The Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel was scheduled to consider a range of financial updates, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner’s (PFCC) draft Police, Fire and Crime Plan, and its own work programme.

Draft Police, Fire and Crime Plan

The PFCC, Danielle Stone, has produced a draft Police, Fire and Crime Plan for Northamptonshire. The draft Plan, titled Safe and Sound , sets out the PFCC's proposals for policing, fire and rescue, community safety, and criminal justice in the county.

The PFCC has described how she has produced the Plan as a result of an extensive process of consultation with the public and with other organisations and agencies with responsibilities relating to community safety and criminal justice. She states that:

The plan is based on one of the most substantial consultation exercises this office, and those of other PCCs have conducted.

The PFCC is inviting the Panel to review and provide formal recommendations on the draft plan, before it is consulted on publicly, and then finalised.

Fire and Rescue Authority Finance Update

The Fire and Rescue Authority was scheduled to receive a report on its finances for the current year. The report indicated a projected overspend of £4,000 at the end of the financial year.

The report indicated that there have been overspends on some budgets, with the overspend on wholetime firefighters explained in the report:

The wholetime firefighter budget has been overspending in the first half of the year due to a high firefighter strength. This was following a decision to add an early intake of new firefighters to ensure cover was in place for operational peak demand over the Summer months.

Policing Finance Update

The Panel was scheduled to receive a finance update on the policing budget for the current year.

The Chief Constable is able to draw on reserves held to cover the costs of the ongoing misconduct procedure relating to the previous Chief Constable, Stephen Mold. These costs are currently estimated to be £146,000 in the current financial year.

The report provided an update on the recruitment and retention of police officers, including the payment of a grant from central government to the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC):

Following the successful recruitment programme last year, an additional £1m was awarded by the Home Office to achieve a target of 1,501 [police officers] and is expected to be achieved. Further grant could be awarded for achieving an even higher number of officers but this is challenging and not guaranteed.

Neighbourhood Policing (Verbal Item)

The meeting was scheduled to include a verbal update on neighbourhood policing in Northamptonshire.

Police, Fire and Crime Panel Work Programme

The Panel was scheduled to review and agree the content of its work programme. The work programme sets out the topics that the Panel will consider at its future meetings during the current municipal year. The programme includes the Panel’s statutory responsibilities, which include scrutinising the PFCC’s budget proposals.

The report presented to the Panel provided an update on this aspect of the Panel’s work:

The Panel generally holds a workshop session with the PFCC and the OPFCC Chief Finance Officer in January of each year to consider the financial environment and key factors informing the development of the PFCC’s budget and precept proposals. This session feeds into scrutiny of the final proposals by the whole Panel at its formal meeting in February. The Panel agreed at its meeting on 12 July 2024 to request that a session on this topic be organised for January 2025. A session is scheduled for 27 January 2025.