17 June 2025

​Record of actions and decisions

Title: Chief Officer's Management Board - Strategic
Date: Tuesday 17 June 2025
Venue: Clift Room

Attendees

Name	Role
CC Tim Smith (Chair)	Chief Constable
DCC Peter Ayling	Deputy Chief Constable
ACC Nigel Brookes	Local Policing Directorate
PSE Jonathan Castle	Chief Finance Officer
ACO Richard Leicester	Director of HR and L&D
ACO Gavin McKinnon	Director of Corporate Communications
ACO Claire Medhurst	Director of Support Services
ACC Andy Pritchard	Serious Crime Directorate
ACC Simon Wilson	Crime Directorate
Ch/Supt Simon Alland	Rep. Central Operations Directorate
PSE Fiona Brown (item 3)	Chief Information Officer
PSE Steph Gill (item 4)	Head of IT Service Delivery
PSE Becky Humphreys (item 6)	Head of Operational HR
PSE Sonya Gransden	Chief of Staff
PSE Emma Lewis	Staff Officer to Director SSD
PSE Catherine Hughes (Minutes)	Executive Assistant to CC

Apologies

• T/ACC Tracey Quiller

1. Approval of the record from Tuesday 20 May 2025

The record of the last meeting was approved, and it was noted there was no meeting held on 3 June 2025.

2. Matters arising/action updates

• Action 04/25 – a paper was provided at item 4 in the meeting and the action discharged.
• Action 10/25 - the update was noted, and the action discharged.
• Action 11/25 - Ch/Supt Alland provided an update, and the action was discharged.

3. Quarterly IT update 

PSE Fiona Brown presented the paper as previously shared providing a quarterly IT update and highlighted key information.   

PSE Brown noted the only portfolio risk in exception for Kent is the joint TecSafe item which is waiting for a web portal that will fix a local incompatibility, and this would be covered further at item 4 on the agenda.

The 25/26 portfolio has been agreed through the Digital Transformation and Oversight Board, and the two agile slots have now been filled with no further capacity to take on new project deliveries until the 26/27 portfolio year. PSE Brown provided a brief overview of the new demand decisions approved at DTOB chaired by DCC Ayling and highlighted key ongoing and upcoming projects.

Chief Officers discussed the availability and prioritisation of future agility slots.

4. Laptop review - Operational impact of option 2b

PSE Steph Gill presented the paper as previously shared providing Chief Officers with further data around the usage of laptops across the force and updated options for the allocation of laptops for 2025/26 for a decision. 

The meeting observed the laptop survey and usage review results, discussed the change in usage between the two data sets and the capabilities of the Dex alternative.

Chief Officers had previously agreed to: 

• replace laptops every five years – 2025/26 cost avoidance £1,234,000; and  
• move to a standard 16” laptop – 2025/26 saving £235,000. 

With regards to a decision on how to proceed with laptop allocation, Chief Officers approved Option A:

• To allow officers across the three divisions to retain their laptops and continue with the 2025/26 refresh of laptops, replacing 1,175 laptops from already approved technical refresh capital budget. 

Chief Officers also approved:

• issuing laptops to remaining officers in Divisional CID, CSU, DSU, VBCT and Proactive CID with HoDs agreeing prioritisation; and
• issuing remaining officers (approx. 18) with laptops in RPU; and

Exploring laptop charging options with Change Team and Transport Services as part of the Empowering Leaders and Reducing Bureaucracy workstream. 

5. Kent Attrition Exit Analysis Report

PSE Becky Humphreys presented the paper as previously shared providing Chief Officers with the turnover position for the 2024/25 financial year comparing to previous years and benchmarking against national data, where available.

Overall officer turnover has reduced from 7.39% to 6.73% which compares favourably nationally.  There has been a reduction in female officer overall turnover, but an increase in ethnic minority overall turnover.  There has been a significant reduction in PSE leavers and a reduction in both female and ethnic minority PSE overall turnover.

The three primary reasons for leaving for both officers and staff are related to personal/professional development and training, personal circumstances and work/life balance, and wellbeing. More detailed analysis identified that work stress and burnout was a commonly selected reason along with workload/demand and negative impact of high workload/demands.

It was noted turnover is higher in division which is comparable nationally. Chief Officers discussed how the data is accessed and utilised across commands.

The chief constable thanked PSE Humphreys for a comprehensive insight and confirmed future reports can provide just the main headline details.

6. Finance 2024/25 Period 12 and 2025/2026 Period 2 updates

PSE Jonathan Castle presented the report as previously shared and noted the highlights for 2024/25 period 12.

• a revenue underspend of (£2.5m) on service expenditure budgets plus an additional £0.5m of council tax surplus resulting in a total (£3.0m) revenue underspend in line with the central estimate provided previously 
• a capital underspend of (£7.3m)  
• £3.977m rollover requests of capital underspend 
• £2.4m contribution to reserves from revenue requests 

Chief Officers approved the rollover of £3.977m capital from 24/25 to 25/26.

PSE Jonathan Castle then presented the 2025/26 period 2 report as previously shared and highlighted key risks and opportunities for the current financial year and beyond.

7. Missing persons

DCC Peter Ayling provided an update on the review of the recording and search of missing persons following the recently updated APP guidance. The force policies are being reviewed to align with the updated guidance and work is underway to incorporate this into training. The updates will be submitted for approval at the Gold Commander Forum at the end of June with implementation on 7 July.  DCC Ayling advised a report is scheduled for COMB in August following implementation.

8. Risk management review update

ACO Claire Medhurst presented the paper as previously shared detailing the changes and movement in the Risk Register for the February to June 2025 period. A comprehensive review of the register was carried out resulting in a number of changes which included:

• 4 new risks (URN 2790, 2820, 2822, 2824)
• 1 increased risk score (URN 2740)
• 2 reductions in risk scores (URN 2789, 1830)
• 2 risks move outside of scope of the register (URN 2798, 1422
• 4 closed risks (URN 2644, 2784, 1645, 1242)

It was noted the newly added URN 2790 – ICCS instability was likely to reduce soon.

Chief Officers noted and approved the changes to the Risk Register.

10. Any other business

There was no further business for the open session.

• productivity dashboard
• CSR – budget settlement update

Date of next meeting

Tuesday 15 July 2025, 1pm, Clift Room.