04 February 2026
Minutes of Meeting
Meeting: COT Board
Venue: Haigh Room, Alverton Court
Date and Time: 4th February 2026, 9:30 – 1:00pm
ITEM 1: ATTENDANCE
CC T Forber - Chair
ACO L Stitt – Assistant Chief Officer
ACC B Moseley – Specialist Operations
ACC C Clarke – Local Policing and Safeguarding
R Baran – Director of Corporate Development
K Russell – Senior Corporate Communications Manager
T/CI D Anderson – Staff Officer to CC
S Gardiner – Governance Support Officer
APOLOGIES
DCC Bisset – Deputy Chief Constable
L Branford-White – Chief Finance Officer
ITEM 2: Review of Minutes.
Summary of Discussion:
The minutes of the previous board were reviewed, one amendment required and agreed.
ITEM 3: Review of Action Log.
Summary of Discussion:
Action #1 – Departmental Case Management Systems. Remitted to the Assets Meeting.
Action #2 – Clothing Allowance/Entitlement. Rigorous process in place. Closed.
Action #3 – Potential Capital Underspend. Clarity provided by ACO to CFO. Closed.
ITEM 4: Problem Solving Awards
Summary of Discussion:
Inspector Reader Schools and Problem Solving joined the meeting and presented the paper for decision.
The proposal was to implement a Prevention and Problem-Solving Awards event to be held annually within North Yorkshire Police. This is to support the embedding of a problem-solving and prevention culture, to share good practice, and provide reward and recognition.
It is proposed that the awards will be held in the Rosie Prior Conference Suite at HQ as a half day event. By holding the event in Spring each year there will be opportunity to link the awards to the National Tilley Award submissions.
The awards are intended to embed problem solving and prevention as a core organisational culture, not just a neighbourhood policing activity.
A discussion to place around the format of the awards with further scope to develop year on year.
All options were discussed and the COT requested additional recommendations including holding a full day event, and 8 awards presentations.
Voting for the award winner would take place through attendees at the event, with representation from across different functional areas, not just neighbourhood policing.
The proposed award name was discussed. The Arthur Troop Problem Solving & Prevention Award being the preferred name, recognising Arthur Troop and his historical contribution as a founding member of the International Police Association (IPA).
There was strong encouragement to seek external sponsorship and to hold a cost neutral event.
DECISION – The introduction of the Problem-Solving Awards. Other forces already have this event in place. The awards should include the whole force as well as Neighbourhood Policing. Problem Solving training had been delivered force wide. Supported
ITEM 5: ICT Quarterly Update
Summary of Discussion:
Gordon McQueen Director of ICT and Kyle Whittle Infrastructure Manager joined the meeting and presented the quarterly briefing.
ICT service performance is improving, following recruitment of hub engineers.
January had seen negative feedback around timeliness, but resolution times are now reducing as staff become fully operational.
The Induction of new hub engineers was contributing positively to service stability and resilience.
The hub recruitment status was nearing completion with a hub engineer still to be recruited in the Scarborough area.
ICT admin roles supporting the Force Control Room (FCR) have been realigned into ICT and will improve resilience, increase system knowledge and reduce reliance on travel between locations
This change has not impacted service delivery, although it has created short term challenges due to staff absence.
A discussion took place around the ATLAS platform and how this could be used across all departments.
ACC Moseley advised a tactical delivery plan, including milestones would be presented at the Innovation Board.
The use of OneNote was discussed and how this is facilitated for the COT Team.
ACTION - Exec Support Services requested to move away from the Q Drive OneNote to the OneDrive version.
ITEM 6: DFU (Digital Forensics Unit) Operating Model
Summary of Discussion:
DCI Jermy Bartley and Detective Inspector Gavin Mayes joined the meeting and presented the paper.
Leanne Consett Director of People Services joined the meeting to provide advice.
The DFU is experiencing significant attrition, driven largely by competition from the private sector, limited career progression and workforce wellbeing pressures, including psychological sickness.
Despite these pressures, the unit has shown improved performance, positive findings from the UKAS Inspection and improved queue times acknowledged by HMIC.
The Leadership view is that structural issues, not performance management, are the primary risk to sustainability.
The proposed operating model represented a fundamental restructure, designed to improve resilience, retention, and long-term capability.
A discussion took place around proposed changes and consultation. It was requested the Head of Organisational Learning and Head of Health Safety and Wellbeing be involved in the change process.
Decision -
COT were asked to acknowledge the content of the departmental change proposal; endorse the proposed approach and agree for it to proceed in line with the draft timescales set out at section 5. Supported
Recognising the risks and associated costs, outlined in section 1, COT are asked to request the Strategic Workforce Board considers how the onboarding of new staff within the DFU can be prioritised. Supported
COT are asked to support the intention to utilise existing capacity within the DFU revenue budget to outsource digital examinations, where appropriate, in order to maintain service delivery. Supported
ITEM 7: People Management
Summary of Discussion:
Secondment adverts were reviewed.
ITEM 8: COT Forward Planner
Summary of Discussion:
The forward planner was reviewed and no changes required.
ITEM 9: Freedom of Information Requests
Summary of Discussion:
The requests were noted.
ITEM 10: Urgent Financial Decisions and updates
Summary of Discussion:
Non raised.
ITEM 11: Any other Portfolio Updates by Exception
Summary of Discussion:
Non raised.
ITEM 12: Chief Officer Team Commitments
Summary of Discussion:
The Chief Officer Team commitments for the next two weeks were reviewed.
ITEM 13: Any other Business
Summary of Discussion:
Op Level – Closed discussion.
DATE, TIME AND LOCATION OF NEXT MEETING.
Date: 11th February 2026 Time: 12:30pm
Location: Conference Room 5, Harrogate Police Station