Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided. 

S MacDougall, Director of Environment & Communities; O Reid, Head of Public Protection; and C Dalrymple, Regulatory & Enforcement Manager (all Environment & Communities); and R Devine, Senior Committee Services Officer and K O’Neill, Assistance Democratic Services Officer (both Finance & Resources).

Superintendents R Horan and S Wright; N Alder, Planning Performance Officer and D Middleton, Analyst Co-ordinator (all Police Scotland); and G Binning, Local Senior Officer and M Gallacher, Group Manager (both Scottish Fire and Rescue Service).

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Superintendent, Police Scotland, relative to service performance and activities in the Renfrewshire area.

The report summarised the key performance indicators and the appendix to the report provided statistics for the period April to December 2017, relating to the specific key objectives detailed in the Renfrewshire Local Policing Plan 2014/17, together with comparative data for 2016.  The report also provided local updates in relation to the Police Scotland priorities of violence, disorder and anti-social behaviour; serious and organised crime; counter terrorism and domestic extremism; protecting people at risk of harm; road policing; and acquisitive crime. The report reaffirmed Police Scotland’s commitment to work with Community Planning partners in all sectors to keep the people of Scotland and its communities safe and that partnership working was a critical element of the strategy.
  
DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Local Senior Officer, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) relative to SFRS performance and activities in the Renfrewshire area during the period December 2017 to January 2018.  Following his appointment the new Local Senior Officer intimated he would take the opportunity to review processes and procedures.

The report highlighted improvements across a range of performance indicators and identified areas where further interventions were required. Over the period there had been an increase in the number of accidental dwelling fires from 23 in the same period in 2016/17 to 33 in the current reporting period; the total number of all non-fatal fire casualties had increased from 5 to 6; the total number of incidents involving deliberate fire raising had remained the same at 11 during both periods; the total number of fires in non-domestic premises had decreased from 19 to 6 in the current reporting period; the number of unwanted fire alarm signal incidents had increased from 202 to 260; the total number of non-fatal road traffic collisions attended by the Service had decreased from 15 to 3. The appendix to the report provided an analysis of performance and activities.  It was noted that a consultation exercise was currently being undertaken on the safe and planned future of the SFRS.

The report also detailed a number of priorities and interventions, specifically highlighting the Local Area Liaison Officer’s attendance at the daily tasking meeting within Renfrewshire Safety Hub; the Community Action Team (CAT) engagement with a number of key partners to promote fire safety in preparation for this year’s Safe Kids event; a number of information/awareness events that had been conducted by the CAT to support the work of the SFRS Winter Thematic Action Plan which included talks on deliberate fires and the number of Home Fire Safety Visits (HFSV) carried out in Renfrewshire during the reporting period.  It was proposed that arrangements be made to provide further analysis of the 123 high risk HFSVs undertaken to identify whether those involved were familiar to the Council and/or its partners. This was agreed.

 

 

 

DECIDED: 

(a) That the report be noted; and

(b) That further analysis of the 123 high risk HFSVs undertaken be provided.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment & Communities relative to consultation on HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) Scrutiny Plan 2018-19.

The report advised that HMICS had undertaken strategic engagement with Police Scotland, Force Executive and Divisional Commander between November 2017 and January 2018 which allowed them to maintain a good understanding of current issues which affected policing and to ensure that their future scrutiny activity focused on the right issues in the right areas.

To support the process, HMICS had sought the views of key stakeholders, including local councils to ascertain whether there were any topical, high risk or emerging areas in policing that should be included within the 2018-19 scrutiny plan.  The response developed and submitted by Renfrewshire Council, prior to the deadline of 2 February 2018, was appended to the report for homolgation.  It was noted that the response welcomed the development of a HMICS scrutiny plan for 2018-19 and sought continued focus on key national issues such as Counter Terrorism, Serious Organised Crime and Cybercrime.  It was highlighted that local relationships with Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority were excellent and the response highlighted the strength of the relationship.

DECIDED:

(a) That the consultation on the HMICS annual scrutiny plan be noted; and 

(b) That the action by the Director of Environment & Communities in submitting the Council’s consultation response, as detailed in Appendix 1, to the report be homologated.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment & Communities relative to the development of Police Scotland’s Annual Police Plan 2018-19.

The plan had been shaped around the areas of focus within the Policing 2026 strategy “Serving a Changing Scotland” of prevention, protection, communities, knowledge and innovation. The plan detailed the Policing priorities for 2018/19 and summarised the planned activities to address these priorities.  Police Scotland was keen to engage with its partners and offered an opportunity to comment on extracts from the draft plan via the Citizen Space web Survey:  The deadline for submissions to the consultation was 21 February 2018. A response had been submitted by Renfrewshire Council within the timescales set by Police Scotland and was attached as Appendix 1 for homologation.

 

 

DECIDED:

(a) That the consultation on Police Scotland’s Annual Police plan 2018-19 be noted; and 

(b) That the action by the Director of Environment & Communities in submitting the Council’s consultation response as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report be homologated.

Superintendent R Horan gave an update relative to the review of the performance framework.

Reference was made to the desirability of developing a performance reporting framework suite of documents which linked operational activity, statistics and resultant actions, outcomes, scrutiny and targets in terms of all of Police Scotland’s strategic plans.

It was noted that the Renfrewshire area would be included in a pilot project to assist in the development of an improved national scrutiny report template, to ensure that it provided appropriate detail, narrative, quantitative and qualitative data and was in a format which met the requirements of local authorities to undertake their scrutiny role.

DECIDED: That the information provided be noted.