Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions.

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2023 were agreed as an accurate record.

The Chair will lead a discussion about the future of policing in Hammersmith & Fulham following the Baroness Casey Review – with contributions from the Metropolitan Police, Councillors, Community Organisations, and Residents.

The Chair, Councillor Nikos Souslous, addressed the meeting and thanked the police, representatives from local community organisations, and residents for attending. He explained that the meeting had been called following the publication of the Baroness Casey Review into the standards of behaviour and the internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service. He noted the main headlines of the report, that the Metropolitan Police as an organisation was institutionally sexist, homophobic, and racist. That it had lost the public’s trust, that it was underfunded, and it let down and left behind the most vulnerable members of society.

The Chair said the Administration wanted to bring together the police, the local authority, and the community to have an open and honest discussion about policing in the borough. He said the Council recognised the important role the police played in the community and was committed to working together to improve the situation. He noted the Council planned to provide a comprehensive response to the review, following further public meetings.

The Chair then welcomed Superintendent Craig Knight, Detective Chief Inspector Scott Ware, and Detective Chief Inspector Anne Linton from the Metropolitan Police and asked them to give a short presentation on the New Met for London Plan. The plan was available to read in full online: https://www.met.police.uk/notices/met/a-new-met-for-london/

Presentation on the New Met for London Plan

Superintendent Knight gave a brief overview of the structure of policing in London and explained that his role was to ensure the police response was ‘truly local’. He said the Casey Review came about due to a number of significant incidents across London. The review had been commissioned by the previous Commissioner of Police and all 16 recommendations had been accepted in full. He said the report was stark and made for ‘horrible reading’. He agreed that fundamental changes were required. He noted that a turnaround plan had been introduced before the Casey Review report had been published.

The New Met for London Plan came after an extensive community engagement process and contained a wide range of recommendations to deal with the impact of austerity, recruitment and standards, changing demographics and demands, returning to policing by consent, cultural change, and fixing the fundamentals around pay and conditions, training, and internal processes.

Superintendent Knight then discussed some recent changes to policing in the borough aimed at tackling sexual assault, taking a more robust approach to violence against women and girls (VAWG), and reducing response times. Finally, he discussed the budgetary issues the service faced, noting that police officers had received a real terms pay cut since austerity, and the recently announced 7% pay increase was only partly funded, leading to difficult decisions about further service reductions.

Detective Chief Inspector Scott Ware and Detective Chief Inspector Anne Linton introduced themselves to the meeting. The Chair then invited questions on the presentation.

Questions on the presentation

Councillor Andrew Dinsmore noted he had been a victim of robbery and thanked the police for their swift response time and follow up, leading to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To note the following dates of future meetings:

·       22 Nov 2023

·       7 Feb 2024

·       24 Apr 2024

The following dates of future meetings were noted:

• 22 Nov 2023
• 7 Feb 2024
• 24 Apr 2024