Apologies were received from Councillor Peter McCabe (substituted by Councillor John Dehaney), Councillor Abigail Jones (substituted by Councillor Agatha Akyigyina) and Councillor Oonagh Moulton (substituted by Councillor Suzanne Grocott). Apologies were also received from co-opted member Colin Powell. The Chair announced that co-opted member Mansoor Ahmad had resigned from the Commission subsequent to publication of the agenda because he is no longer a parent governor.

There were no declarations of pecuniary interest.

The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

Crime data and policing in Merton

Chief Superintendent Steve Wallace, Borough Commander, introduced the crimes figures set out in Appendix 1 of the report. He drew the Commission’s attention to the 10% reduction in burglary over the past year, though comparisons should be made with caution due to some re-categorisation issues. Robbery has increased, particularly personal property of robbery committed by moped riders. Taking of vehicles, particularly mopeds, has also increased in the rolling year to date compared to last year but overall is now since April reducing considerably. Reports of domestic abuse have decreased, which is indicative of the commitment to tackling domestic abuse and successful partnership working.

The Borough Commander provided additional information in response to questions:

·         The level of knife crime has been fairly static

·         The police have been robust in serving notice and using powers to deal with Traveller encampments. Additional resources can be drafted in from within the Metropolitan Police as and when needed.

·         The overall increase of just over 2% in crime in Merton has been at a lower level than in neighbouring boroughs. Merton Police have maintained a prompt response to 999 calls, with more than 90% receiving a response within 5 minutes

The Borough Commander answered questions about the Eastern Electrics festival held on 5 August in Morden Park. He said that although the Police, Fire Service and Council had significant concerns in advance of the event, overall he was pleased with how well policing of the event had gone. There were around 15,000 attendees, no arrests and no significant crimes reported to the police.

MOPAC Public Access and Engagement Strategy

The Borough Commander said that he was well aware of public concerns that have been expressed regarding the proposed closure of Wimbledon Police Station. He said that the consultation document was evidence based and contained a lot of detail, including data on the reduction in public use of front offices.  He reminded members that the proposals had been made in the context of the need to save a further £400m from the MPS budget over the next four years and that the priority was to protect frontline policing and to redesign services in order to make better use of digital technology. He urged all concerned to respond formally to the MOPAC consultation.

The Borough Commander said that there would be a 24/7 front office in every borough. He assured members that the police would continue to police Wimbledon town centre and respond to crimes regardless of where the front office was based. He envisaged that there would be a need for an operational base in the west of the borough if the 24/7 front office were to be located in the east.

Councillor Edith Macauley, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Engagement and Equalities, stated that Wimbledon town centre is a crime hotspot and her view is that the police stations in Wimbledon and Mitcham should both remain open to provide a deterrent and protection to residents.

The Borough Commander provided additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Sophie Ellis, Assistant Director of Business Improvement, introduced the report and drew the Commission’s attention to the progress that had been made, in particular with the website and the redesign and automation of customer processes, since her last report. She explained that the council had experienced ongoing delays in the provision of services from GDIT and that the mechanisms within the contract are being used to address this. Despite this, a constructive working relationship has been maintained and progress is still being made to complete work on the website and the customer account.

In response to questions from members, Sophie Ellis said that the project was in its final phase and that the remaining elements were set out in paragraph 3.4 of the report. As part of the TOM process the customer contact strategy will be refreshed.  Sophie Ellis said she would consider how councillors could feed in to this.

The Commission RESOLVED that the Financial Monitoring Task Group should examine the programme’s budget and associated savings and how lessons would be learned from this project.

RESOLVED: that the Commission

1.    Sets up a task group to review the recruitment and retention of teachers in Merton;

2.    Approves the terms of reference and scope of the task group as set out in the report;

3.    Appoints Councillors Agatha Akyigyina, Dennis Pearce and Peter Southgate plus co-opted member Helen Forbes to the task group.

The Commission noted the minutes of the Financial Monitoring Task Group’s meeting on 25 July 2017.

The work programme was AGREED.