Summary - Shire Hall

20th March 2026

A meeting summary and [personal comment].
Authored by: Cllr. Gareth Kitchen representing Stroud District Council
Reporting to: Community Services and Licencing Committee. [minus the personal comments]

• Webcast of meeting.
• Agenda packs etc.
• Minutes When available.

[Meeting kicked off with the normal formalities. I detected a frostiness in the room at this meeting which was unusual. I was wondering if this was because of me. I had (unintentionally) been keeping the monitoring officer quite busy with my pre-questions. Also, I was unhappy about having to submit to confidentiality for a briefing about the suspension of the Assistant Chief Constable which had already been published by the BBC.]

2025 Staff Wellbeing Survey Summary

Force performs well in team dynamics and individual resilience. However, there are some areas for improvement regarding fatigue management, modernisation (digital), and organisational leadership transparency. The survey highlights a disconnect between staff feeling trusted to do their jobs and feeling supported by the broader organisational structure and leadership during times of change. Results brought down because of upheaval and organisational change with the PCSOs and redundancies. Sergeant rank most negative. Action Plan created with various boards managing. The recommendations of last year's OPCC survey were fed into the current action plan. [The actual data backing this summary information was not provided. I challenged this and the DPCC chose to remind me and the panel that it is not our role to scrutinse the constabulary. However, without the correct level of detail, context and data how are we able to work out what questions to ask?]

Special Constables

The force currently has 122 Special Constables, including 15 new recruits. While the unit is praised for its cost-effectiveness, community engagement, and adaptability, a recent review identified critical gaps in governance, inconsistent training standards, and unclear role profiles that hinder full integration with regular officers.

To address these issues, a plan is underway: short-term efforts focus on auditing membership and strengthening governance; medium-term goals involve skill mapping and improved communication; and long-term strategies aim to expand specialised training and new operational roles.

That's what the Powerpoint presentation told us. The reality is clearly quite different. Members of the panel have been contacted about concerns raised by current and former specials. The panel were assured by the OPCC CEO that these concerns had been noted and fed back appropriately. [I think this may have been the root cause of the frostiness observed at the start of the meeting.]

[Despite the prior 'words of advice' from the DPCC, I felt I had to raise, for the second time, that I felt the backing papers did not provide the level of detail, background, context or data required for panel members to ask the right questions.]

Emergency Services Collaboration Board

The primary goal of the board is to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of the three main emergency services (Police, Fire, and Ambulance) to better serve the public. This involves sharing resources, training, and intelligence to avoid duplication and gaps in coverage.

Recent events have includes the Safer Stroud Community Event in 2025 with 6,000 attendees. Operation Plumage a training exercise around a cannabis factory fire scenario and Operation Shield around anti-social behaviour. There has been improved engagement from the South West Ambulance Trust.

Update from the PCC

Although not in the backing papers the PPC raised the 'Whole Force Review', due in April and will inevitably bring consequential layout changes at the constabulary. Worries about longer term budget resilience. Still short of money from Govt. Didn't receive precept increases applied for. No funding for the IT deficit either £10.5m. Redundancies may ensue but legal processes ensure fairness. Work on national police reform. Little detail when white paper announced. Govt. now trying to fill in that detail and takes significant proportion of his time (covered again in depth in questions). [An unusually brief update, which the Chair couldn't help mentioning. Chuckles around the room and smiles at the top table (finally).]

Questions are dominated by thoughts on the multiple layers of 'reform' that are in progress right now. The Chair comments on how other P&C Panel Chairs are in the dark on these reforms and Home Office is unable to answer questions in online meetings. There is little concrete detail but some indication on the direction of travel is included in the CEO report.

Chief Executive Report

Safeguarding Duties in Commissioning and Procurement training received and preparations underway for the recommissioning of Victim Services from April 2027. Serious Violence Duty Funding of £331,000 confirmed for Gloucestershire, particularly for young people. ASB case reviews reduced. Attributed to strengthened prevention work and collaboration. Used to be district council CSP responsibility.

My futures project discussed and we were briefed on this last November, good to get feedback on the delivery.

Seeing slight increases in neighbourhood crimes in the county. Context: changes in the way offenders are managed in the community. More of burden on providers.

The Chef Finance Officer was at the meeting and this surprised me as there was no specific finance agenda item. So, I listened intently for 'changes' but these had been eluded to by the PCC earlier, I think. The Constabulary still needs to identify a further £5.2m in order to balance future budgets. Explained the staffing levels targets so as not to incur penalty. Wants to avoid 'reverse modernisation' (officers doing staff work). £12m saving target hit but only by freezing vacancies. Budget pressure with current pay review/award will add to future cuts/savings. Reserves already at minimum levels and finance remains difficult only a few forces in worse position.

Question on priory 5 in the Police and Crime Prevention Plan. Reduce support victims on re-offending. What extent the Police service can contribute to re-offending given that homelessness is the main driver along with the seamless moving out of the prison estate. CEO says with prison population crisis we cannot arrest our way out of crime, has to be a whole system approach and there are teams in the constabulary too.

I questioned about the second IOPC investigation into CC Hansen. I am being asked questions about this by members of our community and it's taking considerable amounts of my time. [CC Rod Hansen is well respected in the community for work he led at the constabulary following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. People are wanting to know how the PCC will be held to account for his part in these suspensions. There is real concern that these initiatives have been left to flounder at the behest of the OPCC.] The PCC has previously offered to receive detailed questions from the panel. I asked how he envisaged that process taking place? The PCC ducked that question and said it would be highly inappropriate to discuss the matter or to say more. CEO proposed a lessons learnt workshop because CEO believes Gloucestershire have handled the matter well. Our Local Democracy Reporter was interested in this topic and there is clearly political dynamics at play which I wasn't aware of. The Chair quips that we may end up with two Chief Constables. [CEO unimpressed]

Police reform agenda. [I wanted to ask for confirmation that public will not be able to serve an FOI on these new Police and Crime Boards? If true would be an outrageous retrograde step in openness and transparency? We should be learning from past mistakes. i.e. GFirst LEP. However, the Chair wanted to move on.]

Work Plan

The Chair asks that members bring things forward that they have a real interest in because it's the panel's job to challenge the OPCC and not just be a talking shop. [Maybe more frostiness to come, or maybe we roll up our sleeves and start tackling the difficult stuff for the benefit of the whole community!]