Agenda item

In attendance will be representatives from North Yorkshire Police, Yorkshire Ambulance Service and North Yorkshire Fire Service to update the committee on their work. Guests invited include:

-       Chris Neal, Group Manager Selby District, NY Fire and Rescue Service

-       Supt. Mark Khan, NY Police Service

-       Rachel Pippin, Deputy Head of Operations, YAS

-       Ken Lowe, Area Operations Manager covering Selby, YAS

Members noted that present at the meeting were:

-       Chris Neal, Group Manager for Selby District, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service

-       Supt. Mark Khan, North Yorkshire Police Service

-       Rachel Pippin, Deputy Head of Operations, Yorkshire Ambulance Service

-       Ken Lowe, Area Operations Manager covering Selby, Yorkshire Ambulance Service

Each representative gave an update on the service that they covered.

Chris Neal, Group Manager for Selby District, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue

·           A new risk and review model would be published in March and would set out how services would be delivered in the next year; a public consultation would begin following publication.

·           The staff at Selby fire station operated on a four-on/four-off basis, with an on-call crew also available, as well as being backed up be other stations across the area including Tadcaster and York; there was also cross-border liaison with South Yorkshire and Humberside services.

·           Following the pandemic, it was felt that fire crews needed to be more visible once again; as such, preventative work with businesses and communities that the fire service was good at would be started again, including flooding mitigation and preparedness.

Members asked questions around the use of fire stations for women fleeing domestic violence, which could be difficult at Selby as it wasn’t manned 24 hours a day, and how links to the PFCC could affect the fire service’s budget. The Group Manager explained that the service had a Chief Fire Officer who decided on policy and was then scrutinised by the PFCC, who could set the service’s protected budget. The governance model in place in North Yorkshire was pioneering and there were distinct advantages to the arrangements.

Supt. Mark Khan, North Yorkshire Police Service

·         The Supt. emphasised that all crime was a priority and that the control strategy was the service’s plan as to what they would be focusing on, which were:

-        Serious and organised crime;

-        Safeguarding and violence against women and girls;

-        Community harm; and

-        Road safety.

·         The Uplift Programme was increasing the number of officers in North Yorkshire from 1,400 to 1,500; for the Selby area this equated to a quarter vacancy for a PCSO and three for full officers. The student officer programme in Selby currently had 32 enrolled in it, in their first and second years. Individuals now needed a degree to become an officer, for which there was an Open University course, as well as practical experience. The first cohort would be available from June and backfilling the Selby vacancies.

·         The Neighbourhood Policing model would be investigated in order to develop a better three-to-five-year plan as to how the service operates prevention and early intervention, including a public health approach to policy. More information would be available about this plan in the next 12 to 24 months.

·         Fixed site cameras were not being taken forward but this, to an extent, depended on the view of the PFCC; there had been discussions with the road safety team as to why not. In response the team had explained that the vans were more flexible and could be placed where people were not expecting them to be, as well as having good links with community speed watch schemes.

The Committee asked if councils could pay for and install their own fixed cameras; Members were advised that this could be possible but that assessments by the police service would still need to be undertaken. The representative from the fire service explained that there was a road safety partnership, chaired by them. Information from the public could be fed back to the partnership if there were problem areas identified by residents. Speed monitoring could be set up and existing data could be used to inform the services where to place cameras and why.

Some Members asked why speed vans went to the same spots and felt that average speed cameras would be of more use. Following on from a previous query, some data had been produced around speeding in Whitley and as such officers were assessing what needed to be done in the area.

Other issues raised by Members during the discussion, which were also to be fed back to the PFCC, included neighbourhood policies, weight limits on roads and bridges, anti-social behaviour, cross border crime, parking on footways and fly tipping. Supt. Khan asked that details of the above were also sent to him.

The Committee were pleased with a new community constable in Tadcaster who was getting to know the local area and was frequently visible on the streets of the town, which residents appreciated.

With regards to parking matters, Members acknowledged that this wasn’t always an issue for the police to address and felt that the Council should invest more into tackling the problem; discussion and partnership around the issue was needed across all services. Some Committee Members strongly felt that on-street parking and the obstruction of highways was an issue that should be ticketed by the police; areas such as Bridlington had an enforcement team that were on patrol frequently.

Some Members were of the view that quick contact and response times and cross border crime, particularly drugs, had got worse due to the reduction in staffing levels and the impact of austerity on jobs. Supt. Khan explained that wherever possible access by telephone was being improved but agreed that long waits for assistance were unacceptable.

In conclusion and following a query from Members Supt. Khan confirmed that in the Selby district there were 34 warranted officers, plus 14 neighbourhood officers, with 3 current vacancies. The PFCC had indicated that she would be looking to increase officer numbers further by an extra 70 posts across North Yorkshire.

Rachel Pippin, Deputy Head of Operations and Ken Lowe, Area Operations Manager covering Selby, Yorkshire Ambulance Service

The representatives from Yorkshire Ambulance Service gave a presentation which covered the following points:

·         Over the winter months nationwide, all urgent and emergency systems had faced significant pressure; YAS had been at level 4 (the highest level of escalation) since July 2021 and had experienced extremely high demand in NHS 111, 999 and PTS services. The 999-contact centre had seen a demand increase of 25% above pre-pandemic levels, handling an average of 3500 calls per day. This was due to the combined challenges presented by the Omicron COVID variant, including the impact on YAS own staff, and winter pressures.

·         Actions taken to tackle the pressures included a recruitment campaign, especially focused on 999/111 contact centres, increasing the estate for contact centres to accommodate additional staff and provide resilience, the prioritisation of key activities and redeployment of staff to increase the number of ambulance crews on the road, the maximised use of alternative care pathways to reduce conveyance to A&E departments., deployment of welfare vehicles to support staff wellbeing and enhance staff morale and military aid, which had been in place within YAS from the 18 January 2022.

·         Future priorities included continued monitoring of the situation closely and thanking all the hard-working staff and volunteers for their efforts during such a challenging time. The focus of the YAS was now on recovery from winter pressures and a return to business as usual. The service would be identifying lessons from COVID and building future resilience plans, as well as prioritising staff wellbeing and welfare. YAS would maintain its work with system partners to improve patient choice and access to care through development of alternative care pathways.

The Committee thanked the YAS for all their hard work over the past couple of years and asked for detail of the military aid that had been provided. The YAS officers explained that it was drivers that were assisting them from the military, but that they had been given basic medical training should they need to assist further.

The welfare vehicle for delayed and waiting staff at A&E departments visited whenever such delays were experienced, which was frequently as the entire NHS system was still under sustained pressure. Members asked if they could be provided with the costs of the welfare vehicle, which was funded through the government’s NHS winter funding.

Members asked if the provision of defibrillators across the district was proving to be beneficial; the YAS officers confirmed that they were invaluable and could save lives. The defibrillator in Selby had been used a couple of times, and it was important that the public knew where they all were; YAS officers confirmed that the sites where they were installed could be looked up online. Members emphasised the importance of messaging about how to use them and that members of the public should ring the NHS if they need to use one.

The Committee asked what they could do to tackle the queues and pressure at A&E departments; the YAS thanked the community for their support which had been helpful and would continue to be so.

The Committee again thanked the attendees from North Yorkshire Police, the Yorkshire Ambulance Service and the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue for all they did and for attending the meeting.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the updates from attendees and asked to be provided with the costs of the welfare vehicle.