Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Steve Wood  020 8313 4316

Items
No. Item

STANDARD ITEMS

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Mike Botting, Sharon Baldwin and Nigel Davies.

 

Apologies had also been received from Alf Kennedy.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

 

3.

QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILLORS AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO THE COMMITTEE OR CHAIRMAN

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Friday, March 22nd.

 

Minutes:

There were no questions from Councillors or members of the public to the Committee or Chairman.

 

4.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 30th JANUARY 2019 pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Minutes:

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting of the Public Protection and Enforcement PDS Committee held on 30th January 2019.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 30th January 2019 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

 

5.

MATTERS ARISING pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Minutes:

CSD19060

 

Members noted the matter that had arisen out of the previous review of the Parking Services contract with APCOA. It had been requested that an update be provided to the Committee concerning why the number of PCNs issued had decreased. An update had subsequently been received from the Head of Parking Services and was disseminated to Committee members. The update noted that the following matters were still being investigated:

 

·  Parking Services Officers were seeking legal advice and would be formally writing to APCOA about how many and the type of vehicles they are using to transport and deploy the CEOs around the borough. APCOA did not have the same transportation that was detailed in their method statement and therefore they were breaching their contract terms.

 

·  Parking Services were still awaiting the full trial data on the ANPR vehicle to conclude if this is a better way of deploying the CEOs.

 

·  The policy around enforcement requests that were made by the public was being reviewed to ensure it was having an effective impact on the contract. 

 

The Chairman stated that the issues which were still being investigated were important matters. In view of this he requested that further updates be provided to the Committee when they were available. 

 

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising report is noted and that updates on the remaining matters being investigated by Parking Services be provided to the Committee in due course.

6.

POLICE UPDATE

Minutes:

The police update was provided by Chief Inspector Craig Knight.

 

The Chairman advised that he had met with the police recently to discuss the format of police updates to the Committee. It had been decided that going forward, the police updates (provided to the Committee in advance of the meeting) would focus on the MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) crime priorities and on local priorities. At the meeting itself there would be a briefing provided each month on a different area of policing. So one month there could be an update concerning neighbourhood policing, and another month it could be safeguarding etc. Local ward issues should be confined as much as possible to ward panel meetings and SNB (Safer Neighbourhood Board) meetings. This would mean that the PDS Committee could devote itself to focusing on strategic issues.

 

Mr Knight addressed the matter that had been raised previously concerning the number of detectives in the south area BCU. It was clarified that the south area BCU (Basic Command Unit) was currently at full strength with respect to detectives.

 

Mr Knight mentioned that the police would be addressing licensing issues concerning the BP garage in Mottingham over the next 10 days.

 

The Committee heard that the total number of burglary offences committed over the rolling 12 months was 2,600, which was an increase of 7.5%. On the positive side, the number of offences relating to non-domestic violence with injury was down by 21%. At the time of the meeting, the highest rate of ASB offences had been reported in Orpington, followed by Penge and Cator. 

 

Mr Knight said that there had been a small rise in the number of sexual offences reported.

 

The Committee noted that there had been a 15% increase in the use of stop and search. Mr Knight expressed the view that the increased use of stop and search had resulted in less individuals carrying knives. Mr Knight said that over the last 12 months, the police in Bromley had carried out 5174 stop and searches. Forty five percent of the stop and searches were drug related. 

 

Mr Knight informed Members that MOPAC was seeking to adopt vehicle related offences as a priority. The police were not keen on this idea as they felt it would detract from dealing with more serious offences. Mr Knight stated that roughly 50% of vehicle associated offences related to car drivers not taking basic precautions like locking doors and windows, and leaving valuables in open sight.

 

Members were briefed around police response times. Mr Knight stated that ‘I calls’ (the most urgent) were being responded to within 15 minutes in 82% of cases—so there had not been a drop in performance. A pot of money had been released to acquire some new police fleet vehicles. The police had to decide how best to use the new money. Mr Knight anticipated that the money would be primarily used to acquire more ‘Q’ cars. These were unmarked vehicles that would be used for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

HOLDING THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER TO ACCOUNT

7.

QUESTIONS TO THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC AND COUNCILLORS

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, questions to this Committee must be received in writing 4 working days before the date of the meeting.  Therefore please ensure questions are received by the Democratic Services Team by 5pm on Friday, March 22nd.

 

Minutes:

There were no questions received from Councillors or members of the public for the Portfolio Holder.

 

7a

PUBLIC PROTECTION & ENFORCEMENT PORTFOLIO - CAPITAL PROGRAMME MONITORING 2018/19- QTR 3 pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

FSD19028

 

The Committee noted the Capital Programme Monitoring and Capital Strategy report.

 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder confirms the changes to the Capital Programme agreed by the Executive on 13th February 2019.   

7b

BUDGET MONITORING-2018--2019 pdf icon PDF 95 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

FSD19036

 

The Budget Monitoring report was written by Claire Martin (Head of Finance). The report was drafted to show the latest budget monitoring position for 2018/19 for the Public Protection and Enforcement Portfolio. This was based on expenditure and activity levels up to 31st December 2018. At that point the budget was showing an underspend of £219k. 

 

A Member drew attention to section 6.2 of the report which related to delays in recruiting to posts in the Food Safety Service. It was noted that the recruitment process for Food Safety Officers was proving difficult and was ongoing. There was a recruitment advert going out imminently. Consideration was also being given to ‘linked training’ whereby a person could receive work related training while in post. The Committee expressed thanks for the excellent work that had been undertaken with respect to food inspections.

 

RESOLVED that the Portfolio Holder endorse the latest 2018/19 budget projection for the Public Protection and Enforcement Portfolio. 

8.

PP&E PORTFOLIO PLAN PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW pdf icon PDF 126 KB

Minutes:

Members considered the PP&E Portfolio Plan Performance Overview document.

 

A Member raised a query regarding item 7 on the Plan which related to the number of food premises closed by the Food Safety Team. The commentary on the Plan stated:

 

‘As of the 08.02.19 there were 66 inspections overdue. All have been allocated for inspection prior to year-end. LBB Food Safety Team have also closed 443 premises this year (80 since the start of February) many of which were overdue and have now stopped trading’

 

It was felt that the closure figures quoted were rather high and so the Assistant Director for Public Protection agreed to check the figures and report back to the Committee via the Committee Clerk. 

 

Members noted the data regarding fly-tipping and were informed that a fly-tipping report would be presented to the Environment PDS Committee on 9th April.

 

A Member expressed his thanks to Toby Smith and Andrew Rogers for the excellent fly-tipping campaign on Social Media.

 

RESOLVED that the Assistant Director for Public Protection and Enforcement check the figures relating to food premises closures and report back to the Committee via the Committee Clerk

 

 

9.

NEIGHBOURHOOD MANAGEMENT ENFORCEMENT UPDATE SCRUTINY REPORT pdf icon PDF 95 KB

Minutes:

ES19030

 

This report was written and presented by Toby Smith (Head of Enforcement and Neighbourhood Management). The purpose of the report was to compare the current performance of services with previously agreed performance indicators. Members were being asked to note and comment on the report.

 

Members studied Table 1 of the report which highlighted performance against agreed indicators. KPI ‘NM1’ was the performance indicator for the successful payment and recovery rate for FPNs (fixed penalty notices) that related to dropped litter. The Committee noted the aggregate performance for this which was 63% against a target of 70%. The Committee noted the RAG status which was ‘amber.’ It was suggested that one of the reasons that the performance against target was down was that in some cases individuals did not always provide the correct information to civil enforcement officers (CEOs). Another reason suggested was that the CEOs were easily identifiable. 

 

The Committee noted KPI ‘NM2’ which was the KPI relating to the removal of abandoned vehicles. Members were pleased to note that the aggregate performance was 99% which compared to a target of 95%. It was explained that not all vehicles reported as ‘abandoned’ were in fact abandoned. If a vehicle was taxed--as far as the Council was concerned it was not an abandoned vehicle. One hundred and seventy six vehicles had been removed over the last quarter.  It was clarified that if a vehicle was causing a significant nuisance (even if it was taxed), then alternative enforcement measures could be employed. 

 

The Committee saw that the number of fly tipping enforcement actions was down against target (8.6% achieved against a target of 10%). Mr Smith pointed out that LBB only employed 1 fly tipping officer for public areas.

 

A Member drew attention to Table 2 under section 5.5 of the report. A list of offences had been identified, with additional information such as the Case ID number, and the fines and surcharges imposed.  The Member commented that as the offences were listed merely as offences committed under the relevant section of the Environmental Protection Act, it did not explain what the actual offence was. Mr Smith explained the various offences that were listed under the various sections of the Act.

 

Mr Smith appraised the Committee that the fines and surcharges listed in the table went to the Court, and that the legal costs went to the Legal Section of the Council. It was currently the case that no charges could be recuperated by the Public Protection Division against the cost of cleaning up after fly tipping, and also officer time. It was hoped that in the future, magistrates could be persuaded to award the Council costs in this regard. The Chairman asked to be kept updated concerning this.

 

A Member stated that there was no evidence in Penge that Civil Enforcement Officers were enforcing in the area, and she queried if they were doing their job properly. Mr Smith responded that he would relocate CEOs back to Penge. Mention was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

PUBLIC PROTECTION PERFORMANCE AGAINST AGREED ENFORCEMENT INDICATORS SCRUTINY REPORT pdf icon PDF 81 KB

Minutes:

ES19028

 

The Assistant Director presented her report which updated on the Public Protection Division’s performance against its agreed performance indicators. She asked Members to note that this was not the Annual Enforcement report; this would be presented to the Committee at the June meeting. Members were pleased to note that all of the RAG ratings were green.

 

The Assistant Director explained that the report as it stood did not present all of the targets as being hit. This was because the report was a snapshot of performance as at 31st January 2019. It was expected that all targets would be hit or at least all would be hit within the agreed tolerance levels.

 

The Assistant Director advised that targets would be originally set after a process of ‘Trends Analysis’.

 

RESOLVED that the Performance Report is noted.  

11.

EXPENDITURE ON CONSULTANTS 2017/18 & 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 56 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

CSD19038

 

Members noted the report and agreed that no further scrutiny was required.

 

It was acknowledged that there would be some cases when professional outside help from consultants would be required.

 

RESOLVED that the report is noted and that no further scrutiny is required.

12.

WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 64 KB

Minutes:

CSD19061

 

Members considered the Work Programme for the Public Protection and Enforcement Portfolio. It was noted that the current draft Work Programme for 2019/2020 was an initial draft based on historic standard items. The programme would develop and evolve.   

 

It was agreed that for the June meeting there would be an annual report relating to PP&E performance for 2018/2019.

 

It was agreed that there would be a Mortuary Update report going to the June meeting.

 

The police update in June would focus on an update regarding Dedicated Ward Officers.

 

Consideration could be given to inviting SLAM to a meeting at some point in the summer and also to a visit by Members to the Bethlem Hospital.  

 

Some discussion took place concerning a possible visit to the Coroner’s Court, or a presentation by the Coroner at a Committee meeting. The Assistant Director stated that she would look into this.

 

Another Member suggested that a report could be drafted that investigated issues around the association between mental health issues and links to crime.

 

RESOLVED that the Work Programme is noted and that the above suggestions be added to the Programme.

 

 

13.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 AS AMENDED BY THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ACCESS TO INFORMATION)(VARIATION) ORDER 2006, AND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

The Chairman to move that the Press and Public be excluded during consideration of the items listed below as it is likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the press or pubic were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information. 

 

Minutes:

The Chairman moved that the Press and Public be excluded during consideration of the item listed below as it was likely in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings that if members of the press or pubic were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information. 

 

14.

PART 2 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PP&E PDS COMMITTEE THAT MET ON 30th JANUARY 2019

Minutes:

The Part 2 minutes of the meeting that took place on 30th January 2019, were agreed and signed as a correct record.