Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from:

·         Councillor Ryan Brent (Portsmouth City Council)

·         Bob Purkiss (Independent Member)

·         Councillor Frank Rust, Additional Local Authority Co-opted Member

·         Councillor Leah Turner (Havant Borough Council). Councillor Mike Fairhurst was in attendance as Havant’s deputy member.

To enable Members to declare to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in their appointing authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or personal interests in any such matter that Members may wish to consider disclosing.

Members were able to disclose to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in their appointing authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in any such matter that Members may wish to disclose.

No declarations were made.

To receive any questions or deputations in line with Rule 31 and 31A of the Panel’s Rules of Procedure.

Two questions had been received by a member of the public to the Panel on the Confirmation Hearing meeting. As these were similar to the questions that the Panel had already noted to be asked of the Police and Crime Commissioner (‘the Commissioner’) and the candidate, the Panel would ask them at the appropriate time. These were:

a)    Has the apparent decision for the Deputy to take on some of the CEO's responsibilities been made for inclusion in the Business Case to justify the proposed appointment?

b)    What exactly is the current contractual situation?

Following notification from the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner of his intention to appoint the preferred candidate, Ms Flick Drummond, to the role of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, for the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel to hold a Confirmation Hearing in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.      

Following notification from the Commissioner , Mr. Michael Lane, to the

Hampshire Police and Crime Panel (hereafter referred to as ‘the Panel’) of his

intention to appoint a preferred candidate, Ms Flick Drummond, to the role of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, the Panel held a Confirmation Hearing in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

Members received a report (See Item 4 in the Minute Book) setting out the powers of the Panel and the process to be followed in the Confirmation Hearing, as per the agreed ‘Confirmation Hearing protocol’. The Panel noted the information provided by the Commissioner relating to the appointment of the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, which included:

·      The name of the preferred candidate and CV;

·      A statement/report from the PCC stating why the preferred candidate

·      meets criteria of role;

·      The terms and conditions of appointment;

The Commissioner expressed his pleasure in presenting the preferred candidate, and gave a short overview of why he had decided that now was the appropriate time to appoint a Deputy. The Commissioner was often invited to more events than he could attend, and although officers were substituting, they were politically restricted, so it would be helpful to have a deputy who could be delegated some of the Commissioner’s activities, and had a similar political mandate to Mr Lane. The Deputy would be expected to work across the Commissioner’s portfolio, and would therefore be required to take in a lot of information in a short time to get up and running. To this end, Ms Drummond had been invited to act in a shadow role until such time as she was appointed, both for this purpose and for her to understand if she felt she had the skillset to take on the position.

The candidate had been clear about her wish to try to return to parliament should a general election be called, or in 2022 when the next fixed election was due to be held. However, the Commissioner had been clear that Ms Drummond’s commitment until that time should be to the role and people across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton.

A discussion was held between the Panel and the Commissioner about the process he had used to propose an appointment, and the appearance of this appointment in local press before Members had been notified. The Commissioner agreed that the process followed was not ideal, and felt that the media had reported the proposed appointment in a way which made it unclear as to whether a Deputy was already appointed and confirmed. The Chairman agreed with the Commissioner that it would be helpful for both parties to meet to discuss how to improve this in future, and to highlight any lessons learnt from the process for Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner.

In response to other questions, the Panel heard:

·         That the role and its salary is set in statute[1].

·         The Commissioner had selected a Conservative candidate, as it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during that item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part I Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, being information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding the information) and, further, that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

While there may be a public interest in disclosing this information, namely openness in the deliberations of the Panel in determining its recommendation regarding the proposed appointment, it is felt that, on balance, this is outweighed by other factors in favour of maintaining the exemption, namely enabling a full discussion regarding the merits of the proposed appointments.

The press and public were excluded from the meeting during the following item of business, as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during that item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, being information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding the information) and, further, that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. While there may have been a public interest in disclosing this information, namely openness in the deliberations of the Panel in determining its recommendation regarding the proposed appointment, it was felt that, on balance, this was outweighed by other factors in favour of maintaining the exemption, namely enabling a full discussion regarding the merits of the proposed appointment.

Following notification from the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner of his intention to appoint to the role of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner, for the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel to hold a closed session to agree its recommendations.

The Panel held exempt discussions which examined the evidence provided in the Confirmation Hearing session. The final reports of the Panel are appended to these minutes.

The Panel agreed:

·      That they were unanimous in their agreement that the Commissioner required a Deputy.

·      That the candidate had a clear understanding of the Commissioner’s vision of the Deputy role.

·      That the candidate provided thoughtful but concise responses to questions.

·      That the strength of the candidate’s experience and skillset in the field of partnership working was aptly demonstrated, which would put her in good stead when engaging with the public and partners.

·      That the candidate expressed her wish to work closely with the Panel and engage in its working group activities, which Members welcomed.

·      That the candidate was keen to learn and absorb the information required to get on with the job, and to listen to the public on behalf of the Commissioner.

The Panel did however note some reservations about the candidate proposed, for which it has sought reassurance from the Commissioner:

·      The candidate was honest about her ambitions to return to parliament, describing it as her “dream job”. The Panel were concerned that this may give stakeholders the impression that the candidate was not fully committed to the role, or building relationships with individuals and groups, which should be an area that the Commissioner seeks to reassure both the police and the public on.

·      That the role of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner set out by the Commissioner would require the candidate to become a subject expert on a range of topics, and to build good working relationships with partners. This would likely take a significant period of time. In light of the Panel’s concerns about the commitment of the candidate to the position, plans should be put in place to ensure that there is a continuation of this work, and that insight and outcomes are clearly recorded, should the position be vacated for any reason.

On the basis of the information provided by the Commissioner, and the discussions held in the Confirmation Hearing, the Panel agreed by majority the proposed recommendations in relation to the appointment of the preferred candidate to the role of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner

RESOLVED:

That the proposed candidate, Ms Flick Drummond, is recommended to be

appointed to the position of Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Panel also made the following recommendations to the Commissioner relating to the proposed appointment, and the process leading up to the Confirmation Hearing:

RESOLVED:

That:

1.  The Police and Crime Panel request that informal notification of the intention to appoint to any position under Schedule 1 or Schedule 8 of the Police and Crime Act 2011 is provided to the Chairman and scrutiny officer to the Panel before any briefings are provided to the press or media, in line with the Panel’s Confirmation Hearing Protocol.

2.  The Chairman requests to meet with the Commissioner to review the process used for communicating the proposed appointment of the Deputy Police  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123.