Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council HQ, Newtown St Boswells, Melrose TD6 0SA

Contact: Kathleen Mason Tel 01835 826772 Email  kmason@scotborders.gov.uk 

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome

Minutes:

The Chairman extended a welcome to those present.

2.

Minute. pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Consider Minute of meeting held on 15 May  2015.   (Copy attached.)  

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting held on 15 May 2015.   

 

DECISION

APPROVED the Minute.

3.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

3.1       With reference to paragraph 7(b)(i) the Senior Policy Adviser advised that a breakdown of the figures requested for race crimes and hate crimes for eastern Europeans were now included in the Police report.  

 

DECISION

NOTED.

        

3.2       With reference to paragraph 7(b)(ii) the Senior Policy Adviser suggested that in the absence of Councillor Turnbull, discussions on this matter be deferred until the next meeting of the Board.

        

DECISION

AGREED that discussions relating to correspondence between Councillor Turnbull and Mr Mundell MP relating to the significant VAT bill facing Police Scotland be deferred to the next meeting of the Board.

 

3.3       With reference to paragraph 20, the Senior Policy Adviser advised that arrangements would be made to visit Hawick Fire Station before the end of the year.

 

DECISION

NOTED.  

 

4.

Progress Reports pdf icon PDF 243 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

4.1       Police

There had been circulated copies of the Police Progress report covering the period April 2015 to June 2015. Supt Angus MacInnes advised that the report was in a new format based on feedback received from partners.   The report detailed the figures for the six Priority areas to date and compared them to the figures for the same period in 2014/15.   In relation to Priority 1 – Protecting People figures showed only a slight reduction with 3 fewer referrals made in the number of adult at risk referrals made to partner agencies.  There was a decrease in performance on the same time last year in relation to domestic abuse initial checks being conducted within 24 hours, but 2.1% better than target.   Priority 2 – showed a positive picture with a 10.8% reduction in common assaults in the first quarter of 2015/16 compared to the same period in 2014/15, equating to 21 fewer victims and there had been a 12.7 reduction (185 incidents) in the number of anti-social behaviour incidents compared to the same period last year.  A slight increase had been made in the number of recorded victims of hate crime.  In relation to Priority 3, Police Scotland was undergoing a test phase on a new stop and search database which went online on 1 June 2015.  Validation and testing of the data was ongoing and data collected would appear in future reports.  There had been a 6.1 decrease in the number of visits to licensed premises, which equated to 29 fewer visits.   Priority 4, Making our Roads Safer – showed a 50% reduction (15 fewer casualties) in the first quarter of 2015/16.  The number of people killed in the first quarter of 2015/16 was 3, the same as for the first quarter of 2014/15.  The number of serious injuries was significantly reduced, there had been 15 fewer seriously injured casualties compared to the same point last year, no children were killed or seriously injured in the first quarter, which  as positive.   Priority 5 – Tackling Serious and Organised Crime – there had been a promising start to the year with £105,025 in assets referred for restraint in the first quarter. It was positive to see there had been a 9.1% increase in the detections for drug supply with 12 detected offences for drug supply. Priority 6 - Tackling Acquisitive Crime (housebreakings to dwelling houses)  – there had been a decrease in the number of housebreaking to dwellings which led to 3 fewer victims of this type of crime in the first quarter of 2015/16 when compared to the same time period in 2014/15.    Tackling Acquisitive Crime (theft of motor vehicles) – there had been a 23.8% reduction in theft of motor vehicles in the first quarter of 2015/16 which equated to 5 fewer victims of this type of crime.   In relation to overall crime it was noted that there had been a 1.7% increase in the detection rate in this quarter compared to the same quarter in 2014,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Presentation - Coastguard Service - Impact on Berwickshire Coast.

Robbie Robertson, Area Commander andJoe Mitchell, Senior Coastal Operations Officer, HM Coastguard.

 

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Robbie Robertson, Area Commander andJoe Mitchell, Senior Coastal Operations Officer, HM Coastguard.to the meeting.  Mr Robertson advised on the functions of the Coastguard.  In accordance with the Coastguard Act HM Coastguard was responsible for the initiation and coordination of civic maritime search and rescue within the UK search and rescue region.  This included the mobilisation, organisation and tasking of adequate resources to respond to persons either in distress at sea, or to persons at risk of injury or death on the cliffs or shoreline of the UK.   In terms of resource management he explained that a distress alert initiated the opening of an incident.  This would be coordinated by the Coastguard Centre with responsibility for that area on that day.  All on-duty teams nationally would be aware of this, and all other incidents, as they shared the same VISION system.  As demands of an incident increased the workload on the team at the coordination centre, the Team Leader responsible for that Centre had a number of options for managing the workload.  These included any combinations or all of (a) delegating away non-emergency work across the network; (b) adding resource (virtual operators) and (c) reducing the size of the area.   In this case, in consultation with the Shift Manager a change of area of responsibility for the coordinating centre and flank centres was agreed therefore enabling the coordinating team to focus on the incident.  Mr Robertson advised on the National Coastal Structure and advised there were 3,200 coastguard rescue officers, men and women aged between 18 and 65 who could be mobilised in minutes at all times.    Twenty-two of the most modern and sophisticated SAR-configured aircraft were available and operated from ten dedicated search and rescue facilities.   Mr Robertson answered questions in relation to the high-water mark and the prioritisation of the use of the SAR-configured aircraft.

 

DECISION

NOTED the presentation and thanked Mr Robertson and Mr Mitchell for their attendance at the Board.

 

6.

Updates on Consolidation and Sustainability pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Minutes:

6.1       Police Scotland

Supt. MacInnes referred to the forthcoming retirement of the Chief Constable in December and gave reassurance that policing would continue to be delivered over the coming months.  He referred to ongoing issues of concern at Bilston Glen and advised that reviews and investigations were ongoing.   Officers in the “J” Divison would continue to answer calls and develop a different management structure to ensure incidents were dealt with and all calls were appropriately recognised.  If members of the Board were aware of or heard of any issues he asked them to report these issues directly to him.   Complaint issues were covered in performance reports and in relation to the “J” Division there had only been two allegations since last year.   The complaints process would be turned round as quickly as possible with feedback being given to the complainer, hopefully to their satisfaction.  The new report format would be developed over the coming months and he asked that members of the Board feed back to him their views regarding the content of the report.  He referred to benchmarking and explained that Scottish Borders Council could not be given any information on any of the other local authorities in the Division.   This was being developed to allow local authorities to make comparisons, but it should be borne in mind that the national figures included cities where there was a different crime profile and therefore benchmarking needed to be against other rural areas. All scrutiny reports would be submitted to the Scottish Police Authority and then local authorities would have the opportunity to see the figures.   Figures in relation to the stop and search data would also be included in the scrutiny reports. Supt. MacInnes referred to cross borders operations involving other Scottish Local Authorities and with police in Northumberland.   He referred to the opening of the Borders Railway, although this would bring significant benefits to the Scottish Borders, there would also be challenges with criminals travelling in and out of the area using the railway and local officers had been briefed on railway policing.   Planning meetings were scheduled regarding the Police involvement in all the events taking place relating to the opening of the railway, including an ecumenical service in Galashiels on 6 September.  Police would also be actively involved in The Tour of Britain.    He referred to the forthcoming retirement of Chief Inspector Paula Clark who had been actively involved in setting up the safer communities team  and said it was fitting that she finished her career with safer communities.  He wished Chief Inspector Clark well in her retirement and advised she would be replaced by Inspector Tony Hodges, and they would work together over the next three weeks to ensure there was a good handover.  The Chairman thanked the Supt. for Police officers input in relation to the counterfeit money in Greenlaw, Coldstream and Duns.   Members commented on the turnover of police officers and the Supt. advised that when Chief  Superintendent Imery was unable to attend  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Dates of Future Meetings.

Minutes:

Future meetings of the Board were scheduled to take place at 9.30am in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Newtown St Boswells on:-     

        

Friday 13 November 2015;

Friday 12 February 2016; and

Friday 13 May 2016.

        

DECISION

NOTED.

 

8.

Any Other Items which the Chairman Decides are Urgent

Minutes:

Under Section 50B(4)(b) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the Chairman was of the opinion that the item dealt with in the following paragraph should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency, in view of the need to keep Members informed.

 

9.         ATTENDANCE OF POLICE HORSES AT LOCAL EVENTS

Mr Higgs requested information on the attendance of Police horses at community events.   Supt. MacInnes advised that bids could be lodged asking for Police horses to be in attendance at events but sometimes this might not be successful, owing to other events taking place at the same time.

 

DECISION

NOTED.

 

 

CONTACT US

Scottish Borders Council

Council Headquarters Newtown St. Boswells Melrose TD6 0SA

Tel: 0300 100 1800

Email:

For more Contact Details