Communities, Equalities and People Committee Legacy Report

Report: 8
Date: 3 November 2011
By: Chief Executive

Summary

This report provides a summary of some of the achievements of this Committee and provides details of the areas of its work that it is proposed should continue under the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and how they might be discharged.

A. Recommendation

That Members

1. endorse the areas identified for continuation under the Mayor’s office for Policing and Crime (MOPC); and
2. agree to submit this report to Full Authority in January 2012 for ratification.

B. Supporting information

1. The work conducted under the auspices of this Committee is significant in that it seeks to ensure that communities, equalities and people matters are at the heart of everything the MPA and the MPS do. The Committee's oversight responsibilities include MPS human resources (HR) policies and strategies, matters relating to equal opportunities and diversity within the MPS and the MPA, MPA/MPS statutory consultation and community engagement duties and MPA/MPS statutory partnership duties.

2. The Committee has delivered some notable successes for London across its areas of responsibility and these are discussed in more detail below, along with suggestions for what elements of the work should continue in the future.

Successes and Achievements – Community Engagement

3. The Authority presided over the development of the first ever MPA/MPS community engagement strategy in 2005. This was then followed by the more accessible 2010-13 Community Engagement Commitment, which recognises that community engagement is fundamental to understanding the crime and safety issues that matter most to Londoners and to building trust and confidence in the police service. This is the overarching framework within which the MPA and MPS deliver community engagement and both originations have developed action plans to support delivery of the commitment and these have been monitored through this Committee.

4. The Committee (through the Community Engagement and Citizen Focus Sub-Committee) has been providing direction and support to the work of the Community and Police Engagement Groups (CPEGs). This has supported the development of a more robust funding process, which ensures the Authority achieves better value for money by focusing Groups on delivery against the MPA’s objectives, and implementing a performance-oriented approach to the work of the CPEGs, which enables the Authority to better measure the related community engagement outcomes. As a result of this work, the Authority has motivated CPEGs to deliver more innovative and inclusive community engagement activities. For example, many Groups have delivered youth events bringing young people together to identify their crime and safety concerns and to enlist their support in delivering safer communities. The Authority has also provided direct funding to special projects such as the award-winning Haringey Young People Empowered (HYPE) project, which was formed by young people in 2007 in response to their concerns about violent crime and the break down in community relations, which has become an effective youth-led organisation that acts as the voice of young people in Haringey.

5. The Authority’s current statutory consultation duties have been replicated in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (2011) and will transfer to the MOPC. The Commitment will remain current until 2013. Similarly, CPEGs are currently funded within the MPA budget until 2013/14 and it is anticipated that this commitment will transfer to the MOPC. As such, the MOPC will need to maintain oversight of delivery against the Commitment action plans and of CPEG activities.

Successes and Achievements – Domestic and Sexual Violence Board

6. The multi-agency Domestic and Sexual Violence Board (DSVB) began as the Domestic Violence Board in 2006. In line with national developments in this area, the Board expanded its remit to adopt a more holistic approach to all forms of violence against women in 2009. The Board has conducted its work through a programme of borough scrutiny coupled with a series of thematic reviews. The DSVB has had a significant impact in its five years of operation; from creating bespoke borough action plans for development of service delivery to making corporate recommendations. One of the areas of success for the DSVB has been getting boroughs to talk to each other to identify and share good practice. The thematic reviews conducted by the board also delivered significant pan-London successes. These included revised guidance about the use of repeat cautions in domestic violence cases, and the development of a pilot project to access feedback from victims of domestic violence. The Board also commissioned research into sexual violence and disproportionality. The action plans produced by the Rape and Serious Sexual Offences, Child Abuse Investigation Command and Territorial Policing command (covering all 32 London boroughs) included addressing issues through training, regular data reviews of case outcomes, and updating pan-London standard operating procedures which govern the investigation of crimes.

7. The DSVB final report recommended that the MOPC ensure that it is able to independently and rigorously review MPS strategy, policy, and practice across MPS units which deal in any way with domestic and sexual violence, encompassing all forms of violence against women. The report also identified the key areas that it would like to ensure continue to be rigorously pursued in terms of future oversight and review processes of the MPS.

Successes and Achievements – Hate Crime

8. The Hate Crime Forum (HCF) has played a significant role in the development of multi-agency partnership work in this field. The HCF pioneered the programme of borough scrutiny that was later adopted by the Domestic and Sexual Violence Board (DSVB), which highlighted good and poor practice across London and supported the delivery of significant improvements in service delivery and victim experience at borough level. The HCF has always acted as an external reference group and critical friend and this has been particularly helpful to the MPS in ensuring that the standard operating procedures and campaign materials addressing all forms of hate crime, but more recently disability hate crime, are appropriate and relevant. In addition, the Forum has provided effective external challenge to the MPS in the way it manages hate crime delivery and this recently resulted in the creation of new compulsory fields on the crime recording system to ensure hate crime is properly identified, managed and monitored. In working to improve the victim experience, the HCF has looked beyond the MPS to the roles of other partners and in partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) looked at attrition rates and charging practices in relation to hate crime. Again this external scrutiny helped to identify key issues and supported the CPS in making appropriate system changes to ensure offenders were appropriately charged, and brought to justice.

9. With the establishment of MOPC it is now timely to review current practice and to reaffirm our commitment to the hate crime agenda, which remains both a Mayoral and government priority. Having reviewed the current position it is proposed that future hate crime oversight focuses on continued work with partners to increase victim and community confidence in the criminal justice system, prevent hate crimes from occurring or escalating in seriousness and to improve access to and take-up of victim support.

Successes and Achievements – Human Resources

10. The MPA has presided over a period of significant change in the MPS, including a huge increase in personnel to in excess of 55 000 from a base level of approximately 38 000 and an increase in the proportions of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and female personnel. For example, since 2005/06 the proportion of BME personnel within the MPS has risen to 16.6% from 13.4% respectively. Similarly over the same period of time the proportion of female personnel has risen from 32.2% to 34.4%. The Authority has maintained its oversight of diversity matters within the MPS, particularly in relation to the recruitment and retention of police officers and staff. As part of this work, the Authority conducted a significant review of officer diversity training and took part in the GLA best value review of equalities in 2001/2002. Members have also received reports on detective capacity and capability within the MPS, which highlighted the increase in the numbers of female and BME officers within the detective ranks. Members welcomed this positive development and also sought to ensure that the MPS recognised the need to provide opportunities for lateral development, which can also be beneficial to longer-term career development. More recently the MPA has overseen the implementation of key recommendations arising from Met Forward, such as the 3 year tenure period for all borough commanders.

11. There are considerable MPS human resources matters that will require ongoing monitoring and oversight, such as the territorial policing development programme. In addition, there are statutory equality and diversity matters that will need to be considered and published on an ongoing basis, and these activities will all need to transfer to the MOPC.

Successes and Achievements – Independent Custody Visiting (ICV) Scheme

12. The ICV is delivered through 32 borough-based panels, which exist to hold their local police to account for the treatment of detainees on behalf of their communities. The Committee has overseen the continued development of the Scheme, which has included a significant awareness-raising campaign and a successful recruitment drive. There are now in excess of 400 lay visitors in the scheme and, despite some peaks and troughs, overall performance in terms of the number of visits conducted, how effectively issues arising out of visits are addressed, how effectively the panel communicates with the local community about the scheme and how effectively the MPA recruits to the scheme, has consistently improved over time. As well as ensuring ongoing commitment to the appropriate treatment of detainees within the MPS, the ICV scheme has very recently demonstrated its wider value to the MPA and MPS through the role played by lay visitors during the recent disturbances. Lay visitors were able to increase the number of visits conducted during this time to match the increased demand on custody facilities and to reassure communities that detainees were being treated appropriately.

13. The ICV scheme is a very important aspect of the MPA’s contribution to improving trust and confidence in policing and it is a statutory requirement that will transfer to the MOPC. As such, ongoing oversight and service development will need to continue under the MOPC.

Successes and Achievements – Partnership Working

14. Partnership working is a significant area for the MPA and MPS in terms of the statutory duties, the financial dimensions and reputational risk, and the Authority has always considered it important to maintain effective oversight of developments in this area. The Authority has presided over a period of significant change in terms of partnership working and in preparation for becoming a responsible authority on community safety partnerships (CSPs), conducted a full scrutiny of partnership working in the MPS in 2003.

15. CEP Committee has considered the implications and benefits of partnership working across the range of matters on which it has received reports, e.g. in relation to safeguarding adults, dealing with female genital mutilation and violence against women and girls, all of which require a partnership approach. In addition, the Committee has received reports on the borough command unit (BCU) and MPA partnership funds with members’ discussions directly informing the review and development of the annual MPA partnership fund priorities. In both cases members have been focused on the application of the funds and on identifying and disseminating good practice. The Committee’s consideration of these matters has emphasised the need to ensure that all MPA/MPS funded activities are evaluated to ensure they are effective and offer value for money. As a result of the Committee’s focus, relevant conditions have been attached to new funding agreements to ensure that the GLA Oracle evaluation tool and database is utilised to evaluate and disseminate good practice. The Committee has also received reports on the MPS’ developing partnership framework and an MPA officer sits on the MPS’ central partnership steering group, which is progressing this work and ensuring the MPS’ partnership management processes are sufficiently robust.

16. Two of the key recommendations arising from the MPA partnerships scrutiny lead to the creation of the MPA partnerships team and the MPA partnership fund, both of which will continue under the MOPC. MOPC will not be a responsible authority on CSPs, but will have statutory grant-making and performance oversight responsibilities. As such, these activities will need to continue in the future and will be appropriately resourced within the new organisational structure.

Success and Achievements - Race and Faith Inquiry

17. The Race and Faith Inquiry report, published in July 2010, was a significant piece of work for the Authority commissioned by the Mayor of London to consider race and faith within the MPS in relation to employment. The panel examined the current position of the organisation in order to establish what has changed as a result of lessons learnt from the past, identifying success and good practice and further opportunities to build upon this. The inquiry was also an opportunity to review the MPA oversight role and make recommendations for improvement. The Authority has already taken forward a number of the key recommendations, including the appointment of a new Head of Equalities and Engagement. The Authority has also progressed significant work on multi-point entry with a national symposium held in January 2011 and ongoing joint meetings with the MPS and the Home Office to support the development of a pilot scheme. The Authority has established an internal Race and Faith Monitoring Group to oversee the progression of the recommendations within the MPS. As a result of the Inquiry, the MPS has also developing a new organisational learning team to identify and disseminate good practice and a new personal development review process to ensure sufficient focus on staff development.

18. The Inquiry recommendations are far reaching and potentially have implications beyond the MPS. As such, delivery against the recommendations will most certainly continue in the MOPC under the direction of the Head of Diversity and Equality.

Success and Achievements - Stop and Search

19. The Authority has delivered some major achievements in this area over the last 10 years, including oversight of the implementation of recommendation 61 of the Lawrence Inquiry Report, which introduced the recording of stop and account encounters and the development of the borough stop and search monitoring groups. More recently the Authority has delivered a significant consultation exercise on the withdrawal of the recording of stop and account, which demonstrated how the community voice can positively influence decision-making. Stop and search will continue to be an ongoing concern for many of London’s communities, and as such, it would be appropriate for the MOPC to continue its oversight of this area of the MPS’s activities.

The Future under the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime

20. At this stage, officers anticipate that the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime will need to maintain some form of monitoring and oversight of all the matters discussed in this report. In addition, officers will have to support the delivery of Met Forward 2, which has a continued focus on effective partnership working, community engagement and the management and development of MPS human resources. This will be overlaid with the significant cross-cutting issues arising from (i) the Territorial Policing Development Programme, (ii) estates matters and (iii) the Race and Faith Inquiry action plan. Appendix 1 details aspects of the Committee’s current activities that officers anticipate should continue under the MOPC. It is not an exhaustive list and should not be considered a work plan.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. There are no specific equality and diversity implications arising from this report. However, these are key issues for the Authority and will continue to be so under the MOPC.

2. The MOPC will be required to comply with the public sector equality duty to (i) eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act, (ii) advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not and (iii) foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. While not an exhaustive list, the oversight and monitoring activities described in Appendix 1 will support this requirement, which will have to be considered throughout the work of the MOPC.

Consideration of Met Forward

3. The work considered in this report directly supports the 'Better conversation', ‘Met People’ and ‘Met Partners’ strands of Met Forward and the equality and diversity considerations run throughout the work of the Authority and this will continue to be the case under the MOPC.

Financial Implications

4. There are no specific financial implications arising from this report. Any work carried forward into MOPC will be funded from within existing budgets.

Legal Implications

5. There are no specific legal implications arising from this report other than the need to ensure that the MOPC complies with any statutory obligations.

Environmental Implications

6. There are no specific environmental implications arising from this report.

Risk Implications

7. There is potentially some risk associated with continuing oversight of the matters that fall within the remit of this Committee under a new governance structure, which may not have the same scope for business to be conducted in public meetings. While the future governance structures under MOPC have yet to be finalised, officers are aware of this and are actively considering how best to ensure sufficient openness, transparency and public accountability.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report authors:  Natasha Plummer, Engagement and Partnerships Manager, MPA

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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