Purpose: To introduce the new Police & Crime Plan for 2025-2029 and new Fire & Rescue Plan for 2025-2029 , and to hear her views on crime, ASB and the services commissioned to provide support to victims etc. The links to view both Plans are below:
Police and Crime Plan – see: https://www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/police-crime-plan/
Fire and Rescue Plan – see: Fire oversight - York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority – Policing, Fire and Crime Team
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Jo Coles - Deputy Mayor for York & North Yorkshire to the meeting and drew attention to the new Police & Crime Plan and new Fire & Rescue Plan, both of which had been recently published and circulated to the Committee ahead of the meeting.
Members took the opportunity to question the Deputy Mayor on a range of related issues which included:
· Where the additional PCSOs and police officers would be located;
· The powers given to PCSOs;
· Cross-border crime
· The use of mobile speed cameras in the county, as opposed to fixed cameras;
· The future of rural fire stations across the county
In response to Members’ questions, the Deputy Mayor confirmed the following:
· Following a review of neighbourhood policing and as a result of receiving additional funding from central government there would be an increase in Police Officer and PCSO numbers as of September 2025 as follows:
Ø In Scarborough & Ryedale - from 23 PC and 24 PCSO, to 28 PC and 29.68 PCSO
Ø In County – from 32 PC and 40 PCSO, to 47 PC and 52 PCSO
Ø In York and Selby – from 25 PC and 31 PCSO, to 37 PC and 40 PCSO
· There were a small number of public safety officers undertaking a tri-service role - the Deputy Mayor confirmed she was keen to see their number grow. These were not included in the numbers above.
· There would be a named sergeant for each district and contacts details for PCs and PCSOs would be made available online.
· Currently the aim of the PCSO role was to increase community confidence in policing, with enforcement powers sitting mainly with PCs. The Crime & Policing Bill would deliver more powers to the PCSO role e.g. dispersal powers.
· Cross border criminality continued to be an ongoing challenge, from ad-hoc crime to organised criminal gangs – The Deputy Mayor provided an overview of detection rates and methods for identifying intelligence quickly. She also highlighted the work of the rural taskforce.
· Retail crime rates were moving in the right direction – The Deputy Mayor confirmed the impact on businesses was understood and recognised a problem nationally with huge under reporting. It was confirmed that business owners had been consulted when drafting the Police & Crime Plan and their concerns had been reflected within. Processes had also been streamlined to encourage businesses to report crime and support the Police in data gathering.
· There were no fixed average speed cameras in situ across the county, only mobile units – The Deputy Mayor highlighted a number of targeted campaigns and confirmed a review had been carried out last year by road safety partners, to evaluate the current approach, including carrying out an economic feasibility of other options. Members noted the planned ‘Safe Streets’ month in July, involving working with the Local Authority’s Road Safety Partnership and local communities.
· On-call fire fighters received the same training as full-time fire fighters.
· The budget for the Fire Service remained challenging with a £20m gap in the budget and there were ongoing recruitment presses – The Deputy Mayor confirmed she continued to make representation to central Government. She also highlighted the different challenges in rural and urban parts of the county, not least the significant climate-related challenges.
· The estate used by the three emergency services was currently highly inefficient and needed upgrading to a more sustainable and safe estate with better working conditions for staff.
Councillor Andrew Williams noted there was a reference to ‘violence against the person(female)’ in the Police & Crime Plan, but no reference to ‘violence against the person(male) and went on to highlight that 30% of domestic violence was against men. In response it was confirmed there was a specific commitment with the Police & Crime Plan to reduce violence against women and girls, with appropriate services being commissioned
In regard to youth engagement opportunities, the Deputy Mayor confirmed the aim was to double the provision with a focus was on early intervention and prevention work, with any leftover funding for other initiates being used to bolster delivery.
The Deputy Mayor drew attention to her regular online public Neighbourhood Policing meetings and encouraged Councillors to submit questions. She confirmed that the issues raised and the responses given were all publicly available on the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority website see: Online Public Meeting – York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority – Policing, Fire and Crime Team. She noted that the issue of ‘999’ and ‘101’ response time were often reported at her online public meetings. She also encouraged the use of Crimestoppers as an alternative to ‘101’, suggesting it was quicker and anonymous.
Overall, Members were pleased with both Plans but suggested the inclusion of more specific performance indicators/measures would be helpful.
The Chair thanked the Deputy Mayor for attending the meeting, and it was
Resolved – That the new Police & Crime Plan and new Fire & Rescue Plan be noted