The PCC has chaired his first formal ‘holding to account’ meeting where he was able to ask the Bedfordshire Police Executive leadership team questions that had been raised by members of the public during his campaign.  One of the Commissioner’s pledges was to improve Transparency across all areas of Bedfordshire Police, both internally and externally and especially when communicating work to the people of Bedfordshire.

The PCC ensured that part of the meeting was live streamed so that the public were able to watch the way in which questions are asked and how he performs his holding to account role.

The Strategic Board meeting is one of the main Governance Boards for holding Bedfordshire Police to account.  Within the meeting, the Executive team give strategic updates on areas of policing, victim care and offender management.

Commissioner, Festus Akinbusoye said “I’m so grateful to all those who reached out and I hope they get a chance to see their question on the livestream. True transparency and community engagement was what I based my campaign on so I hope the people of Bedfordshire can see I am keeping my word”.

The OPCC must comply with the’ Specified Information Order’ and a part of this order states that they must ensure that Strategic Board Meeting minutes are published online.  Having this live streamed helps support this need as well as more traditional minutes, which also remain available.

The agenda items that were covered at the May board are below:

·         Police and Crime Plan Introduction

·         Police and Crime Plan Update and engagement Plan

·         100-day plan

·         Year 1 plan

·         Community Problem Solving

·         Victim Needs Analysis Update

·         Signpost update

·         Victim Satisfaction in Force

·         Recruitment and Retention figures with protected characteristic breakdown

·         Questions/topics raised by members of the public/partners or Police and Crime Panel

·         Clare’s Law

·         Specials Review Update

·         VERU monthly Performance

The Chief Executive, Clare Kelly said “We welcomed all the questions posed both before and during the meeting. We will include the answers to these questions in the Strategic Board minutes so anyone can view the responses.”

The Commissioner will be livestreaming the next Board on 1st July and the link will be available on our Facebook page @BedsOPCC