Inspectors have said North Yorkshire Police “still needs to improve” following a highly critical report into how it safeguards children.
An inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, published today, found the force had made some improvements since its previous report in March.
However, inspectors added progress still needed to be made to “provide consistently better outcomes for children”.
Today’s report comes after the watchdog published a highly critical inspection of the force where it found child protection investigations were poor and that the force did not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.
In a follow-up visit in December, which is the subject of today’s report, inspectors praised North Yorkshire Police for making progress in areas such as identifying children’s vulnerability and making good safeguarding referrals.
However, they added that supervision of investigations were not always effective and there were “excessive delays” in obtaining digital forensic evidence for officers.
The report, which was published today, said:
“North Yorkshire Police still needs to improve some areas of its work to provide consistently better outcomes for children. There has been some progress, particularly in the way the force has trained its workforce to identify children’s vulnerability and make good safeguarding referrals.
“Staff in the force control room have also made improvements so they are better at identifying risk and providing the right level of response to help vulnerable children.
“Despite progress against some of our recommendations, the force has yet to make all the progress necessary to complete its action plan.
“The force is developing performance monitoring and its governance systems, so it is clear leaders fully understand what still needs to be done.”
‘Police have let the public down’
In response to the report, Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said:
“North Yorkshire Police have had a year to progress their action plan following the first HMICFRS report on child protection. My team and I were regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace but instead, 12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in. Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse – North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.
“As commissioner and a mother of two children, one of whom is vulnerable and has complex needs I share the frustration, deep disappointment and upset many people will be feeling. I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.
“Whilst a debrief provided by the inspectorate in preparation for this report revealed North Yorkshire Police still had areas to progress, this progress has been much slower than anticipated – as a result, I am making arrangements for an additional layer of scrutiny – I expect evidence in relation to any assurances I am given.”
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Concern over North Yorkshire Police’s ability to keep people safe, say inspectors
Inspectors have raised concern over North Yorkshire Police’s ability to keep people safe and reduce crime.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services undertook an inspection of the force in October 2022 for its effectiveness and efficiency.
The report, published today, rated the police as inadequate in good use of its resources.
Meanwhile, the force was rated as requires improvement for responding to the public, investigating crime, protecting vulnerable people and developing a positive workplace.
However, it was assessed as adequate for preventing crime and managing offenders. It was rated as good for treatment of the public.
Concern over police performance
In his report, Roy Wilsher, inspector of constabulary, raised concern over how the force kept people safe and reduced crime.
In particular, he said senior leaders did not have enough oversight of human resources and IT or of the “impact that failures in these areas have had on policing services”.
Mr Wilsher said the force did not have enough trained detectives and pointed out there was “only a limited plan to address this”.
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He added that the force should improve the speed with which it answers and responds to emergency and priority calls.
The speed of responding to 999 calls was criticised.
However, Mr Wilsher said that North Yorkshire Police worked well with other organisations to safeguard vulnerable people.
He said:
“I have concerns about the performance of North Yorkshire Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime. In particular, I have serious concerns about its strategic planning and organisational management.
“Senior leaders in the force need to ensure they have effective oversight of its enabling services, such as IT and HR functions. Failures in these areas impact the service the force provides.
“North Yorkshire Police also needs to improve the speed with which it answers and responds to emergency calls. The force is well below the national standard, with only 41.9 percent of 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds.
“However, we did find that the force works well with partner organisations to safeguard vulnerable people. We found good examples of the force working with other organisations to divert young people away from offending and to reduce the vulnerability of people who may become victims of crime.
“Although I have concerns about corporate processes, I am pleased that the force has accepted our findings and is engaging with us and other partner organisations to ensure improvements are made. I remain in regular contact with the chief constable and will monitor the force’s progress towards addressing the cause of concern and areas of improvement I have established.”
In response, Lisa Winward, chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, said the force had recently approved a £1.8 million investment in its force control room to help tackle call response times.
She said:
“The report highlights a number of areas that the force delivers well but also reports on a significant number of areas that require improvement. A number of these relate to the corporate capacity and capability of the organisation linked to workforce planning, governance, performance management, financial planning, and the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our shared enabling services.
“They told us that while the right actions might be taking place on the ground by our people, they were not able to find sufficient evidence of how this was directed and overseen through our governance structure.
“The inspectors told us that every single person they spoke to was committed, fully engaged in their work and doing a really good job in difficult circumstances. They told us that our people take pride in being part of North Yorkshire Police and that there is a strong sense of belonging in the force.
“Since we received the hot debrief from HMICFRS in October 2022, we have been working at a pace to address the issues that they have raised so we can focus on our core responsibilities to the public.
“The Organisational Improvement Plan that we have put in place focuses on achieving the standards required to deliver a good service to our communities. The force has been through a significant period of change since our last inspection in 2018, and in particular to our corporate services where our inadequate grading has been identified. We are investing heavily to make these changes.”
Commissioner ‘more than disappointed’
Zoe Metcalfe
Meanwhile, Zoe Metcalfe, the Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said she expected to see “immediate change” in police response to call times after approving a £1.8 million investment in the force control room.
She added that she was “more than disappointed” with other findings in the inspector’s report.
She said:
Commissioner ‘confident’ over North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue improvement“I’m more than disappointed with other findings in the report and I’m sure members of the public will be too. It’s unacceptable that North Yorkshire Police requires improvement in multiple areas, in particular its strategic planning, organisational management and value for money – clearly more needs to be done and is being done as I continue to hold the chief constable to account. Our police force needs to do significantly better.
“I’m confident that the chief constable is overseeing significant transformation work within North Yorkshire Police to improve these outcomes, and that since October 2022 has implemented a trusted organisational improvement plan that can be effective at pace.”
North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has said the county’s fire brigade has undergone “significant improvements and progress” after being heavily criticised by inspectors.
Conservative commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has issued an upbeat and optimistic response to the criticism by the watchdog that monitors her performance, saying she was confident that, together with the force’s “inspirational” new senior leadership team, about guiding the service into “a strong and sustainable future”.
Her comments to the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel come three weeks after His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services released a mixed report, which concluded the brigade required “urgent improvements”.
Inspectors praised its prevention work, but said it required improvement at effectively keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks.
They also rated it ‘inadequate’ at efficiently keeping people safe and secure from fire and other risks and ‘inadequate’ at looking after its people.
Despite increasing collaboration, such as sharing buildings, between the county’s fire and police services being trumpeted by successive commissioners as being of significant benefit, inspectors said there was “little evidence to show its benefits to the service”.
City of York Council leader Cllr Keith Aspden told a meeting of the panel at County Hall in Northallerton that the inspection report did not make happy reading when compared to those for other brigades around the country.
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He said many of the issues facing the service had been known for several years and asked for an explanation as to how the brigade had been allowed to deteriorate.
Reform ‘has not been fast enough’
Jonathan Dyson, chief fire officer, said reform of the service had not been fast or deep enough in North Yorkshire, where in other forces numerous fire stations had been closed, freeing up resources for efficiencies.
He said the situation the brigade was in was a reflection of the organisation’s leadership and the service had stood still over how it applied resources to risks.
Panel member Cllr Tim Grogan said while the issues had developed at the brigade before the commissioner or chief fire officer were in post, the service appeared to be on “a downward spiral”.
Referring to the report’s ratings the Conservative said:
“Three years ago we got a B and two Cs and now we’ve got a C and two Ds.”
Mr Dyson responded saying government inspectors themselves had recently advised that fire services should not look at the grades they were given, but “the narrative behind” instead and that the inspections had become tougher over time.
He said:
“But of course press and everybody else only see when you open your newspaper that one word. You don’t take the two hours to read through as the public would in that context. And that can be misleading because the context, ultimately is the grade.”
Mr Dyson said the service was under no illusion that there was significant work to do to bring it up to standard.
Mrs Metcalfe said every penny of the public’s money was being spent wisely, and that she would continue to “make the case for fairer funding” to the government.
She said:
North Yorkshire fire chief admits ‘work to do’ following damning report“I can assure the panel that the communities of North Yorkshire and York can be confident and that should they require their fire and rescue service in an emergency that the right people and support will come.”
The chief fire officer at North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service has admitted there’s “work to do” following the publication of a highly critical report that questioned the service’s ability to respond to fires.
The report was published last week by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and it graded North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service following an inspection last year.
It found the service had deteriorated in most areas since its last full inspection in 2018/19.
The report said the organisation’s overall effectiveness “requires improvement” and more needs to be done to keep people safe and secure.
The inspection found that the number of available fire engines sometimes falls to below minimum levels.
It also said the way the service manages its finances is “inadequate” due to the “fragility” of the budget. It described the overall financial situation as “precarious”.
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While the report was largely critical of the service provided to the public, it did praise the organisation for its fire prevention work and how it responds to major incidents.
Chief fire officer, Jonathan Dyson, responded to the report at a public accountability meeting last week for the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
He said progress has been made since the inspection took place and tried to reassure the public that it is able to respond to incidents.
Mr Dyson said:
“We’ve work to do. There’s a reflection that it’s a bad report but the service has made improvements.
“We have a back to basics approach to ensure we are building an organisation from the foundations up. We provide competent fire fighters and a competent response and we’ll always deliver at incidents whenever the public needs us.”
Mr Dyson was appointed by Conservative Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe in May 2022, which was after the inspection took place.
Commissioner Metcalfe told the meeting:
Scrutiny of North Yorkshire Police use of force ‘not good enough’, say inspectors“I’ve appointed a new senior leadership team and I’ve worked with the chief fire officer to implement a rigorous and ongoing programme of improvement to support this process and I will continue to hold the service to account. I am confident that marked improvements have already been made.
“I would like to thank staff and firefighters who continue to make communities safe and they have my full support to improve the service going forward.”
Scrutiny of North Yorkshire Police’s use of force in custody is “not good enough”, say inspectors.
An inspection report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services found that scrutiny and quality assurance could not show that force used was “necessary, justified and proportionate”.
Inspectors also found that recording in custody records was “often poor” and important information, including reasons for decisions such as the removal of clothing, is “sometimes missing”.
They added that a review of CCTV found that incidents “weren’t always managed well, and techniques weren’t always used correctly”.
In a report published today, inspectors said:
“The force’s governance and oversight of the use of force in custody isn’t good enough.
“Although there is some scrutiny and quality assurance of incidents, the information that supports this scrutiny is inaccurate.
“This means North Yorkshire Police can’t show that when force is used in custody it is necessary, justified and proportionate.”
However, the report did find that officers interacted respectfully with detainees and were “patient and reassuring”.
It also found that the standard of care offered by custody staff to detainees was “very good”.
The inspection was carried out into the force’s custody suites during June and July this year. There are custody suites in York, Harrogate and Scarborough
In the report, inspectors raised two causes for concern which included scrutiny of use of force and managing detainee risk.
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Recommendations were made to improve scrutiny of use of force and to mitigate the risk of detainees in custody.
Police response
In response to the report, Elliot Foskett, North Yorkshire’s assistant chief constable (pictured above), said:
“We welcome the HMICFRS report, as it helps us to further understand how we can continue to improve our custody provision here in North Yorkshire Police.
“Working within the legislative framework, our absolute priority is the safety and welfare of detainees, avoiding any adverse level of risk.
“It is acknowledged that some processes, such as the recording of information, are not of the highest possible standard and this is something we have already started to look at.
“We are pleased the HMICFRS has recognised we have good measures in place to oversee the safe and respectful provision of custody.
“It’s also good to see the acknowledgement of the good work of our custody staff in relation to how they deal with detainees respectfully, patiently, and reassuringly, recognising the array of diverse needs.”