Agenda item

To consider the Police and Crime Commissioner’s appointment of two Assistant Commissioners.

The Chairman explained that on 7 May two new Assistant Commissioners had taken up their posts in the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner, and that unlike the appointment of the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, the Panel had no formal powers concerning the appointments. The Commissioner in the spirit of the Panel’s wider scrutiny role had provided details of the appointments and had invited comment from Panel Members.

The Commissioner provided the Panel with a short introduction of the roles of the Assistant Commissioners, as detailed in the agenda papers. The Chairman thanks the Commissioner for his overview and invited questions from Panel Members. During the following question and answer session, the following points were clarified:

·         Members raised the concern that these new roles would reduce the publics’ accessibility to the Police and Crime Commissioner, which the Commissioner denied as he was regularly attending meetings and felt that he and his Deputy were unable to fully discharge the role of the Police and Crime Commissioner fully by themselves. He felt that the Assistant Commissioners increased the publics’ visibility of his office and gave residents more opportunities to make their views known.

·         Panel Members requested the Commissioner inform them if he planned to hold an event in their area so they could attend and work in partnership with him and his office. The Commissioner apologised that this had not happened and confirmed in future Panel Members would be informed of future meetings and events in their Borough or District.

·         Jane Anderson, Assistant Commissioner for Victims, stated that many of her meetings were not held in public, but that she had published her first months experience as a blog on the Police and Crime Commissioner’s website. Members were concerned that many residents across Surrey were unable to access the website and felt that this information should be more widely available. The Assistant Commissioner for Victims agreed to circulate her blog updates to the Panel for their information.

·         Shiraz Mirza, Assistant Commissioner for Equalities and Diversity, requested the Panel’s assistance in reaching out to the hard to reach communities in Surrey. He had already met the gypsy/traveller community to discuss how best to engage with them and his work would feed into the Polices wider work with minority groups in Surrey. The Commissioner agreed that currently there was not a problem with these minority groups specifically, but felt that it was important to form connections with these communities for the future.

·         Panel Members requested that in future they could be informed before the appointments were made so they were able to give more meaningful feedback to the Commissioner. The Police and Crime Commissioner confirmed that he had no intention to create new positions within his office.

·         Members of the Police and Crime Panel felt there should be measurable outcomes for these positions. The Commissioner stated that if the experience of the victim improved or the speed of answering 101 calls got quicker then these were measurable areas of success.

·         The Panel expressed surprise that the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner often accompanied the Police and Crime Commissioner and felt that they would achieve more if they went to meetings separately. The Commissioner confirmed they went to meetings separately and only both attended a meeting with the Assistant Commissioners if it was a large public meeting or one with Councillors in attendance. His goal was for the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner to be visible across the county.

·         The Commissioner raised that in 2014 he would be required to commission victim support in Surrey and the Assistant Commissioner for Victims would inform this future work.

RESOLVED: That

1.    A letter be sent to the Police and Crime Commissioner making the following recommendations:

a)    That in the future the Commissioner inform the Panel of any proposed appointment prior to the position being filled.

b)    That the Commissioner considers the key outcomes he would like the Assistant Commissioners to achieve and inform the Panel of these in writing.

c)    That the Commissioner ensures that local councillors be kept informed of any public meetings being organised in their respective boroughs and districts, and that the Chairman of the Panel is informed of all meetings.

d)    That the Commissioner’s Office ensures that, as much as possible, those without internet access are still able to find out about the work of the Commissioner and his staff.

e)    That the Commissioner clarifies what he intends do with the data and information being gathered by his Assistant Commissioner in relation to victim support, and what outcomes he is seeking specifically in this area.