Archived decisions

REPORT OF THE

HAMPSHIRE POLICE AUTHORITY

CODE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Authority's Governance Committee has reviewed the Corporate Governance Framework in the light of the recent guidance published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives.

The new Code of Corporate Governance was approved by the Authority at its meeting on 21 July 2009 which is based on the six core principles of the Good Governance Framework developed in a local context.

OPERATION NEMESIS - HAMPSHIRE CONSTABULARY'S BURGLARY INITIATIVE

The Authority has received a presentation on the initiative by Hampshire Constabulary during the period January to May 2009 to reduce the number of burglaries in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The four main objectives of the initiative were to reduce the number of victims; to increase the detection rate; to improve the level of care to victims and for Hampshire Constabulary to operate as one team.

The Chief Constable advised the Authority that although burglary remained a serious issue, he felt the initiative had been a success against all the objectives. There had been a 10% reduction in the number of burglaries over the five months compared to the previous five months which equated to 635 fewer victims. The Constabulary's detection rate for burglaries had improved from 17% to 21.6% which resulted in 23% more people being arrested for burglary than in the same period the previous year.

The Authority congratulated the Chief Constable on the results of the initiative and for achievement of ensuring the Constabulary worked together and noted the beneficial impact on public confidence of the initiative.

PANDEMIC SWINE FLU OUTBREAK

The Authority has received a report on Hampshire Constabulary's response to the pandemic swine flu outbreak.

A small planning team meets weekly to progress this work which includes identifying the critical services of the Constabulary to be maintained during the pandemic including Front Line Response; Force Custody Centres; the Force Control Room and Force Enquiry Centre; the Tactical Firearms Support Unit; Armed Response Vehicles and Operational Command Unit resources management. In addition it will be critical to maintain the coordination function for the force, necessary to manage the response to the pandemic.

Hampshire Constabulary has identified significant areas of work for pandemic preparedness including departmental business continuity plans; a review of relevant personnel policies; identification of necessary changes to working practices; a pandemic command and coordination structure; prioritisation of staff; and giving support to multi-agency responses.

Although Hampshire Constabulary had previously chaired the multi-agency Strategic Coordinating Group (SCG) as the force was heavily involved in the coordination and arrangement of the multi-agency response, Hampshire Primary Care Trust has now taken the chair. However, Hampshire Constabulary continues to participate and support including chairing the Intelligence Cell that provides the briefing for the SCG and should a `crisis' phase be reached, it would be anticipated that the chair of the SCG will revert to the Constabulary.

Cllr Mrs Jacqui Rayment

Chair

Hampshire Police Authority

August 2009