Agenda item

Following notification from the Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner of his intention to appoint the preferred candidate, Mr Nick Ephgrave, to the role of Chief Constable of Surrey Police, for the Surrey Police and Crime Panel to hold a Confirmation Hearing, in accordance with Schedule 8 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

[The meeting reconvened at 1pm]

The Chairman welcomed Mr Nick Ephgrave to the meeting and stated that this was the formal confirmation hearing for the proposed appointment of Chief Constable of Surrey Police.

She informed the Panel that on 14 June 2016 she had received formal notification that the Police and Crime Commissioner wanted to appoint Mr Nick Ephgrave as Chief Constable of Surrey Police and that in accordance with Schedule 8 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, the public confirmation hearing had been convened in order for Panel Members to consider the proposed appointment of Chief Constable. 

She explained that the Panel was invited to question the candidate on whether he had the professional competence and personal independence to exercise the role. She said that following the question and answer session, the Panel would go into a private session to decide upon the recommendation to the Commissioner and that following this she would write to the Commissioner with the Panel’s recommendation.

The Police and Crime Commissioner stated that he felt that it was a momentous day for Surrey Police and Surrey as a whole and he emphasised that Mr Ephgrave had undergone a thorough process. He paid tribute to all those involved in the process and thanked them for the advice that they had provided him with. He said that he firmly recommended that Nick Ephgrave be appointed to the Chief Constable role.

Panel Members were invited to question Mr Ephgrave and a summary of the questions and responses can be found below.

Key points raised during the discussions:

1.    Panel Members asked the candidate for his views on encouraging officers to attend local meetings to which he responded stating that he understood the value and rationale behind these requests and that the new Policing in your Neighbourhood initiative in each district and borough meant that it was expected that the neighbourhood inspectors would facilitate this happening. He went on to say that these meetings were not the only way concerns could be raised and that it was important to have representation from young people and he gave an example that in Epsom and Ewell social media was being used to engage with that audience.

2.    A question was asked regarding morale across the police force and Mr Ephgrave agreed that this was an important issue both nationally and locally. He informed the Panel that he undertook reality checks regularly and his own perception was that things had improved. He said that he was expecting to receive good news from HMIC shortly and that would assist in boosting officers morale.

3.    A further question regarding morale and whether a staff survey had been undertaken to gather the views on the ground was asked by the panel. They were informed that a staff survey was undertaken annually and that it covered ethical culture and a range of other issues. The Panel were told that there had been a 44.7% response rate which was the highest ever. Mr Ephgrave said that this gave encouragement that staff were happy to speak out. He went on to say that he communicated to all staff every Friday using a blog and that Surrey Police had an intranet discussion forum that could be used to raise concerns which everyone could contribute to.

4.    The candidate was asked what qualities he would bring to the role and the Panel were told that he had a significant degree of operational experience, he would bring a sense of direction to the force through a compelling vision and statements of what needed to be done and how it would be done along with the ability to talk to anyone in an informal way – officers and staff alike.

5.    A Panel Member asked how the candidate would communicate substantial operational decisions and the candidate responded by informing the Panel that the decision making model he used was the national model and that this was embedded in the code of ethics. He explained that this was something that was recognised and that officers understood.

6.    A question regarding how to plan for a new threat or public safety concern was asked and Mr Ephgrave responded by explaining to Panel Members how he had been the Crime Commander for Notting Hill Carnival and he talked through the work that had been undertaken to ensure that it ran as well as it could do ensuring that issues were identified and dealt with before the event. He also provided the panel with some statistics on this.

7.    The panel asked the candidate what he thought the two biggest problems were which had been identified by the staff survey. The Panel were informed that procedural justice was not as high as the candidate would like and that work intensity was perceived to be high. He felt that the work intensity was due to having asked people to change the way that they worked and that a number of vacancies were being held. With regards to organisational justice, he explained that Surrey Police were working with Sussex Police to align policies, procedures and processes to ensure this would not be an issue going forward.

8.    A question was asked regarding whether Mr Ephgrave had left any decisions to take whilst in the temporary position and he informed them that he had taken the decision to get on and move forward however he said that he had not done this under the assumption that he would be successful in obtaining the role permanently.

9.    The Panel asked the candidate whether he felt that the force was at a point where they understood diverse communities and whether there was a drive to increase recruitment in diverse areas. Mr Ephgrave explained that there was a 3.5% BME representation and that this was not unique to Surrey however he was not content with this. This was seen as a top priority and there was a focussed diversity strategy with enhanced career paths for officers from diverse backgrounds.

10.  A question regarding areas becoming ‘no go’ places was asked and the candidate replied stating that the neighbourhood inspectors had a good functional approach with excellent links with community leaders. This meant that issues were picked up at the grass roots and intervention would happen when required. He gave an example regarding special branch having a local connection with people within local communities.

11.  The Panel asked Mr Ephgrave to outline his experience of collaboration between the emergency services and in particular with the fire and rescue service. He stated that although he had never been directly involved in the fire service, the command and control principles were the same and that the ultimate aim would be to reduce the 13 command and control centres across Surrey and Sussex down to one centre. He recognised that collaboration was not easy and that there were different boundaries and governance arrangements. He went onto say that Surrey Police had done a lot of work on how to collaborate between its own services.

12.  Leading on from this, the Panel asked whether there was a financial drive to collaborate with other police forces not just Sussex to which the candidate informed the Panel that a lot of work had been done at a national level through the Police Reform and Transformation Board and that this had worked well with Counter Terrorism and the National Police Air Service. He went onto say that in Surrey and Sussex they would look at support services, fleet management and HR in order to provide resilience. He provided an example of the flooding that took place in 2013 and how 50% of the officers involved in the response to this were Sussex officers.

13.  A Panel Member stated that a lot of the success of the role and service would depend on the relationship with the Police and Crime Commissioner and asked how the candidate would ensure this was working well. Mr Ephgrave responded by saying that they had drawn up a working agreement which included governance arrangements and that he was happy to sign this. He stated that they were clear on their individual responsibilities and that they were honest with each other which would provide an early warning system if there were any issues.

14.  The Chairman brought the discussion to a close by thanking Mr Ephgrave for attending and answering the questions put to him.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel noted the responses provided to their questions by Mr Nick Ephgrave as the Police and Crime Commissioner’s preferred candidate for the role of Chief Constable of Surrey Police.