10-1 MINUTES of MEETING of the SHADOW MIDLOTHIAN POLICE

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MINUTES of MEETING of the SHADOW MIDLOTHIAN POLICE AND FIRE &

RESCUE BOARD held in the Council Chambers, Midlothian House, Buccleuch

Street, Dalkeith Tuesday 4 December 2012 at 10.00 am.

Present:-

Midlothian Council: Councillors Thompson (Chair), Baxter, de Vink and Wallace;

Lothian and Borders Police: Chief Inspector J Royan;

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue: Mr D Lockhart, Local Senior Fire Officer;

NHS Lothian: Mr D Small;

Army: Colonel P Bates;

Midlothian Voluntary Action: Mr G Wilson.

Apology for Absence:- Mr R Strachan (Lothian and Borders Community Justice Authority).

1 Welcome

The Chair welcomed all present to the inaugural meeting of the Shadow Board .

2 Order of Business

The Shadow Board noted that agenda items Nos. 6 (Quarter 2 Police Performance Report) and 7 (Police Reform Update) would now be verbal reports.

3 Declarations of Interest

There were no declarations of interest.

4 Governance and Membership

There was submitted report dated 24 November 2012 by the Acting Director, Communities and Wellbeing, detailing the governance and terms of reference of the Shadow Police and Fire & Rescue Board and details of membership. The report highlighted that to date there had not been any nomination in respect of the place allocated to the Business/Education Sector.

Decision/

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Decision

(a) To recommend to the Council that the Terms of Reference be amended to simply allow five representatives from the Community Planning Partnership on the Board; and

(b) To otherwise note the report.

(Action: Head of Housing and Community Safety/ Legal and Secretariat Manager)

5 Midlothian Local Policing Plan 2012/13

There was submitted a draft of the local Policing Plan for Midlothian 2012- 2013. The plan provided information on each of its elements including Equality and Diversity; the National Context, including the adoption of the National Intelligence Model (NIM); Strategic Assessment; National Priorities; and Policing in Midlothian. The plan also advised that to achieve the outcomes specified in the Midlothian Community Safety Strategy, the local priorities would be:-

Child Protection; Adults at Risk of Harm, including Violence Against Women; Antisocial Behaviour; Reducing Re-offending Violent Crime; Serious and Organised Crime; and Alcohol and Drugs Misuse.

In amplification Chief Inspector Royan drew attention to the fact that the plan had taken into account the recommendations of the Christie Commission; the need to prioritise crime prevention; and the budgetary constraints under which the Police operated.

Decision

(a) To note the major contribution of the Police in reducing instances of antisocial behaviour;

(b) To note that violent crime accounted for 11% of all crime in Midlothian;

(d) To note that the appointment of a new Community Police Officer for Gorebridge was imminent;

(e) To note that an updated plan would be produced in April 2013; and

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(f) For its interest, to approve the draft Midlothian Local Policing Plan 2012/13.

6 Police Performance – Quarter 2- 2012/13

Chief Inspector Royan reported that it will not be possible to produce a Performance Report until a National Performance Regime had been established. He explained that the existing forces across Scotland used a number of differing regimes and until a common practice was determined it was not considered beneficial to produce this data. Thereafter,Chief Inspector Royan was questioned in respect of this issue.

Decision

(a) To note that Chief Inspector Royan would circulate existing data to Shadow Board Members on the understanding that there was a possibility that these would not correspond to the eventual performance criteria;

(b) To note that it was anticipated that a National Performance Framework would be established by April 2013; and

7 Police Reform

Chief Inspector Royan reported that :-

Chief Constable House had identified Chief Superintendent Jeanette McDiarmid as his preferred candidate for the role of Divisional Commander for the Lothians and Scottish Borders Area, (which excluded Edinburgh);

Each local authority area within the Division would be under the command of a Chief Inspector;

All Depute Chief Constables had now been appointed and Assistant Chief Constable appointments were scheduled to be made on 19 December 2012; and

The first meeting of the National Police Board had been held on 3 December 2012.

Decision

(a) To note the intention of Chief Superintendent McDiarmid to attend future meetings of the (Shadow) Board; 10-4

(b) To note that a suggestion to incorporate East Lothian local authority area within the City of Edinburgh Division had been rejected; and

(c) To note the willingness of the Police to enter into discussions with the Council in respect of sharing facilities such as depots and office space.

8 Local Fire and Rescue Plan 2012/13

There was submitted report dated 21 November 2012 by the Local Senior Officer for Midlothian and East Lothian, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) in respect of the Local Fire and Rescue Plan for Midlothian for 2012/13. The Plan (a) detailed the priorities and objectives for the FRS in connection with the undertaking of FRS functions in the Midlothian area; (b) gave the reasons for selecting each of those priorities and objectives; (c) explained how the FRS proposed to deliver those priorities and objectives, (d) advised that, in so far as was reasonably practicable, outcomes in respect of priorities and objectives would be measured; (e) explained how the priorities and objectives were expected to contribute to the delivery of any other relevant local outcomes which were identified via the community planning process; and (f) allowed the FRS to address any such other matters relating to the undertaking of FRS functions in the Midlothian area as the FRS thought fit.

Decision

(a) To note the societal costs associated with accidental dwelling fires; fire fatalities; non-fatal fire casualties; deliberate secondary fires; and unwanted fire signals;

(b) To note the FRS Key priorities for Midlothian; and

9 Fire and Rescue Service: Quarter 2 2012 – 13 Performance Report

There was submitted report, dated 21 November 2012, by the Local Senior Officer for Midlothian and East Lothian, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) in respect of performance against the Local Fire and Rescue Plan for 2012-13. The report highlighted that during this reporting period:-

There had been 17 Accidental Dwelling fires during this reporting period, an increase of three compared to the same period in 2011-12;

There had been zero fire fatalities and two fire casualties from Accidental Dwelling Fires ;

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The FRS had attended 13 Road Traffic Collisions, an increase of 5 compared to the same period in 2011-12;

There had been 29 Deliberate Secondary fires during this reporting period, a decrease of 44 compared to the same period in 2011-12; and

The FRS had attended 22 Special Service incidents, an increase of 14 compared to the same period in 2011-12.

Decision

(a) To note that the majority of house fires were as a result of cooking; smoking or faulty electrical appliances;

(b) To note the close collaboration between FRS and the Council’s Trading Standards Unit and the Electrical Safety Council;

(d) To note that the FRS would welcome a visit from Elected Members to local facilities;

(e) To note that both the FRS and the Police would look positively at any opportunity for co-location with Council services; and

(f) To otherwise note the report.

10 Fire Service Reform

There was submitted report dated 21 November 2012 by the Local Senior Officer for Midlothian and East Lothian, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) in respect of the reform of the eight fire and rescue services in Scotland to the national Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). The report advised that:-

Councillor Pat Watters has been appointed as the SFRS Chair for four years along with all Board members;

Chief Officer Alasdair Hay would be supported by eight principal officers who together would form a Strategic Leadership Team:

Alex Clark, had taken up post as Deputy Chief Officer, providing strategic support to the Chief Officer as well as assuming responsibility for the day to day performance of the Service and leading on a number of assigned functions; and

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Appointments had been made to the posts of Director of People and Organisational Development and Director of Finance and Contractual Services.

The report also advised that the Chief Officer had determined his “Day One deliverables” and these were specified in the report.

In amplification of the report Mr Lockhart advised that local Senior Officer Management arrangements would be finalised by the SFRS Board at a meeting in mid-December 2012; the local authority areas of Midlothian; East Lothian ; and Scottish Borders would be under the control of a single Commander; and across Scotland the Fire and Rescue budget had been reduced by £19.2m.

Decision

(a) To invite a member/s of the SFRS Board/SLT to a future meeting of the Board;

(b) To extend a similar invitation to the Board of the Scottish Police Authority; and

11 Enhancing Community Safety and Wellbeing

There was submitted report dated 21 November 2012 by the Local Senior Officer for Midlothian and East Lothian, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) advising that the introduction and deployment of Local Senior Officer pilot arrangements in Midlothian were at an advanced stage and that as part of these pilot arrangements, an analysis had been undertaken to identify how the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) could assist in enhancing Community Safety and Wellbeing within Midlothian. The analysis had resulted in :-

Fire appliances at both Dalkeith and Penicuik were now equipped with automatic external defibrillators (AED);

In respect of Flood Prevention and Response, work was underway with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to identify where the FRS could assist in targeting households within Midlothian that had been identified as being at a higher risk of being flooded, for the purposes of delivering flood prevention information and advice. In addition, the purchase additional submersible pumps for fire appliances was under consideration which would give the FRS a greater ability to assist residents following a serious flood event; and

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In respect of support to Community First Responders involving the use of fire stations to support the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) First Responder Schemes, discussions were ongoing with SAS to provide fire stations as a venue for first responder training and storage of equipment.

Decision

To welcome the initiatives and to note the report.

Sederunt

Mr D Small left the meeting during discussion of the foregoing item of business (11.30 am)

12 Community Safety Partnership Structure

There was submitted report, dated 12 November 2012, by the Director, Communities and Wellbeing, recommending amendments to the existing Community Safety Partnership Structure as a result of the change in operational and strategic management. The report explained that recent changes within the Community Safety Partnership had presented an opportunity for a review of the current structure. These changes included: the introduction of (i) the new Police and Fire and Rescue Shadow Board ;(ii) weekly ‘Tactical’ meetings; and (iii) the development of the Community Safety Delivery Group (since December 2011).

The report proposed that to minimise duplication and unnecessary attendance at meetings that the new Police and Fire & Rescue Board become a ‘Safer Communities Board’ from April 2013 which would assume the remit of the Police and Fire & Rescue Board along with the of current Community Safety Partnership strategy remit, with the operational elements of the Safety Partnership’s remit directed to the monthly Delivery Group, with the current Community Safety Partnership consequently being disbanded. The report therefore detailed the proposed remit and functions of the Safer Communities Board; the Delivery Group; and the weekly tactical meetings.

Decision

(a) To support the proposed structural changes;

(b) To refer the proposals to Midlothian Community Safety Partnership and appropriate Community Planning Groups (CPWG, CPSC) for their consideration; and

(Action: Head of Housing and Community Safety)

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13 Next Meeting

The Shadow Board remitted to the Chair, in consultation with the Director, Corporate Resources, to fix the date and time of the next meeting.

The meeting terminated at 11.40 am.

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