFCC updates

SD provided members with an update on the OPFCC now that the transition to the Combined Authority has taken place, as per the paper which was shared with members prior to the meeting.

The CC expressed concern that the model 3 team were not meeting its service commitments. SD outlined the CST change proposal and recovery plan and the joint need to address the volume of police complaints at source as per the paper. The CC expressed the additional view that the model required significant investment, which was also common ground in principle. A further update on this will be shared with the board at a future meeting.

The Police, Fire and Crime Panel confirmation hearing for Jo Coles will be held on the 12 June. Jo has been selected by the Mayor as his preferred candidate for Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime (DMPFC). If confirmed, the DMPFC will take office from a provisional date of 8 July 2024.

SD provided updates from the APCC General Meeting, noting amongst other matters that

–          Correspondence had been sent to all CCs from the national public contact programme about the planned 101 performance tables due for 12 June 2024 [post meeting note – publication was adjourned since the meeting, to a date to be fixed after the PEP]

–          Delays in the CJ system were now considered to be so serious as to be insoluble without fresh plans

–          Correspondence had been sent to all CCs by the new DPP seeking changes in CPS-Police collaboration.

10. Risks
  a.       NYP

Due to the frequency and change in the Risk and Assurance Board meetings, this update will be next month as per process.

b.      NYFRS

An update on the current risk register for NYFRS was provided by MW.

c.       OPFCC

JN and MP attended a risk management workshop with colleagues from Veritau to work on the ‘top line’ YNYCA group risks now the Combined Authority Transition has taken place. Work continues to be ongoing in this space.

11. Communications update/ Forward planning
  a)       The Corporate Communications Grid was shared with members and noted.

b)      The Mayor would prefer to see in future, an overall codified grid showing the coordination of YNYCA, policing, fire and crime communications plans.

12. Matters for discussion
  SD stated that it was important to note that the general election has been announced and Pre-election period (PEP) conventions will need to be in place. This may mean that some meetings are to be cancelled and re-arranged for after the election. Discussions are ongoing regarding this and further updates will be provided in due course.