Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chairman of the Joint Public Protection Committee for the 2025/2026 Municipal Year.

Councillor Tom McCann was elected Chairman for the 2025/26 Municipal year.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman of the Joint Public Protection Committee for the 2025/2026 Municipal Year.

Councillor Iskander Jeffries was elected Vice-Chairman for the 2025/26 Municipal year.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 24 March 2025.

The minutes from the meeting dated 24 March 2025 were approved as a true and correct record.

To consider any outstanding matters from previous meetings.

Moira Fraser advised the data requested in respect of the annual vaping report was now being included in the annual report so this item could be closed.

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration, and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members’ Interests, the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

No declarations of interest were received.

To note those agenda items which have received an application for public speaking.

A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

The Partnership welcomes questions from members of the public about their work.

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Partnership or an item which is on the agenda for this meeting. For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact Democratic Services.

There were no public questions.

To detail future items that the Committee will be considering.

The Special meeting that was due to take place later in July had been bought forward to take place at the close of this meeting.

The JPPC forward plan was noted.

Following a vote it was resolved that Standing Orders would be suspended to allow Councillor Lou Timlin from Wokingham Borough Council to participate in the debate and  ask questions on any items in the agenda.

To note the current Terms of Reference of the Committee as this is the first meeting of the new Municipal Year.

Moira Fraser noted that as this was the first meeting of the Municipal Year the Terms of Reference of the Committee were included on the agenda for information only.

Councillor Nick Allen noted that during the special meeting that would immediately follow the current meeting there would be a vote on an item that would change the membership of the committee were it to be approved. He queried whether voting on the terms of reference meant that the terms of reference were unable to be changed again for the next six months. Moira Fraser advised that this item was to note only and that the 6 month rule could be overridden where there was a material change of circumstances as would be the case if the partner Councils later in the year agreed to accept the proposed recommendations set out in the report that would be discussed at the Special meeting. 

Councillor Tom McCann queried the earliest date that this could be bought before the Council at West Berkshire. Moira Fraser advised that officers were exploring  decision pathways and the earliest Council meeting was likely to be October but this had to be actioned and agreed across all three Councils. Councillor McCann requested the all members be kept updated on the progress.

ACTION: Moira Fraser to circulate the pathway for the changes to the terms of reference.

RESOLVED THAT the current terms of reference of the Joint Public Protection Committee be noted.

To inform the Committee of the performance of the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) during the final quarter of 2024/25 and the year-end outturn and to consider a set of revised Key Performance Indicators for the Service.

Sean Murphy introduced the Public Protection Partnership Service Update and Q4 and Year End Report for 2024/25. He informed the Committee of the performance of the Public Protection Partnership (PPP) in line with the operating model and business plan and provided an update setting out performance during the final quarter of 2024/25 and the year-end outturn. He also noted that the peer review had highlighted that the Service’s key performance indicators (KPIs) needed to be more meaningful and a set of proposed KPIS were therefore attached at Appendix D to the report.

Sean Murphy noted that an income shortfall of £179,000 had developed over a number of years. He noted the PPP had managed to achieve an end of year outturn position of a £129 underspend achieved largely by holding several vacancies open. He informed members that the budget had been rebuilt, and unachievable income targets had been removed from the service. The fees and charges that had been agreed by the Committee were agreed by both Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire Councill and several of the vacancies listed in the report had been filled or were in the process of being filled. It was noted that a number of staff had achieved milestones in various training courses.  He advised that a new website for the Public Protection Partnership had been launched which had seen an increased website viewership of 152,000 up from 87,000 the previous year.

Rosalynd Garter noted that a lot of work had been undertaken on improving the living environment. She advised that around 50% of the complaints that the housing service had received were about registered social landlords and that the main service requests they received were around damp and mould which were high all year round but particularly during the winter months. She advised that all of the caravan site visits had been carried out by the team. Rosalynd Gater noted that Officers had been using intelligence to target properties that they believed were acting as unlicensed Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s) with the aim of taking them through either licensing or enforcement processes as appropriate.

Sean Murphy highlighted the figures in relating to doorstep crime, noting that the £1,371,743 that had been scammed from residents was only a portion of the money associated with those traders as they had often operated across multiple authority areas and many scams went unreported.

Sean Murphy advised an officer had been appointed to deal with age restricted products and as a result since January 2025 there had been a significant increase in underage sales operations. He noted that across the authority 1,137 food standards inspections had been carried out which had got the partnership back on track.

Rosalynd Garter advised that, in relation to food hygiene inspections, officers had spent the past few years trying to catch up from Covid and following a lot of work had managed to catch up on the high-risk sites. She noted that 93% of the outstanding category D sites had received  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

To review the existing strategy, the comments on communication and branding arising from the recent Peer Review and to ensure that the current plan reflects the agreed Priorities of the Public Protection Partnership (PPP).

Moira Fraser introduced the PPP Communications and Engagement Plan 2025 to 2027 noting that the aim of this report was to review and update the existing strategy in line with the findings of the peer review. She noted that for the forthcoming year they were looking more at the engagement side of the strategy and not just the communications side. She also noted that they were exploring ways that they could more fully engage with members following the outcome of the peer review.

Sean Murphy advised that the Service had received funding to add an additional engagement officer role in the team. This had been funded from a joint application across the three authorities for Police and Crime Commissioner funding.

Councillor Allen advised that he had heard from people who had lost out on money through a solar panel scheme promoted through the authorities. One of the companies the scheme recommended had lost their certification after they had taken the deposits from residents. He sought clarity on whether officers were aware and wanted assurance that there were protections in place for members of the public.

Sean Murphy highlighted that the partnership had dealt with a number of issues in the green energy sector. This included a recent large case that had been through the courts in which the defendants had received suspended prison sentences, and a significant sum of money had been recovered for clients. It was suggested that it was common for rogue traders to try and take advantage of people looking to do the right thing.

Damian James advised that the scheme that Bracknell Forest operated had been extended and that he had received no reports of issue from anybody using the scheme within Bracknell Forest. He would discuss the individual case with Councillor Allen outside of the meeting.

Councillor Tom McCann queried whether there had been any reports of issue in West Berkshire or Wokingham. Sean Murphy advised that he was not aware of any but the PPP did get complaints relating to maintenance.

Councillor McCann suggested that someone should ensure that the correct providers were being recommended to residents.

RESOLVED That:  The Committee approved the Communications and Engagement Strategy for 2025/26 to 2027/28 subject to any changes agreed at the meeting.

RESOLVED That: The Committee endorsed Officers setting up street level pop up events to engage with the public.

Before Closing the meeting Councillor Tom McCann stated that concerns had been raised and fed back to him about service provision and decisions from West Berkshire that affected the JPPC and officers who supplied these services to both Wokingham Borough and Bracknell Forest and West Berkshire Councils. The Leader of West Berkshire had undertaken that there would be no service change, officer movements or indeed any service re-evaluation coming through the system.

He also stated that should Wokingham wish to rejoin the JPPC formally they would be welcomed with open arms, and he hoped that this statement would mean that any misunderstandings or miscommunications were brought to a conclusion. He hoped that this clarification would assist members with any discussions with their members in both authorities when considering the future of the Shared Service.