Force-wide vulnerability action plan

The Humberside Police Vulnerability Board is held bi-monthly and chaired by the head of crime. This meeting is to ensure that the fourteen strands of vulnerability are being managed effectively through all pillars of policing, with clear parameters and direction for the different commands across Humberside, achieving operational accountability and delivery against the six part (6P) plans and vulnerability as in the vulnerability strategy – Plan on a Page.

The key aims will be as follows:

• 6P plan owners to provide updates, to include a summary overview of their plan with a focus on key priorities – this can be evidenced through the operational deliverables with data analysis to support
• escalation – an opportunity for 6P Plan owners to raise concerns such as the lack of attendance at meetings, capacity issues and resourcing concerns
• improved awareness of vulnerability across the commands
• reduce duplication and share best practice
• improved coordination and management of vulnerability across the force

The main intended outcome of the vulnerability board is to improve victim service delivery to our must vulnerable people. This will be achieved by targeting offenders and developing our workforce by delivering the fourteen Strands of Vulnerability through the 6P plans, ensuring alignment to the National Vulnerability Action Plan (NVAP) and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) 4P plan. 

The approach includes a review of national data and changes to legislation, which helps in planning future resource needs more effectively. Alongside this, and to make sure it can maintain things like high standards of investigation, it monitors the skills, abilities, workload, and training of its staff.

Vulnerability tracker

The force’s comprehensive understanding of vulnerability demand stems from the use of a vulnerability tracker, which considers volume, complexity, and trends. For example, where domestic abuse is concerned it considers domestic abuse that occurs inside or outside the home; the level of risk assigned to each incident; the type of domestic abuse; whether it is a repeat victim or a repeat offender; and gender, ethnicity and any children that are involved. Live data is available through a data analytics system, which allows the force to map domestic abuse from ward to local authority area, and at a force level. Analysis of themes supports multi-agency problem-solving approaches.

Humberside Police adopts the principles of professional curiosity identifying indicators of vulnerability at the earliest opportunity to provide intervention, diversion and prevention of risk and need escalating. 

Investigative mindset

Police and staff use an investigative mindset to recognise and respond to vulnerability, ensuring the correct level of risk is identified for police and partner agencies to take effective action to manage risk and safeguard our most vulnerable. Humberside Police focuses on the below 10 areas to deliver against the strategy:

• identifying & managing risk       
• victim engagement & care         
• supporting vulnerable victims through the judicial system            
• evidence led prosecutions.          
• collaborative working
• crime prevention and long-term problem solving             
• Utilising data analytics   
• developing our workforce           
• staff wellbeing 
• professional and ethical conduct

All of which is part of the Vulnerability Strategy Plan on a Page and the thread throughout the 6P plans for the fourteen strands of vulnerability.

Improvement of the operational delivery

This process has identified several areas which has assisted in the improvement of the operational delivery of the fourteen strands of vulnerability, by reducing duplications, creating a legacy system with a single depository for all 6P plans and ensuring that they are all cross checked against NVAP and the VAWG 4P Plan. This is achieved by the following.

This is achieved by the following.

• Utilising Share Point to hold all the 6P Plans. Each 6P plan will be stored on this SharePoint page, to ensure that all the plans are collated in one location. They can then be easily accessible to the Head of Crime, Strategic Planning Manager and Detective Superintendent protecting vulnerable people (PVP) – Partnerships to review and cross check against the NVAP. This will deliver the collation of evidence for future inspections such as His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) or jointed targeted area inspection’s (JTAI) with everything being stored in one location with a uniform response across the force as to how vulnerability is managed.
• The 6P plans will all have their own folders to keep everything together, so any evidence such as Strategies, Operational Orders, Training plans and Data outcomes can be stored against the plan to show that, So What? Analysis. To support the evidential journey of delivery, the 6P plan owners obtain and secure data analysis for their area of business to provide a benchmark.

Strategic planning team

All evidence, documents or data that requires adding to support the operational deliverables is emailed to the strategic planning team.

All documents or data relating to that section are then saved in the folder titled ‘Domestic Abuse training material for PVP professional policing degrees.’ The Strategic and Planning team then create a hyper link from the 6P plan to that folder, so in effect utilising the 6P plan as a ‘one stop shop’ for all material obtained in the delivery of the 6P plan from all the different commands as supporting evidence.

There is a link that will be sent to all plan owners, which provides access to their 6P plan. Access to the 6P plan will allow the owner to update the 6P plans progress in the section headed Update and Progress which is reviewed in the Vulnerability Board. This is to ensure that there is one golden record for that 6P plan rather than duplicate copies being stored in officer’s personal folders.

Vulnerability board

Vulnerability board is held monthly by the assistant chief constable (ACC) of the communities command for the force for the executive governance – ensuring the delivery of the 6P plans flows through:

• strategic – senior managers
• tactical – management 
• operational – workers

This approach has brought about the following:

• approved awareness of operational delivery for the fourteen strands of vulnerability across the board
• improved collaborative working across the different commands, and how they are all accountable for the operational delivery of the 6P plans
• reduction of duplication and improved alignment of innovation 
• chief officer oversight of vulnerability governance 

6P plans that are current and relevant by building their frameworks from:

• NVAP
• VAWG 4P plans
• national, Regional and Local findings – from reviews and audits
• super-complaints 
• College of Policing’s (CoP) authorised professional practice (APP)
• vulnerability knowledge and practice programme (VKPP) recommendations
• National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) findings and recommendations 
• innovative practice 

A single depository for the fourteen strands of vulnerability stored centrally as a force providing a legacy of:

• performance outcomes 
• strategies
• policies
• quality assurance thematic testing results
• training material plans and schedules. 

This is a force wide initiative to ensure vulnerability is a golden thread throughout the 14 strands of vulnerability utilising NVAP and VAWG 4P plans as the foundations.

The overall impact has been as follows:

• improved governance and oversight from chief officers 
• improved alignment of delivery for the fourteen strands of vulnerability across the different commands 
• utilising a clear framework for the 6P plans through the use of NVAP, VAWG 4P plans, national, regional & local findings – from reviews and audits, super-complaints, CoP APP, VKPP recommendations, NPCC findings and recommendations & innovative practice
• auditable evidence of operational delivery 
• reduction of duplication across the commands 
• development of a single depository force wide for the 6P plans and a legacy for each of the vulnerability strands.

Key learning from the development and delivery of the vulnerability board and the use of the 6P plans.

• The chair being a member of the chief officer group provides chief officer oversight, scrutiny, and accountability to ensure delivery from the different commands.
• Improves the governance around vulnerability and how that links into the Victim Focus meeting chaired by the deputy chief constable (DCC).
• Utilise IT and Office 365 more effectively through SharePoint for the single depository and the use of links for a golden record and ease of access to update the actions, without sending numerous emails with different version that need collating.
• Utilising NVAP, VAWG 4P plans, national, regional & local findings – from reviews and audits, super-complaints, CoP APP, VKPP recommendations, NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council) findings and recommendations and innovative practice to build the framework of the 6P plans, so that there is:
  • uniformity
  • consistency
  • best practice
  • reduction of duplication 
• Hyperlink - documents, performance, strategies, training material, policies, standard operating procedures (SOPs), which show the operational deliverables within the 6P plan.

There is a one stop shop for all the evidence for the vulnerability strand in one place that assists in:

• all the information in one place for inspections
• easy access to good working practices rather than reinventing the wheel.
• legacy – should the 6P plan owner move role, then the new person taking over, will have the legacy of all of the work completed in one place and the journey taken to achieve the objectives