ASSOCIATION OF POLICEAUTHORITYCHIEF EXECUTIVES
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 16 JUNE 2009at the Guildhall, London
1.Appointment of Chair
The Association’s Research and Co-ordination Officer invited nominations for the office of Chair. Members duly proposed and seconded Jacky Courtney.
AGREED:Jacky Courtney was duly elected for a period ending with the Association’s Annual General Meeting in 2010.
- The Chairthanked members for their support and, on behalf of the Association, expressedthanks to the previous Chair Doug Hayton, for his extensive contributions which had seen APACEmove to a more professional level. Doug was also thanked for his efforts in arranging for the APACE post to be hosted by Essex Police Authority.
- Thanks were recorded to the previous Honorary Secretary and representative on the APA Executive (as was), Graham Davey.
- Congratulations were extended to Bill Wilkinson for his recent OBE. The Chair would write on behalf of the Association.
2. Resolutions and Election of Honorary Officers
Following proposal by John Godfrey and seconding by Miranda Carruthers-Watt, it was resolved to:
- elect all officers on an annual term.
- select an additional vice chair and an additional office holder
The Chair invited nominations for the offices of Vice Chair, Honorary Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and an additional office holder. Members duly proposed and seconded proposals.
AGREED:The following officers were elected for a period ending with the Association’s Annual General Meeting in 2010.
Treasurer-Paul Thomas
Vice Chair-John Godfrey
Vice Chair-Fraser Sampson
Secretary-Andy Champness
Additional Officer-Doug Hayton
AGREED: It was agreed that therole of Honorary Secretary needed revisiting in the light of the establishment of the Research and Co-ordination position. The Honorary Officers will meet and suggested role definitions for allhonorary officer roles would be brought back to the next meeting for approval.
3. Minutes of meeting of 18 March 2009
AGREED:The minutes of the meeting held on 18 March 2009wereapproved subject to one minor amendment; page 2, bullet point 8; remove the word ‘longer’.
4. Annual Accounts
Paul Thomas presented the annual accounts for the financial year 2008-09, (unaudited) and Paul was thanked for his hard work.
Available funds total £39,436 as of 31 March 2009. For 2009-10 it was proposed to increase the annual authority subscription from £800 to £820, to leave the second member fee as £50 and to provide an option for individual members to join CMI if they wished. The work to consider roles for honorary officers will also review the need for the payment of an honorarium for the Honorary Secretary.
AGREED: The 2008-09 accounts and 2009-10 annual subscriptions were agreed.
- Annual Authority subscription £820
- Second Member fee£50
- Optional CMI membership fee£98
5. Accreditation Update
Andy Champness presented his report to members. He explained the various levels of membershipfor the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and was thanked for his work thus far.
It was noted that Group Membership, if 21 or more members applied to CMI, would reduce the individual cost of membership fees (£98 as opposed to individual membership fees of £135 for CMI Members and £153 for CMI Fellows). Members would be able to indicate on their annual APACE subscription if they wished to join or continue their CMI membership.Members believed it would be helpful to benefit from a corporate approach to the role of Chief Executive.
AGREED:
- The group application was supported.
- The standard description for a Chief Exec considered by APACE previously would be re-visited to assist streamline applications
- The CMI application formwill be circulated with step by step guidance.
6.Policing and Crime Bill Update
The Chair thanked the ‘virtual team’ who collaborated on amendments to the Policing and Crime Bill. These comments had been shared with the Association of Police Authorities (APA) and used to draft technical amendments and speaker notes for the House of Lords Committee stage.
The Chair, Christine Durbar, Deputy Chief Executive, Lancashire Police Authority and the APACE Research and Co-ordination Officermet Richard Riley,Head of the Police Protective Capabilities Unit, Robert Peacock, Policy Adviser within the Police Protective Capabilities Unitand members of the Bill team on 5 June 2009. Although the Bill has reached the Lords with limited opportunity for fundamental change, RichardRiley indicated he valued the technical expertise of the APACE input. He would involve APACE at an early stage in future legislative proposals. He will work with APACE on the future guidance document to accompany the Bill when it is enacted.
The Home Office recognised the Association’s practical concerns around the collaboration provisions but they were not persuaded to change the requirement for separate force/authority agreements. This will potentially result inone agreement with Part A and Part B sections. It was clarified that collaboration agreements will only be needed where there are 6 authorities or forces joining another i.e. 7 or more authorities or forces. There are no more than 6 authorities or forces in each region so this collaboration provision is intended for arrangements covering more than one region. However the current provisions have no de-minimus and will capture even minor arrangements. It is understood the provisions will commence through Statutory Instruments from October.
A Serious Organised Crime Strategy is anticipated from the Cabinet Office this summer and a White Paper is scheduled for the autumn.
The APA has tabled an amendment to the provisions of holding responsible partners to account in overview and scrutiny, after the Home Office reversed their previous agreement. The APA would continue to pursue amendments through the Lords. APACE will continue to work with the APA to put forward amendments and draft speaking notes.
The APACE amendment to request statutory protection for chief officers should be pursued in the Lords by amending the definition of Head of Paid Service to include Chief Executives of police authorities.There was an acknowledgement that such a change would need consequential amendments to other legislation. This would include the ability for chief executives to fulfil the role of monitoring officers and the unique position of non-geographical authorities.
7.Benchmarking Survey
Siobhan Weightman, Deputy Chief Executive,Durham Police Authority and Helen McAloonPerformance Manager,Durham Police Authority andMark Sayerwere thanked for their hard work on redesigning the surveyand analysing the results. The following was noted:
- There were 40 responses compared with 24 the previous time the survey was circulated.
- The results provide a good overview and a snapshot in time but more time is now needed to analyse the results to produce information that will be meaningful and useful to police authorities.
- The APAhas circulated a Skills Survey to members and officers.
- It was suggested that the APACE results should be shared with the APA Boardto highlight police authority strengths and development needs and the challenges facing police authorities.
- The results will be useful to show those involved in police authority inspection as the results show the national view which enables authorities to benchmark themselves.
- In relation to budgets, covered in section 2.3 - much more in depth information is available from the Police Authority Treasurers Society (PATS) survey.Analysis of the PATS survey will also show how all authorities deal with internal audit.
AGREED:
- Remove financially sensitive information and appendices, quality assure the datawith PATS beforecirculating to APACE members for comments and then sharing with theAPA Boardin September and make available to PA inspectors.
- Follow up survey annually to provide trends.
- Requests for further analysis of the raw data can be made to the Research and Co-ordination Officer.
8.Report of Research and Coordination Officer
Mark Sayer summarised the activities and work completed during the first three months in the new post and members gave their feedback. Members congratulated him on the excellent start he had made in the role.
9.NPIA Update
The Chair updated members on the meeting held on 14 May 2009with ACC Graham Hooper, Alison Dale from the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the former Chair, Chair and Research and Co-ordination Officer. The meeting has discussed:
- Training for authorities.
- Post inspection help, the offer of hosting an APACE area on their web site and an authority secondment opportunity
- Chief Officer Appointments training was requested, looking to develop this with APACE and host a 2 day training session.
- The NPIA quote for the APACE seminar was on a similar level to WarwickUniversity.
- A suggestion was made to offer APACE‘consultancy’ as an alternative / compliment to authority secondment.
AGREED:
- APACE recognise and appreciate the NPIA’s desire to work with the Associatione.g.post inspection. Members believed the benchmarking survey identified potential support areas.
- Options for web site hosting to be pursued with NPIA, IDeA and APA. Report options back to next meeting for agreement.
- Follow up APACE consultancy suggestion with NPIA.
- ‘Capability Support’ implies an authority is struggling therefore needs a name change.
- Chief Officer Appointments training to be pursued.
10.Removal of Police Authority Members
The Chair provided an oral report on a situation in her Authority when the Authority had given consideration to its powers to remove a member. This followed the prosecution of a member for drink driving. Members noted that:
- the Standards Board Code of Conduct will be changing so that conduct in private lives will fall within the Code
- two authorities had put in place policies which would be circulated to members for information.
11. APA Update
Keith Mannings provided an update on changes at the APA. He covered the following:
- the APA was still engaged in the Policing and Crime Bill. They haddeveloped briefings for the Lords.
- Accountability would be an issue for the autumn White Paper
- those identified for the first tranche of authority inspections had now been given dates for their respective visits
- notification of an APA Policing Summit and NPIA Summit. TheAPA will inform which is relevant to officers/Members.
- A wish for more effective working between the APA and APACE.
- The APA will be monitoring all political party manifestos to see whether any more moves to change authority structures.
12. PATS Update
A meeting was held between APACE and PATS officers on 29 April 2009. The meeting covered:
- An agreement to work closely on areas of mutual interest e.g. authorityinspections, benchmarking.
- Agreement of a Memorandum of Understanding to be reviewed next year.
- Suggestion of a joint seminar agreed for October 2009 in WarwickUniversity, shared sessions on e.g. inspection, other common issues.
13. Chair’s Report
This was contained within the email sent by Doug Hayton on12 June 09.
14.Issues Raised by Chief Executives
None received.
15. LCJB information item
Deborah McGovern was thanked for the research onauthority involvement in Local Criminal Justice Boards. This had been shared with the APA Citizen Focus and Partnership Policy Network for their meeting that afternoon.
16. Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice consultation
Kevin Sharp agreed to prepare a draft response for circulation.Andy Champness and Dorothy Gregson to provide support.
AGREED:
- In future APACE will respond to consultations only where we can add perspective, otherwise the APA should lead on the corporate authority response.
- Honorary Officers to meet with APA after September AGM when the APA posts have been filled: review of division of responsibilities, refocus our expectations.
17. Police Authority Inspection consultation
Andrew White was thanked for drafting the APACE response. Thanks were also extended to those Chief Executives and officers who attended the 5 June 2009meeting to finalise this response.
18. Accountancy and Audit Regulations consultation
Deborah McGovern was thanked for volunteering to provide the first draft.APACE will liaise with PATS who are also responding.
19. Bar Council / Law Society Accreditation update
Thanks were given to Andy Champness for his work in progressing accreditation with the Bar Council. APACE is now accredited with the Bar Standards Board so CPD can be claimed for appropriate future APACE activities.Accreditation with The Law Society will be sought on the basis of the October seminar.
20. Home Office - PoliceReform Unit structure chart
Members noted the structure chart and that the role previously held by Richard Clarke had been split between two posts.
21. APA items
The Corporate Business Policy Network’s Officer Support Group and The Guidance on Managing Chief Officer Complaints were both noted.
22. Any Other Business
Members noted the recruitment timetable for the APA’s Executive Director post.
23. Dates of Future Meetings:
Wednesday and Thursday 7th and 8th October 2009, 2 day seminar WarwickUniversity,(N.B. the PATS seminar is 8/9 October 2009)CONFIRMED
Friday 11th December 2009 – BirminghamCONFIRMED
Wednesday 17th March 2010- LondonCONFIRMED
Tuesday 8th June 2010–AGM– Guildhall, LondonCONFIRMED
5th/6thOct 2 day 2010 – Subject to PATS event
Wednesday 15th Dec 2010 – BirminghamCONFIRMED
Tuesday 8th March 2011 - LondonCONFIRMED
Wednesday 8th June2011–AGM– Guildhall, LondonCONFIRMED
4th/5th Oct 2011–Subject to PATS event
Tuesday 13th Dec 2011 –BirminghamCONFIRMED
Present:
Jacky Courtney (Chair)West MidlandsPoliceAuthority
Alan WallisStaffordshire Police Authority
Chris JacksonSuffolk Police Authority
Andy ChampnessGloucestershire Police Authority
Kevin SharpHumberside Police Authority
Lesley DaviesDurham Police Authority
Paul ThomasThamesValley Police Authority
Alison BoltonSurrey Police Authority
Sue HowlWarwickshire Police Authority
Neil GulliverWarwickshire Police Authority
John GodfreySussex Police Authority
Miranda Carruthers WattsLancashire Police Authority
Fraser SampsonWest Yorkshire Police Authority
Adrian DonaldsonNorthern Ireland Police Authority
Richard Hemmings BTP Police Authority
Shelley BossonGwent Police Authority
Alan FrySouth Wales Police Authority
Dorothy GregsonCambridgeshire Police Authority
Catherine Crawford Metropolitan Police Authority
Mark GilmartinKent Police Authority
Richard MartinDevon and Cornwall Police Authority
Erika RedfearnSouth YorkshirePoliceAuthority
Simon BateDerbyshire Police Authority
John SmithAvon and Somerset Police Authority
Martin GoscombDorsetPolice Authority
Also in attendance:
Keith ManningsAPA
Mark SayerAPACE
Luc GuillouWorkplace Student with Sussex PA
Apologies:
Doug HaytonAPACE
Robin PaddockEssex Police Authority
Kieran KilgallenWiltshire Police Authority
Helen BoffyDerbyshire Police Authority
Ian PayneWest Mercia Police Authority
Stephanie McMenamyBedfordshire Police Authority
Chris HardingNorfolk Police Authority
John SmithAvon and Somerset Police Authority
Martin GoscombDorset Police Authority
Deborah McGovernLincolnshire Police Authority
Jeremy HoldernessNorth Yorkshire Police Authority
Siobhan WeightmanDurham Police Authority
Sue MartinSurrey Police Authority
Andrew WhiteHertfordshire Police Authority
Tony ReaganCivil Nuclear Police Authority
Kelvin DentNorth Wales Police Authority
Roger KellyNorthumbria Police Authority
Bill WilkinsonSouth YorkshirePolice Authority
David RiddleAPACE
Carolyn Mc ConnellMerseyside Police Authority
Chris HardingNorfolk Police Authority
Clare ChadwickCity of LondonPoliceAuthority
Robert SwinfieldLeicesterPoliceAuthority
Jim BoothThamesValley Police Authority
1