Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

There were no apologies. The Democratic Services Officer said that two Members of the Committee had indicated by email that they would be joining the meeting after it had commenced.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2020.

It was moved by Councillor Goldspink and seconded by Councillor Devonshire that the minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2020 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, this motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2020 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman said that the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 came into force on Saturday 4 April 2020 to enable councils to hold remote committee meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic period. This was to ensure local authorities could conduct business during this current public health emergency.  This meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee was being held remotely under these regulations, via the Zoom application and was being recorded and live streamed on YouTube.

To receive any Members’ Declarations of Interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Hertfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner set out a contextual picture for the presentation to be given by Deputy Chief Inspector Stuart Orton. He said that there had been significant reductions in crime during lockdown and Police Officers were working hard to prevent people being victims of crime. He expressed a hope that the uplift in police numbers would support this ongoing work.

Deputy Chief Inspector Orton said that the presentation covered findings from data that covered March to October 2020 in respect of knife crime, which had been increasing but from a very low base number of incidents. He referred to mapped county line in the Hertford area and an unmapped line based in Bishop’s Stortford.

Members were advised about the intelligence picture regarding cuckooing and violence in Easts Herts. Deputy Chief Inspector Orton said that levels of knife crime had been increasing across the East Herts Community Safety Partnership since May, after a decrease which had coincided with the restrictions in movement linked to the COVID-19 lockdown that had been imposed in March.

Members were given an overview of CLICM (County Lines Intelligence Collection Matrix) and an assessment of the threats and findings. Deputy Chief Inspector Orton said that identified county lines in Hertfordshire were shown as being based in North and East London.

The Committee was presented with an analysis of cuckooing in East Herts by Deputy Chief Inspector Orton, in the form of a graph and other data that showed numbers and locations of recent cuckooing incidents and details of where this activity had been disrupted by police.

The presentation concluded with an analysis of knife crime in East Herts, broken down by offence type, which included aggravated burglary, assault, possession of an offensive weapon, robbery, serious assault (GBH) and threats to kill. Members were provided with graphs that presented data regarding knife crime in the context of the age of suspects and victims respectively from March to October 2020.

Following the presentation, Members asked a number of questions of the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Deputy Chief Inspector from Hertfordshire Constabulary. After these questions had been answered, Members received the presentation. The Chairman thanked the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Deputy Chief Inspector for presenting to the Committee.

RESOLVED – that the presentation be received.

The Democratic Services Officer read out a statement on behalf of the Scrutiny Officer in respect of the usual consolidated work programme, which summarised both the work of Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance Committees.

Members were advised that there would be a joint meeting of Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance Committees on 12 January 2021 to consider the Budget for 2021/22 Budget and the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2021-24. Following consideration of the Parking recommendations by the Executive on 24 November 2020, a report would be presented in February 2021 and it was also anticipated that the Annual Scrutiny Report would be presented to Members.

The Democratic Services Officers said that there had been a Scrutiny Workshop presented by Ian Parry from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) on 3 December 2020 and this had provided Members with an opportunity to consider the final report and to ask questions.

Members were reminded that three monthly meetings were held with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of both Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance Committee to consider the Work Programmes of both Committees in the context of the Forward Plan.

It was moved by Councillor Goldspink and seconded by Councillor Symonds that the draft consolidated Work Programme be approved. After being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED. The Chairman said that Members could always email Officers with suggestions for the work programme.

RESOLVED – that the draft consolidated work programme be approved.

To consider such other business as, in the opinion of the Chairman of the meeting, is of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration and is not likely to involve the disclosure of exempt information.

There was no urgent business.