Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To elect a Chair for the meeting.

RESOLVED: That Councillor Ian Albert be elected as Chair for this meeting of the CCTV Partnership Joint Executive.

Councillor Val Bryant proposed and Councillor Mick Debenham seconded and, it was:

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Ian Albert be elected as Chair of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Marc Amron (Hertsmere Borough Council), Lloyd Briscoe (Stevenage Borough Council), Mione Goldspink (East Herts Council), Paul Hodgson-Jones (Hertsmere Borough Council), and Conor McGrath (Stevenage Borough Council).

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Marc Amron (Hertsmere Borough Council), Lloyd Briscoe (Stevenage Borough Council), Mione Goldspink (East Herts Council), Paul Hodgson-Jones (Hertsmere Borough Council), and Conor McGrath (Stevenage Borough Council).

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 24 October 2024.

RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Committee held on 24 October 2024 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Councillor Ian Albert, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Val Bryant seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 24 October 2024 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in accordance with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – RESOURCES

This report provides an update on the activities of the Officer Management Board since the last meeting of the Joint Executive in October. It includes the following:

·             Forecast financial position for 2024/25.

·             Budget for 2025/26.

·             Update on the capital upgrade to the control room operating system/equipment and maintenance costs.

·             Updates in relation to operational performance.

RESOLVED: That the Joint Executive provided comments and noted the report.

REASON FOR DECISION: To agree the strategic and policy issues in relation to the CCTV Partnership. They therefore receive regular updates from the Officer Management Board.

The Service Director – Resources presented the report entitled ‘CCTV Officer Management Board and Operations Manager Report‘ and advised that:

·             The budget and forecast for 2024/25 were detailed in paragraph 8.1 of the report with the vacant staff position reflected within these and the variance to the budget. The CCTV Operations Manager had been covering the work arising from the vacant position on a temporary overtime basis, but a more permanent solution would need to be found.

·             The table at paragraph 8.2 showed the budget and forecast for 2024/25 as a split between the partners of the Joint Executive.

·             SSG asked for an exceptional inflationary increase (above 2.6%) to their service charge for 2025/26, however, there were no provisions in the contract for this and as such, the agreed rate in the contract had been applied.

·             The budget for 2025/26 was set out in paragraph 8.3. Employee costs were based on the previously established position before the vacancy arose.   

·             With the CCTV Operations Manager effectively working two roles, they would look to fill the vacancy in the coming financial year.

·             The changes to the number of camera units per partner organisation were outlined in the table, with East Herts Council overtaking North Herts Council in terms of camera units. 

The Procurement & Compliance Manager provided an update and advised that:

·             Since the last meeting, an Invitation to Tender the works for an upgrade of the control room hardware and an ongoing support contract had been released. Eleven expressions of interests had been received so far, and they had begun evaluating these by using procurement approved benchmarking tools to ensure value for money.

·             Maintenance costs would be within budget and the costs for the upgrade were forecast to come below the original estimate.

·             They would await confirmation from East Herts and Hertsmere before proceeding with a tender.

The CCTV Operations Manager provided more information and advised that:

·             Regular updates were provided by the CCTV Operations Manager on performance, camera usage and incident data to the Officer Management Board.

·             An upgrade of Hertford Town Centre cameras had been complete and a quotation for a new cabinet had been sent to Hertford Town Council which was awaiting approval. 

·             North Herts had recently completed a refresh of their CCTV cameras. They had just one outstanding update to complete in addition to one new location which was awaiting permission from the building owner.

·             Hertsmere had ordered a new CCTV camera to be installed on Theobald Street, Borehamwood.

·             East Herts had one camera outstanding due to questions being asked about its location. A broadband connection was also long overdue at the site. However, camera upgrade installation at Gascoyne Way Car Park was underway and due to be complete in March 2025.

·             Stevenage Borough Council CCTV Housing Phase Three was awaiting one broadband connection at Ingelheim Court. Dunn Close had suffered a few setbacks due to contractors but would look to start installation in April 2025. A CCTV upgrade in Popple Way would start later in the month  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To agree a date for the next meeting.

The Chair led discussion on the date of the next meeting.

The Chair led discussion on the date of the next meeting and proposed for the next meeting to take place in June.

The Service Director – Resources highlighted that meetings of the Joint Executive normally took place every six months and that there would be little for the CCTV Partnership to update Members on in June.

The Chair detailed that various political party conferences would be taking place in six months and suggested that the next meeting should take place in mid-October subject to confirmation after the meeting.