Northumbria Police Authority Stakeholder Conference: 'Building Trust and Confidence' at The National Glass Centre, Sunderland

Councillor Mick Henry, Chair of Northumbria Police Authority

Good morning... I'm Councillor Mick Henry, Chair of Northumbria Police Authority and I welcome you to our stakeholder conference here at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland.

Looking around, I see colleagues from local authorities, the police, probation, criminal justice, fire and rescue, health, housing, voluntary groups, community groups, police authorities and the business sector. I'm very pleased that you can all be with us today.

Many of you were at our first conference, last year, at the Sage Gateshead. Your feedback was both helpful and positive and we’ve used your comments to help plan today’s programme.

Last year’s conference proved to be much more than just an event… it marked the start of a new conversation between the police authority, our partners and our communities. I’m glad to say that the conversation’s continued throughout the year. It's helped us work with you and our communities in new and improved ways.

We have a chance today to reflect on what’s happened over the last 12 months… to celebrate success, to identify improvements and, also, to look to the future. So let’s take the time to discuss some of our shared challenges and opportunities and explore even more innovative and effective ways of working together.

Our theme today is “Building Trust and Confidence”. These are words on everyone’s lips, and in every new national strategy. In fact, the words ‘trust and confidence’ are used over 60 times in the Police Green Paper.

It’s clear that we must continue to drive down crime and… at the same time… drive up public confidence.

For me, increased public confidence means local people having:

• Trust and Confidence in their neighbourhoods – so they feel safe, wherever they live
• Trust and Confidence in the services they receive – in other words, trust and confidence in us,
• and Trust and Confidence that their quality of life will improve.

I believe that for all this to happen we also need Trust and Confidence…

• Trust and Confidence that we really know and understand our communities
• Trust and Confidence in each other -  so that we can work effectively together,
• and Trust and Confidence that our plans for the future will deliver local people’s expectations.

With your help, the Police Authority has been working hard… to increase our understanding of communities, to deliver better outcomes, and to plan further improvements. So, I’d like to take a few minutes to look back over the last year… to give you a flavour of our work and our ideas for the future.

Increasing our knowledge and understanding of our communities is quite a task, given the makeup of Northumbria…

• It covers over 2,000 square miles – one of the largest force areas in the country.
• We’ve a significant mix of urban and rural areas  
• There are 600,000 households – including 27 castles and at least 1 tree house
• At the last count, we have 43,580 businesses – we’re recognised worldwide as a leader in knowledge-based industries and have carved out a reputation for innovation and creativity, with world-class strengths in digital technology, life sciences, nano technology, renewable energy and process industries
• We have well over 1,000 shops in Eldon Square, MetroCentre and The Bridges alone, and over 850 farms – one of which is even breeding South American Alpacas in Northumberland
• There are 6 unitary councils, of 400 democratically-elected councillors, with around 60,000 employees
• There are over 750 places of worship including mosques, synagogues, churches and temples
• We boast 130 museums, art galleries and libraries and 10 local nature reserves; about 200 health centres and doctor’s surgeries; and nearly 800 schools, 15 colleges and 4 universities (including the Open University in Gateshead).
• We’ve a population of just over 1.4 million, one third of which is either under 18 or over 65 years of age
• 4.3% of our residents are from a Black or Minority Ethnic Group
• Over 60 languages are now spoken
• Main health concerns continue to be smoking, alcohol, mental health problems, and teenage pregnancy… but 900,000 of us feel in good health
• More than two thirds of children get 5 A* to C GCSE results but, looking at national statistics, between 6% and 13% of our young people are not in education, employment or training
• And almost three quarters of our working-age population are in employment but also 6.8% are currently registered unemployed.

These are just headlines. We all know that to understand our communities, we need to see the differences between area and area, between neighbourhood and neighbourhood, and between community and community.

But in identifying the differences we must not lose sight of the common denominators. There are many common issues… and many common solutions.
 
And I think Northumbria Police Authority has a key role to play… with you… in identifying those issues and, more importantly, accelerating those solutions.

We’re responsible for making sure the force operates efficiently and effectively and that local people have a real say in how they are policed. We’re well placed to make the connections, join up improvements and share innovation.

Yet the role and value of the Police Authority is not as widely known as it should be. This is evidenced by one of our surveys, which showed, that while 55% had heard of the Police Authority, only 36% knew what we did.

One of your main suggestions at last year’s conference was that we should raise our profile and increase our visibility. So, over the last year we launched a ‘Trust Us’ campaign, to help profile the work of the Authority and increase awareness.   

We now have leaflets and posters on display in public buildings throughout Northumbria, and they provide key information so that communities know who we are and what we do.

This has been supplemented by taking some of our police authority meetings ‘on the road’… bringing the decision-making process to local people, communities and partners.

So far, we’ve met in both South and North Tyneside and we’ll be in Berwick in July and Newcastle in October. We’re publicising the meetings and actively inviting local people and partners to attend… and, where possible, we’re consulting and working with the area’s community groups and local schools, so that local people are involved in the meeting.

Hopefully this will mean that “on the road” means much more than just changing the venue.

One of the highlights this year was taking part in a Home Office pilot to test out participatory budgeting. This approach directly involves local people in making decisions, on priorities and spending in their area. It was a method first used in Brazil in the 1980s to increase democracy and reduce corruption… and it’s helped us get closer to the community.

46 community groups came together in March, including youth projects, residents associations, schools and voluntary groups from across the whole of Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. They used their local knowledge to suggest projects, pitch their ideas and decide on spending, at a special voting event.

The Authority successfully obtained £20,000 from the Home Office, which we matched, so £40,000 was available at that first event.

The theme, like today, was building trust and confidence. All the projects showed the commitment, sheer hard work, and infectious enthusiasm… of real people making a real difference.

Two thirds of the bids were successful and received their full allocation, of up to £1,500. And no one left empty handed… it was a day when everyone was a winner. A contribution of £100 was made to all projects and, of course, new contacts were made, joint working was discussed and, from the excellent feedback I’ve had, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day.

We’re going to hear from a couple of the projects a little later on, something I’m really looking forward to.

The Police Authority wants to build on the success of this pilot, so we’ve committed £80,000 to hold two more events this year. This work increases our visibility, strengthens relationships and, more importantly, helps generate new ways of working, to increase public confidence and reduce crime.

As I said earlier, local people also need to have confidence in the services we deliver. I know we’re in a strong position on this. The performance figures speak for themselves. We’ve unrivalled records for reducing crime, top Audit Commission scores for use of resources and impressive satisfaction rates.

Our performance makes Northumbria one of the safest places to live, work and visit.   

• Total crime has fallen by over 53% since 1992 - one of the largest reductions in crime in the country
• Compared to our peers, we have the lowest crime rate per 1,000 population
• Last year, there were over 28,000 fewer anti-social behaviour incidents
• And, most importantly, people have a high level of trust that the police will deal with things that matter to them.

The Police Authority, the Force… and our partners… consistently demonstrate ambition, coupled with drive and commitment. We’re nationally recognised as an area with an appetite for improvement.

And this year has certainly been filled with improvement and also change.

The membership of the Police Authority has welcomed Chris Clarke, John Cooke and Eleanor Hayward... three independent members with rich and diverse backgrounds… and Councillors Glen Sanderson and Lesley Rickerby from Northumberland, who bring significant local knowledge.

Mike Barker has also strengthened the support to members, as Deputy Chief Executive.

The Police Authority has also made four key senior appointments:

• Sue Sim, Deputy Chief Constable,
• Assistant Chief Constable Jim Campbell,
• Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Ashman, and
• Bernie McArdle, Assistant Chief Officer Human Resources…

All strong and impressive additions to the Chief Officer team.

We’ve agreed ambitious plans to build and improve police buildings across Northumbria. Approximately £127 million has been set aside in our capital programme, which will ensure we have modern and efficient facilities, in the best locations.

This includes the new force headquarters at Ponteland and a new area command at North Tyneside (Wallsend), providing state-of-the-art accommodation for 300 people, including police officers, community support officers and police staff, as well as a large custody suite with 40 modern cells.

Looking beyond Northumbria, we’ve also taken every opportunity to influence national and regional thinking and decisions.

In November, we were in the spotlight as the National Association of Police Authorities (APA) Conference came to Northumbria.  Hosting the event gave us the opportunity to lobby Vernon Coaker MP, the Minister responsible for Policing, and senior civil servants, at a critical time, when the Police and Crime Bill was being finalised.

We were able to network with colleagues from around the country, discuss collaborative working and showcase the area.

It was the first time the Conference had been held in the North East and we worked with our regional police authority colleagues to support the APA and make the event a huge success. In the words of Bob Jones, Chair of the APA the North East was a “hard act to follow”.

Generating bright ideas and exploring new approaches is critical for improvement. Challenging why and how we do things helps us focus on what really matters to local people.

So the Police Authority has been investing in innovation. Last year, over £300,000 was allocated… through Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships… to fund new ways of working. This will help reduce crime and disorder and accelerate the delivery of Local Area Agreements.

A few examples are as follows…

• Domestic Violence Coordinators employed in Sunderland and Gateshead, who support the work of the new Domestic Violence Courts
• A Northumberland county-wide sexual violence support service and
• New diversionary activities for young people in North Tyneside.

In addition, we contributed over £250,000 towards the running costs of the Youth Offending Teams.

We’ve now set aside over £750,000 in our 2009/2010 budget, to continue this investment in innovation and develop partnership working.

Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to mention the work we’ve been doing with young people, to set up a new young people’s Police Authority. This group of under-18s will shadow Police Authority business and influence key decisions. They’ll help us deliver a number of projects including a new young people’s policing plan.

We believe this will be the first youth police authority in the country and will help to increase involvement… strengthening our understanding of youth issues and also allowing young people to get involved in influencing policy and decisions.

I’d like to end by saying that I believe we have the energy and the enthusiasm to tackle the new challenges and to take absolute advantage of the opportunities the future will bring.

And standing here in the National Glass Centre, I’d ask that we try to do three things linked to understanding, delivery and vision

• hold a mirror up and ask ourselves ‘do we really know who we are’?
• try to think of ways to make sure our partnerships are shatterproof and…
• when planning for the future, exploit every window of opportunity.

If we do that, then I’m sure the maximum effort will be put into what matters most for local people and this will, in turn, increase trust and confidence.

Thank you.

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