Executive Board Minutes 27 May 2014

Minutes of the meeting held at Police Headquarters, Newby Wiske, DL7 9HA on Tuesday 27 May 2014.

PRESENT:-
In the Chair: Commissioner Julia Mulligan (JM)
Officers: Chief Constable Dave Jones (DJ); Commissioner’s Chief Executive Officer Joanna Carter (JC); Chief Constables Chief Finance Officer and Chief Accountant Jane Palmer (JP); Commissioner’s Chief of Staff Will Naylor (WN).
Also in attendance: Business Planning & Support Manager Caroline Blackburn (CB) (for minute 454(a)); Head of Risk and Reassurance Donald Stone (DS) (for minute 454(b)).
Minute taker: Commissioners Governance Support Officer Claire Askew (CA).

452. APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick (TM); Commissioner’s Chief Finance Officer and Head of Organisation and Development Gary Macdonald (GM); and Acting Head of Legal Services Jane Wintermeyer (JW).

453. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

Subject to one amendment the minutes of the meeting held on 20 May 2014 were approved for publication.

The following updates were provided:

JP confirmed that in relation to minute 442 and 439, officer warrant cards are due to be updated and replaced. Existing staff identification cards will not be replaced.
The date for the Operational Policing Model (OPM) external communications has been planned for 11 June 2014 (minute 443(a)). The venue for the press conference is to be confirmed.

453. ACTION LOG OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING

The Action Log was noted and the following discussed:

(9) JC confirmed that the IT Decision Notice was scheduled to come back to the Executive Board for final approval on 03 June 2014.
(10) WN provided an update on the Safety Camera Van survey. 2293 responses received so far, the majority of which support an increase in mobile safety camera vans across the force area.
(17) JC provided a brief verbal update on the progress of the preferred site for the new Northern base.
(22) WN advised that regarding the best practice review of ethic committees, an ethical framework has been published on the OPCC website. JC undertook to help progress the best practice review.
(27) JP provided clarity on the process and responsible individuals for the authorisation of spend and publication of information relating to purchases over £500.
(37) DJ confirmed that further work was required on the external communication documents for the OPM which will be provided to JM as soon as they are available.

454. DECISIONS REQUIRED

Draft Annual Report format (version 1): CB circulated a proposed format for the Annual Report 2013-14. JM welcomed the first draft which provided a base to develop the report format. CB also circulated a catalogue of items for inclusion in the Annual Report, to be split into the four financial quarters which were to be represented by the four seasons. The Board also discussed the following:

JM requested that although the report would be mainly circulated electronically, it would be available in hard copy and so it needed to be spread out over 20 pages.
Agreed to include an ‘Operational Perspective by Chief Constable’.
JM requested that the welcome section provides an executive summary of major developments during 2013-14 (WN to provide CB with list).
JM requested that in order to explain the role of the Commissioner, the following four key areas of work be highlighted in the report: 1) Scrutiny and holding to account; 2) Representing the public; 3) Lobbying the government; 4) Championing victims and commissioning.
JM requested that the format navigates the reader through the report and that the information hierarchy is reviewed from a reader perspective. CB suggested that to ensure that the quarters are clearly distinguishable from one another the four quarters could be individually highlighted further, possibly through different colour pages again to reflect the seasons.
CB also provided summaries for the main stories for each quarter. JM to consider these further following the Executive board and feedback to CB.
Page layouts to include testimonials to the side of the page.

ACTION: WN to provide CB with a list of major developments through 2013-14 for inclusion in the Annual Report.

ACTION: JM to consider the main stories for each quarter and feedback to CB on 03 June 2014.

ACTION: CB to continue developing the draft Annual Report format and to bring back to Executive Board on 10 June 2014.

Draft Annual Governance statement format (version 1): DS provided an overview of the draft Annual Governance Statement (AGS) format, with a key element being to make the report more engaging to stakeholders and the public and to demonstrate ways of working. Although two separate AGS will be produced for the Commissioner and the Chief Constable, DS suggested that a joint introduction in each AGS to demonstrate the shared commitment and intent for ways of working. DS also circulated a copy of a district council AGS which has been highlighted nationally as best practice. Board Members endorsed this format. JM also requested that the AGS is provided in plain English and jargon avoided. JM also highlighted the importance of the independence of the Joint Independent Audit Committee and asked for this to be clearly referred to and explained in the AGS.

Board members recognised that the draft accounts will need to be included with the AGS in a more traditional format.

ACTION: DS to continue developing the AGS format, to be submitted to the Executive board again on 10 June 2014.

Decisions made by the Chief Executive Officer, the Heads of Function, the Chief Finance Officers and Force Solicitor using delegated authority (report for a decision): JP confirmed that following previous discussions at the Executive Board on 13 May 2014, the appendix had been amended to reflect the justification for Single Tender Action and a description of why the delegated decision was required. Due to the time and resource required, Board Members agreed that previous reports do not need to be amended to reflect this information.

JM noted on the legal list of delegated items a number of low value settlements. The Board agreed for this to be discussed further at the Executive Board on 03 June 2014.

ACTION: JP to provide feedback on reference numbers 005-1415 and 2014/15-006 to JM.

ACTION: JW to provide feedback at a future meeting of the Executive Board regarding the proportionality of resources required for low value settlements.

Review of Reserves and Provisions (Decision Notice): JP confirmed that both she and GM had checked through the Reserves and Provisions Policy and no changes were required for 2014/15. DJ noted that the terminology in the Decision notice and appendices differed and requested that this be amended to be the same. JC also requested that as the ‘Incentivisation Reserve’ and ‘Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 Reserve’ are not accessible that these are removed from the appendix.

ACTION: JP to update appendix and resubmit to Board Members by email for approval.

Treasury Management Review (report for a decision): The CIPFA Code of Practice for Treasury Management recommends regular updates on treasury management activities. This report therefore ensures that North Yorkshire Police is implementing best practice in accordance with the code. JP confirmed that there had not been any significant changes for 2014-15.

AGREED: The Board noted the report;

AGREED: The Board noted the unavoidable failure to meet the fixed rate indicator relating to the maturity structure of fixed rate borrowing.

455. DECISIONS AND DELEGATED MATTERS TO NOTE

Decision Making Forecast Status Update: The Board noted the report and agreed the following updates:

Amend the Executive Board scheduled for 17 June 2014 to 16 June 2014.
Confirmation that the Collaboration Thematic will be taking place on 22 July 2014.
ACC McIntosh and Head of Commissioning and Partnerships Jenni Newberry to be asked to attend Executive Board on 22 July 2014.
Amend items listed as Gary Macdonald to Acting Head of Organisation and Development.
Confirmation that the Draft Statutory Accounts will be scheduled for 24 June 2014.
Confirmation that the lead for the Treasury Management Quarterly Report will be the Commissioners Chief Finance Officer.
Confirmation that the lead for the Statutory Accounts will be the Commissioner’s Chief Finance Officer. This report is scheduled for 23 September 2014.

456. MATTERS ARISING FROM CORPORATE PERFORMANCE AND SCRUTINY GROUP

Current Performance Report: The Board discussed a number of issues, most notably:

JM suggested that as there is a new benchmark for victim satisfaction, it would be beneficial for the Performance Manager S.Murray to meet with A.Bowman of The Buzzz.
DJ advised that ACC Kennedy had recently attend a Scarborough performance meeting. Stakeholders will be invited to attend these performance meetings in future. JM also suggested that the Commissioner’s Policy and Research Officer who is due to start imminently also attends these performance meetings and the Corporate Performance and Scrutiny Group.

ACTION: Page 8 of the report (Decisions Made) to be updated with recent activity.

AGREED: The report was noted.

Forecast Outturn and Use of Underspend: This report provided an initial estimate of the underspend for 2013/14 and sets out some proposals for utilisation of the underspend. As hard copies of the report were tabled at the meeting JM requested further time to consider the proposals for the underspend.

ACTION: JM to provide feedback directly to JP.

ACTION: Minutes of Executive Board on 03 June 2014 to record if report recommendations and proposals are agreed.

457. CONCEPTS AND/OR INITIATIVES TO BE DISCUSSED

There were no matters for discussion.

458. NATIONAL OR LOCAL DEVELOPMENTS/CONSULTATIONS

APCC, HMIC and ACPO Updates and Communications: The report was noted.

Events: The report was noted. The Board discussed the visit to North Yorkshire by HMCIC Tom Winsor in autumn 2014.

ACTION: WN to develop programme for day.

459. FORTHCOMING EVENTS OR COMMUNICATIONS

There were no items to note.

460. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT