OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

MINUTES

NATIONAL AIR SERVICE (NPAS) NATIONAL STRATEGIC BOARD (MEETING NUMBER 34)

14 September 2020 – via Teams PRESENT NAME REPRESENTING PCC Mark Burns-Williamson OBE Police and Crime Commissioner for West (MBW) – Chair Yorkshire Police – Lead Local Policing Body CC John Robins QPM (JR) Chief Constable - Police Ch. Supt Scott Bisset (SB) NPAS Chief Operating Officer Katherine Johnson (KJ) Treasurer – West Yorkshire Office of Police and Crime Commissioner Glenn Shelley (GS) NPAS Head of Business Services Ollie Dismore (OD) NPAS Director of Operations Janine Nelson (JN) Solicitor, Legal Services, West Yorkshire Police James Cunningham (JCu) NPAS Head of Aviation Safety Jenny Walker (JW) NPAS Head of Communications & Marketing Mike James (MJa) on behalf of Finance Business Partner - West Yorkshire Ruth Langley Police Carys Morgans (CM) on behalf of Chief of Staff - Dyfed-Powys Police – South PCC Dafydd Llywelyn West Region CC Shaun Sawyer (SS) Chief Constable Devon & Cornwall Police – South West Region CC Rod Hansen (RH) Chief Constable NPCC Aviation Lead - Gloucestershire Police - South West Region Julian Kern (JK) Finance Lead - NPCC Aviation Programme Board T/ACC Jason Masters (JM) NPCC Aviation Programme Board Caroline Peters (CP) NPCC Aviation Programme Board Richard Brandon (RB) NPCC Aviation Programme Board

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 1 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

Acting PCC Steve White (SW) Acting Police and Crime Commissioner for Durham - North East Region CC Jo Farrell (JF) Chief Constable, Durham Police - North East Region Gary Ridley (GR) Durham Police – North East Region CC Darren Martland (DM) Cheshire Police – North West Region Robin Merrett (RM) Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) DAC Laurence Taylor (LT) Service – London Region & Chair of NPAS IAG/Programme Board PCC John Campion (JC) Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia – Central Region Louise Williams (LW) Regional Policy Officer – Central Region DCC Rob Nixon (RN) – Central Region Matthew Barber (MB) on behalf of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for PCC Anthony Stansfeld (AS) Thames Valley - South East Region ACC Dave Miller (DMi) – South East Region Iain Sutherland (IS) Staff Officer to ACC Dave Miller – Sussex Police – South East Region Julie Powell (JP) National Policing Capabilities Unit - Home Office Shakila Bukhari (SBu) Policing Directorate, Home Office – NPAS Policy Lead Daniela Pretelt Harries (DPH) Law Enforcement Transformation Unit Home Office Lianne Deeming (LD) Chief Executive Blue Light Commercial Simon Efford (SE) APCC Secretariat Melanie Jaundziekars (MJ) NPAS Executive Office Manager APOLOGIES NAME REPRESENTING Jayne Sykes Interim Chief Executive – Office of Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire Ruth Langley Finance & Commercial Services Director - West Yorkshire Police PCC Peter McCall Police and Crime Commissioner for Cumbria – North West Region PCC Anthony Stansfeld Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley - South East Region

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 2 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

The Chair, PCC Mark Burns-Williamson (MBW) opened the meeting and invited introductions from those joining the meeting via Teams. MBW apologised for the late submission of the papers due to the meeting being brought forward ahead of National Police Chiefs Council, which was required to enable a fuller understanding of the current position regarding decisions around NPAS. MBW advised that key decisions would need to be made at the October meeting following Chief Constables Council.

MBW advised that PCC Barry Coppinger (BC) had stood down as Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland and wanted to place on record his appreciation to Barry for being a long-standing member of NPAS and a valuable board member. MBW advised that Acting PCC Steve White (Durham) had agreed to represent the North East region until the elections in May 2021.

Action 34.1 - MBW is to write formally to BC to thank him for his contribution to the NPAS board.

1. APOLOGIES

Noted and recorded.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No interests were declared.

3. MINUTES OF MEETING HELD 25 JUNE 2020

Minutes were agreed.

4. ACTIONS

All actions were discharged – please see Action list.

5. NPCC AVIATION REVIEW UPDATE

CC Rod Hansen (RH) advised the NPCC Aviation Review team were working on a paper for Chief Constables Council on 23 September which will be shared with board members once finalised.

T/ACC Jason Masters (JM) gave a presentation around assurances for national air support being delivered through a commercial partner and the principles and practice of direct cost charging to regions.

BVLOS Drones – JM advised the Review Team had submitted a bid that does not conflict with or undermine the separate bid for ten new helicopters. JM OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 3 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

stated that beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drones are specifically targeted at areas of the country that currently receive a very slow service due to distance from a base (Norfolk & Suffolk, Devon & Cornwall, West & Mid , North Lincolnshire and South Humberside). The total bid equates to just over £16m and includes a pair of drones into each of those respective regions. JM advised that by December 2020 there should be an indication as to whether the bid is successful. This particular bid is subject to procurement and the first pair of drones should see operational usage towards the end of 2021.

MBW advised this would require wider communication to the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).

CC John Robins (JR) apologised to board members as they had not been sighted on this as the bid had been submitted due to tight timescales and operationally was supportive of the bid for £16m as part of the medium sized drones programme.

CC Jo Farrell (JF) asked if there was any scope for the North East region to be involved and would welcome the opportunity.

Janine Nelson (JN) advised that should the bid be successful, an amendment would be required to Schedule 12 within the S22 Agreement which can be approved by the board. Julie Powell (JP) stated if the bid were successful, the Home Office would require robust evidence to ensure that NPAS have the priorities right and to agree a plan of action.

Service Optimisation

Ch/Supt Scott Bisset (SB) advised that NPAS and the Aviation Review Team had been engaging with chief officer leads and the OPCC from each of the regions to develop a draft user requirement. SB advised that it is critical that NPAS are able to demonstrate their ability to meet the new user requirement or not. If the user requirement were to be implemented on 1 January 2021, NPAS would need to see an immediate increase of around four helicopters to deliver the user requirement. NPAS continue to work with the regions to provide independent analysis around what has been done and a report will be brought back to a future board.

NPAS Efficiencies

SB advised members that NPAS have been conducting an internal programme of change since summer 2019 to identify efficiencies within NPAS to reduce either the burden on forces through savings, or requirements on the fleet that OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 4 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED can be reinvested into some form of partial fleet replacement. The business case for the National Operations Centre has been agreed and will be implemented in the new year. NPAS have looked at the HQ structure and there are options for savings to be made which will be reported in more detail at a future board meeting.

NPAS have given some early thoughts around the fixed wing aircraft and have conducted some due diligence work with the market to ascertain what the capital receipt of those aircraft would be along with revenue savings. The savings could be utilised if board members decide to commission a new fleet to compliment the Home Office spending review bid for the replacement of ten new helicopters.

PCC John Campion (JC) asked whether there is to be an independent review around the capability of the fixed wing to inform some of the decision making to withdraw from the fixed wing capability. SB advised NPAS had commissioned Cranfield University to conduct an independent review and hoped to have the report by early October. NPAS have requested that the report is ready for the next board meeting on 19 October to provide reassurance that every opportunity has been explored before a decision is made to dispose of the aeroplanes.

Action 34.2 – SB to circulate a copy of the letter from Cranfield University to Board members.

Robin Merrett (RM) raised concern around moving away from fixed wing and highlighted that care needs to be taken as to how it is handled as this could cause issues in the future.

Update from Bluelight Commercial

Lianne Deeming (LD) summarised the work that had been completed to date which has focussed heavily on market capacity and capability, potential routes to market and the financial fragility within the market.

LD advised there are four players within the market who would be capable and would want to look at this but would need to look at whether in a stable position to go to market.

Routes to market – the one being recommended is a competitive 10yr contractual model and further work is required to be able to describe the service requirements over the 10-year period and whether we need any break clauses. Further thought needs to be given about appropriate governance and any changes to the S22 Agreement and who is responsible for decision-making.

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 5 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

Conclusions Further work still needs to be done to make a strategic outline case which needs to be in place along with due diligence requirements. LD advised Bluelight Commercial intend to undertake the work by December and have already started working on the market analysis for the fleet replacement and on the leasing.

Laurence Taylor (LT) stated the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) are not advocating that the commercial model is the only model and are not saying it cannot be done by NPAS. The MPS wish to explore both options to see which one is preferable in terms of a long-term sustainable solution to national aviation with a particular focus on London. LT stated the MPS do believe the commercial option has viability; however, the MPS commercial team do not wholly agree with the paper and are liaising with LD.

JP emphasised the importance of the Bluelight Commercial work and that it has full support from the Home Office to get it right, do it professionally and independently and to come up with a proposition that can be considered amongst the other options.

Update on the funding model

Gary Ridley (GR) updated members around the work ongoing to look at a direct charging model due to an increased desire to have more transparency and stability within the current charging model. GR advised the model looks to allocate costs to regions primarily on the number of bases they have within a region. Work is ongoing under the revised user requirement as to what the costs would look like at a regional level and there will be some regions who will be asked to pay more than other regions. GR stated the work is dependant on the new user requirement and any discussions between regions that may take place along with the future of fixed wing.

JR and MBW thanked GR for the work to date and looked forward to seeing the options being put forward.

JR raised that the content in the written paper differed from the information on the powerpoint and asked for clarity around the strategic changes to NPAS governance and leadership. RH stated the paper was still being refined and will ensure that the recommendation is adjusted before submitting to MBW and JR.

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 6 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

JR requested that the narrative be removed regarding running an airline as NPAS are providing a police air service. James Cunningham (JCu) stated whether it is an internal option or a commercial option it will be run with a Police Air Operating Certificate (PAOC) which is what NPAS are doing and is not an airline and the CAA are very clear it is a different thing. MBW requested that this be picked up within the wording terminology to ensure this is clear.

Action 34.3 – JM to amend the paper prior to submission to reflect the comments regarding running an airline.

MBW advised members that the transition to a combined authority within West Yorkshire is in progress and will need to start and involve personnel from the combined authority in order to transition so they are fully sighted on the issues around the potential transfer of assets.

JP stated there were no insurmountable reasons why devolution cannot transition NPAS into a Mayor’s responsibility. The Home Office are aware of concerns about Mayors taking on lead force and national responsibilities and that is being looked at as part of the Police and Crime Commissioner review. Stage 1 is ongoing and Stage 2 is planned for 2021.

6. UPDATE FROM THE HOME OFFICE

Fleet Replacement final business case

Shakila Bukhari (SBu) provided members with an update on the strategic outline business case to support the bid for the purchase of ten replacement helicopters. SBu advised Home Office colleagues along with NPAS are due to meet shortly to sign off and finalise the business case from a projects perspective and will provide an update at the next NPAS board in October. The bid will be considered by the Treasury and hope to get a view from them as quickly as possible.

SBu stated it was important that there is a longer-term strategy for fleet replacement to avoid being in a similar position in the future.

The points raised regarding drones had been noted and SBu emphasised the importance of the drone bid being signed off by the Board so that when the Grant Agreement is in place members are sighted on what that might mean. Should the CSR bid be successful, attached to that will be a Grant Agreement and the Home Office will be working closely with NPAS to draft what the terms of that will be and will want to share views on how the funding for fleet replacement is to be spent.

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 7 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

SBu thanked the Welsh forces who had supported the BVLOS live trials in West Wales and Dyfed-Powys.

SBu advised Home Office colleagues had been working closely with NPCC colleagues on the aviation review work and stated from a Home Office perspective evidence is crucial and critical. The Home Office will want to know what the data is showing and what information is being put before Chief Constables and will want to consider all of those views.

JP reported that we were collectively capitalising on CSR opportunities to put forward a fleet replacement bid. JP acknowledged that the commercial model is not ruled out alongside fleet replacement as Bluelight Commercial have not concluded their work. JP stated the bid for fleet replacement requires the support of policing and if there were concerns at a senior level that might undermine the bid these needed to be raised. The bid requires a stable and national collaboration going forward and these are the two requisites that are crucial for success of the fleet replacement bid.

JP advised the Home Office place a huge amount of importance in the work of Bluelight Commercial and would want the paper due to be submitted to Chief Constables Council to be accurate and had not seen the paper at the time of the meeting.

Action 34.4 – JM to submit a copy of the draft report to JP before submitting to Chief Constables Council.

RH advised there appeared to be an opinion that the aviation programme is set on the commercial model and an assumption that the work is not evidence based. The programme are exploring what might happen as an alternative should the bid be unsuccessful and RH asked if the Home Office wanted the review team to continue presenting this as an option. RH stated that if an alternative model such as partnering with a commercial provider indicates that it is better value for money, then it is the aviation programme’s responsibility to look at that and have a sensible conversation to put forward as an alternative or not.

JP advised that the work that is being undertaken by Bluelight Commercial has not yet concluded so it might be difficult to draw conclusions at this point. JP advised it would be helpful to see the paper for Chief Constables Council if possible and stated she did not feel that any of the messaging is in conflict at present given the commercial work that is ongoing and does not think it undermines the bid at present.

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 8 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

JR advised the board were very clear that a capital bid be submitted for fleet replacement for 10 aircraft within this CSR and was what the lead force is asking for.

7. NPAS NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

SB presented the report and highlighted issues with the NPAS fleet. This has been assisted by pairing bases across the country, which ensures that the regions are not left without any cover.

NPAS have recently offered 13 contracts to new experienced pilots and hope to have all 13 on boarded by the end of October. A number of pilots will be located at the base at North Weald.

SB advised that individual base availability would be 96% across most of the country in the new user requirement and 100% on the first line that services London from Lippitts Hill should a decision be made to return there.

Availability has improved significantly from October 2019 due to on boarded pilots and the new MRO contract. Tasks attended have increased as the aircraft are available more and declined calls as a proportion of the total requests received are falling. SB advised that a formal internal team performance methodology came into place at the end of 2019 to focus on the timeliness of crews deploying from receiving a call.

Board members noted the update provided and thanked SB for the improvements highlighted above.

8. NPAS REVENUE OUTTURN POSITION

Mike James (MJa) presented the revenue monitoring report which shows an underspend of £328k with an early forecast outturn underspend of £364k.

MJa advised this was the first NPAS finance report of the year and has been produced as NPAS and other forces operate under COVID restrictions. This has resulted in some collaborate forces being slow in invoicing for officer secondments. NPAS are generating underspends through aviation fuel costs but are flying more hours than anticipated which may affect the power by hour costs.

MJa advised a full half year forecast and a revised outturn position would be presented at a future board.

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 9 of 10

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL Recipients Only

RESTRICTED

Resolved: Members noted the financial position and the forecast outturn position for the financial year 2020-21.

9. CAPITAL PROGRAMME UPDATE

Glenn Shelley (GS) presented the Capital plans for 20/21 which sets out the bid for funding as part of the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR)

Resolved: Members noted the capital programme update for 20/21 and endorsed the capital submission for the forthcoming CSR period.

10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

No AOB was raised

Date and time of next meeting: 19 October 2020 - 13:00 – 16:00

OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE OPERATIONAL

Page 10 of 10