Minutes of meeting (3)
Renfrewshire Council · 16 August 2022
Back to Communities and Housing Policy Board — 16 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Minute of Meeting Police and Fire & Rescue Scrutiny Sub-Committee Date Time Venue Tuesday, 07 June 2022 15:00 Council Chambers (Renfrewshire), Council Headquarters, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley, PA1 1AN PRESENT Councillors J Hood, R Innes, M MacLaren, M McGurk and I McMillan. CHAIR Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided. IN ATTENDANCE O Reid, Head of Communities & Public Protection and C Dalrymple, Communities & Regulatory Manager (both Communities & Housing Services); R Devine, Senior Committee Services Officer; K O’Neill, Assistant Democratic Services Officer and D Pole, End User Technician (all Finance & Resources). ALSO IN ATTENDANCE D Duncan, Divisional Commander; R Fraser, Chief Inspector and B Anderson, Chief Inspector (all Police Scotland); D McCarrey, Area Commander and M Hill, Group Manager, (both Scottish Fire & Rescue Service). RECORDING OF MEETING Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this meeting of the Sub-committee would be webcast via the Council’s website. Thereafter the Clerk undertook a roll call of members in attendance at the meeting, indicating those in the Council Chamber and those participating remotely. APOLOGIES No apologies were intimated. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
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1 POLICE SCOTLAND PERFORMANCE REPORT There was submitted a report by the Chief Superintendent, Police Scotland, relative to service performance and activities in the Renfrewshire area during the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The report summarised the key performance indicators and provided statistics relating to the specific key objectives detailed in Police Scotland’s Policing Priorities 2021-22, comparisons were made against the previous five-year average. The volume of recorded crime and offences had fallen by 11% on the five-year average. The report provided, in an infographics format, local updates in relation to Renfrewshire Policing Priorities 2018- 22 of drug dealing and drug misuse; violence & antisocial behaviour; dishonesty and road safety. A continued focus and proactivity drug supply and misuse had contributed to an increase of 14% in the number of detected drug supply offences, compared to the previous five-year average. In the reporting period, 143 crimes had been reported to the Crown. Overall violent crime had fallen by 3.5% on the previous five-year average and had risen by 8.2% against the previous year when COVID -19 restrictions would have limited opportunities for interpersonal violence to occur. Housebreaking crime continued to follow a declining trend and had fallen by 34.3% against the previous five-year average to a total of 239 crimes. Fraud was one of the few crimes of dishonesty for which an increase had been recorded—with reported crimes rising 52% above the five-year average to a total of 441 crimes. Road injuries and deaths had increased by 23.5% on the previous year, to a total of 45 (three fatalities and 42 serious injuries). This was almost certainly linked to an increasing volume of traffic on Renfrewshire’s road network following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. DECIDED: That the report be noted. 2 POLICE SCOTLAND SPOTLIGHT - MENTAL HEALTH PRACTITIONERS WITH COMMAND AND CONTROL (C3) B Anderson, Chief Inspector, provided information to the Sub-committee on the Modernised Contact and Engagement Programme for engagement with Mental Health Practitioners. He advised that the Mental Health Pathway was a collaborative project between National Health Service (NHS) 24, the Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland to deliver ‘the right care at the right time’, which enabled callers to be directed to receive the most appropriate support from Mental Health practitioners. The Chief Inspector advised that this Pathway was divided into two phases. Phase 1 was the collaborative arrangement to allow direct referral of calls to Police Scotland from someone in mental health crisis to NHS24, this had already existed for 3 years and worked very successfully. Phase 2 was the introduction of trained mental health nurses from NHS24 into Police Scotland Contact and Control Division (C3) to jointly
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deal with triage incidents involving mental health to assist in identifying the most appropriate support option. Five Mental Health Nurses now worked in this area, to determine whether their clinical experience and knowledge could offer better support. This service was provided in the west of Scotland and would be evaluated before being rolled out to the rest of Scotland. A number of benefits such as improved outcomes and earlier access to the right care for those in mental health crisis and reductions in the number of unnecessary Police and/or Scottish Ambulance deployments had already been identified. DECIDED: That the information provided be noted. 3 HM INSPECTORATE OF CONSTABULARY IN SCOTLAND (HMICS) SCRUTINY PLAN 2022-25 There was submitted a report by the Director of Communities & Housing Services relative to the publication of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Scotland (HMICS) Scrutiny Plan to deliver a planned inspection programme for 2022–25. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, (HMICS) had a statutory role to report on the state, effectiveness and efficiency of both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority. HMICS had first issued a consultation on their forward workplan 2014-17 in November 2013. Since then, each HMICS Annual Scrutiny Plan had included an appropriate focus on issues that were relevant and had been highlighted by the Council. The 3-year plan for 2022–25 would supersede the previous one and regular reviews would follow. Previously, HMICS had highlighted some of the areas they wished to focus on, however this year, as was the case in recent years, they did not provide a draft report but offered the opportunity for consultees to raise issues or concerns that they would like included in the inspection programme. From a Renfrewshire perspective, local relationships with Police Scotland and with the Scottish Police Authority were excellent and it was anticipated that the areas highlighted in the recently published Scrutiny Plan would further strengthen Police Scotland’s working and effectiveness across Scotland. The HMICS purpose, values, framework and approach were outlined as part of the Scrutiny Plan. Within the plan there were four types of review: Strategic Reviews, Collaborative Reviews, Thematic Reviews and Audit and Assurance Reviews. The reviews had several phases divided across the three-year programme and details of which reviews would be progressed in each year were provided. DECIDED: That the publication and content of the HMICS Scrutiny Plan 2022-25 be noted. 4 SCOTTISH FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE - QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT There was submitted a report, by the Local Senior Officer, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) relative to SFRS performance and local fire and rescue service plan priorities in the Renfrewshire area during period 1 January to 31 March 2022.
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The report provided updates in relation to Renfrewshire activity, accidental dwelling fires and casualties, unintentional injury and harm, deliberate fire setting, non-domestic fire safety and unwanted fire alarm signals. Non-fire casualties remained static from this period last year with a total of 17 casualties. Of the 17 casualties nine were as a result of Road Traffic Collisions (53%). Incidents involving Assisting Other Agencies accounted for 41% (seven incidents) of all the activity within this indicator. Tragically, two fatalities were recorded this period. The first incident was effecting entry for multi-agency partners, the second was a recovery operation from a river in Renfrewshire. The report identified a decrease of 9% (three incidents) in Accidental Dwelling Fires and detailed factors which contributed to these. An increase in deliberate fire setting of 3% (four) incidents was reported compared to Q4 last year. The report also provided information on Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals (UFAS) which had shown an increase of 40% (75 incidents) year on year, a breakdown of the number of incidents and where these occurred was also provided. DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted. 5 SCOTTISH FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE SPOTLIGHT ON 'THE DRAFT STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2022/2025 - CONSULTATION' The Sub-committee were advised that the Draft Scottish Fire and Rescue Strategic Plan (The Plan) 2022/2025 was now available for public consultation. The Plan identified the service mission as a confident, modern, efficient, outward looking, learning organisation, which would continue to evolve, adapt, grow and transition into whatever was required to secure the safety and wellbeing of communities. In addition to responding to more traditional emergencies, they would further strengthen the work to prevent fires and other accidents occurring. The service would continue to reflect the changing needs of different localities and communities across Scotland. The Plan identified that they work with partners to protect the most vulnerable members of society, help address inequalities within our communities; respond when people are in need and respond to the growing climate emergency. They would support the safety of Scottish businesses in order that they may continue to grow and deliver a sustainable and inclusive economy for Scotland. DECIDED: That the information provided on the consultation of the Draft Scottish Fire and Rescue Strategic Plan 2022/2025 be noted. 6 LOCAL ISSUES Councillor J Hood sought clarification from Police Scotland about a recent incident in the Johnstone area. The Chief Inspector was able to provide assurance that Police Scotland were treating this as an isolated incident and advised that essential work on the case was ongoing at the location but that the scene of crime would be cleared soon. Councillor R Innes sought assurance from Police Scotland that the level of policing in the Linwood area was sufficient. The Chief Inspector advised that the level was sufficient and if required more Police could be deployed if necessary at short notice.
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DECIDED: That the information provided be noted.