Public Protection Desk update

Report: 5
Date: 11 February 2010
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides Members with a current update on the work of the MPS on Public Protection Desks across London.

A. Recommendation

Members are requested to consider and note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

1. The Childrens Act 2004 gave effect to the legislative proposals set out in the Green Paper “Every Child Matters – Change for Children”, to create clear accountability for Children Services, enable better joint working and secure a better focus on safeguarding children. The Green Paper had been published alongside the Governments formal response to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry Report. The 2004 Act sets out a statutory requirement for all key agencies working with children and young people to work in partnership to ensure all children achieve the best chance in life. Section 10 sets out the duty for all agencies (which includes the MPA and Chief Officer of Police) to cooperate to improve well being, and Section 11 sets out a duty to Make arrangements for ensuring that functions or services provided are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

2. The MPS Every Child Matters (ECM) Programme Board was closed on the 11 November 2008 although work continued within Territorial Policing (TP) to incorporate ECM into daily business. The ECM portfolio remains within the Violent Crime Directorate and is supported by a Public Protection Desk (PPD) service delivery team.

3. ECM is contained within the MPS strategies “MPS Youth Strategy” and “MPS Serious Violence Strategy”. Delivery around ECM within the MPS focuses mainly on two main business groups. These are the Violent Crime Directorate (VCD), which is part of Territorial Policing (TP), and the Child Abuse Investigation Command (SCD5).

4. The MPS utilises the Merlin database, accessed through the corporate aware computer network, to record, evaluate and disseminate intelligence relating to children coming to notice. The Merlin system has been upgraded to enable the MPS to share information on children and young people at risk of not achieving one or more of the five key outcomes [1]. This is shared in a format compatible with CAF via a secure e-mail (using the Criminal Justice IT system) to Local Authority Children’s Services.

5. There is a PPD on every borough, they receive Information reports for children that reside or are well known on their borough. They assess and undertake intelligence checks before deciding whether to share the information, and if so, with whom. Corporate Information Sharing Agreements have been forwarded to each Borough and are currently with the appropriate agency signatories for signing by April 2010. Once complete these are forwarded to the information Sharing Section of DOI, who are managing the process, to provide a central index.

6. In 2007 the MPS and other forces were inspected by HMIC as part of a themed report “Protecting Vulnerable People” As a result a project team was formed to tackle a challenging Programme focused around their recommendations and areas for improvement. A summary of the recommendations are outlined below:

• The brigading of Sapphire (Rape and Serious Sexual offences), Compass (Missing Persons), Jigsaw (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) and CSU (Domestic Violence and Hate Crime) teams, maintaining their own strong individual brands, but being known as Borough Public Protection Groups. This brigading should, where at all possible, include co-location;
• The formation of a dedicated Public Protection Desk on Borough to receive pre-assessment checks for vulnerable children and quality assure existing risk assessments. This was with the intention of having a trained decision-maker to ensure that the Merlin report is sent to the appropriate internal/external stakeholder including senior management for high-risk cases;
• The inclusion of “Public Protection” as a standing item on the borough’s Daily Management Meeting’s agenda;
• The identification of a Borough Intelligence Unit asset to act as SPOC/Focus desk for public protection issues on Borough;
• For each Borough to have a public protection SMT lead;
• Boroughs to have engaged their partner agencies and risk assessed the impact together;
• To produce public protection monthly performance report and over-arching supportive performance regime.

Public Protection Desk roll out including successes and areas for improvement

7. The Public Protection Desks on all 32 Boroughs in London have now achieved accreditation status and operate without SCD5 support. This milestone was realised in March 2009; this time frame was a challenge for the MPS as the desks were created utilising existing BOCU resources and within the MPS estates policy.

8. Each Borough is responsible for assessing the resources their PPD needs. The Borough Commander is responsible for the allocation of their BOCU resources. Workloads vary across each BOCU; the minimum staffing level for the team comprises 1 Sergeant, 1 deputy (normally a PC or DC) and 2 researchers. As each BOCU has to manage their resources some PPD staff perform more than one function within the borough.

9. As the accreditation process rollout and delivery time was short this allowed for a minimum level of competence to assess reports. This focused on areas such as: hours of working, staff, partnerships, secure email, the process of interaction with SCD5 (CAIT) and using PPD’s within the child death review process. A more in depth Quality Assurance process is currently being carried out to ensure that Merlin reports are being dealt with in line with the current standard operating procedures (SOP), due to be completed by the Autumn of 2010.

10. Youth Offending Teams (YOTS) are a multi-agency team, and its statutory membership is set out in s39 (5) of the Crime & Disorder Act 1998, which includes the Police Service. YOT initially receive Merlin Reports by secure e-mail via the Police Electronic Notification to YOTS (PENY). This covers the statutory requirement for Police to inform YOTS within 24 hours that a child or young person has been arrested, as agreed by the Youth Justice board and monitored by NPIA. The Merlin PAC is then transferred to the YOTS Police Officers to carry out further research to ensure a more comprehensive risk assessment has been completed.

11. To achieve the project aims the TP service delivery team has prioritised and provided additional training to YOTS staff. This has greatly improved the response from YOTS in the timely completion of reports from the Public Protection Desks and enhanced Merlin functionality.

Measurement of success & Borough minimum standards

12. As part of the Public Protection Project, recommendation 9 of the HMIC Report “Protecting Vulnerable People” required the MPS to develop a performance management framework for Public Protection to incorporate all teams within the Public Protection Group (PPG) this included Compass, Jigsaw, Sapphire, Serious Violence Teams and PPD’s. It should be noted that offences previously investigated by TP Sapphire teams are now investigated by SCD2.

13. The project has helped define the parameters for a monthly Public Protection Report for all the remaining aspects of public protection. This has been developed in conjunction with the Directorate of Information (DoI) and in particular Performance Information Bureau (PIB). The report combines qualitative information aligned to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) with quantitative data. The development of performance data (and its interpretation) is at an early stage due to IT constraints and is very much a `work in progress`.

14. The current data page highlights workloads, process and results; ensuring minimum standards in line with the Safeguarding Children SOP. The overall report covers all of the TP owned public protection and the new SCD2 Sapphire command. The TP service delivery team continue to work with PIB to develop a more accurate picture of performance.

15. It should be noted that unlike CRIS or other MPS IT applications it is difficult to extract and manipulate data from Merlin. At present it has a limited search facility. TP and SCD5 are seeking funding for further Merlin enhancements to allow more management information to be extracted from the Merlin database.

PPD Intended Outcomes including Good Practise or under performing

16. The last PPD was accredited in March 2009. The desks are a relatively new area of business for the MPS and provide the ability for Boroughs to take more responsibility around Safeguarding Children. The assessment of risk takes place within the desks for Boroughs and then information is shared or further investigation takes place with regard to proactive tasking around Dangerous People, Vulnerable People and Dangerous Locations.

17. To support Borough Commanders with focused tasking and the co ordination of resources for their PPDs TPHQ secured funding to provide two researchers for each Borough. These additional members of staff provide a dedicated research capacity supporting the existing resources allocated to the PPD’s by Borough Commanders last year and are part of the minimum team strengths.

18. The number of Merlin reports for all report types has increased, these include: missing persons, bodies and body parts found, sudden deaths, persons found, PAC’s, prostitute cautions, Police Protection reports and Child Protection Plans. In the calendar year 2007 there were 150,836 reports. In 2008 this had increased to 197,470 and by 2009, the MPS recorded 218,160 cases on Merlin. This increasing volume of reports shows the changes to public protection and the revised picture for the MPS.

19. Every Borough Intelligence Unit (BIU) has an Analyst, part of whose role is to interact with PPD’s. This supports the PPDs and provides a conduit for intelligence to flow into other areas of mainstream borough policing. Teams within the PPG are brigaded under the leadership of a member of the Borough SMT, this allows Tasking and Resourcing on the Borough to give more focus towards families and children at risk, dangerous people and places.

20. Presentations have been given to the Pan London Working Integrated Network, which represents Childrens services around London. This is an initiative from the Government Office for London (GOL) to achieve a standardised Common Assessment Framework (CAF) process for London. The MPS contributes to this process through Merlin reports, these reports have been shown to GOL and the content has been agreed. Although the group would like Merlin changes to indicate that officers have informed families of CAF. Any changes to Merlin would require estimated costs, benefits and funding. Public Protection issues, including those relating to children, are now a standing item on Borough Daily Management Meetings DMM). Some boroughs are now moving towards a Daily Public Protection Group meeting prior to the main DMM to better inform the SMT of issues affecting the public protection teams within the group.

21. At a more strategic level, the specialist service delivery teams at TP VCD hold a daily meeting to discuss incidents or areas of potential risk across London that may affect the MPS; this is called the Daily Public Protection Group Meeting. Where appropriate these are raised to TP VCD DMM for further action or escalation to Area Commanders.

PPD Role in MPS Diversity and Equality Strategy 2009 – 2013

22. Fair and responsive services: - Every Child Matters affects all children regardless of race, age, disability, gender, religion, beliefs and sexual orientation. The five outcomes focus on a better life for the children of London. Police Officers, PCSO’s and police station front counter staff are able to complete and submit reports. Domestic Violence Merlin reports account for approximately 66% of all Merlin PAC’s. These reports assist police and partners at Childrens Services to develop a picture of children and families in London. As stated above, management information on Merlin is limited and does not yet allow for equalities monitoring data to be gathered.

23. Community Engagement: - PPD’s are the largest information sharing group on Boroughs. They share Merlin reports with Childrens Services and YOTS. It should be highlighted that Childrens Services will then assess the information and, if thought appropriate, share that information with health, schools and other established borough partners. Each Borough in London has differing social and economic needs, the resourcing by Borough Commanders of PPD’s should reflect these needs and each desk integrates with their communities, as they see fit.

24. Workforce and culture: - All staff on a PPD receive a weeks training course on a variety of topics including race, faith and hate crimes. To ensure that any Merlin reports consider “Honour” based violence (HBV), female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage (FM) issues, staff on every desk have received additional training to recognise potential issues within the reports. Domestic Violence and the damage this does both physically and emotionally to children is another aspect of training on the course.

25. Governance: - Each OCU Commander is responsible for ensuring that their PPD is adequately resourced to appropriately risk manage ECM. The minimum requirements are 1 Sergeant, 1 deputy and 2 researchers provided by TP VCD. Public Protection is a topic on a Crime Control Strategy Meeting (CCSM) and this will deliver improvements in our performance in managing diversity and equality issues.

PPD and Equalities Impact assessment

26. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted and recognises children and young people under the age of 18 as a distinct group that should be considered when creating all policies and reviewing current policies. The Safeguarding Children SOP as part of the Every Child Matters Policy will conduct a review of the current Equalities Impact assessment in April 2010.

27. Delivery of all MPS services may have an adverse impact or disproportionality that may or could result as a consequence of delivery. The MPS recognise the need to engage with and consult with all communities. It is essential to assess the impact of equality and diversity to ensure consideration into all that we do and provide for London. The main vulnerability is age and all children should receive the services they need, including the need for protection.

Contact Point

28. In 2010, as part of the MPS's continued commitment to the Every Child Matters Agenda, the MPS will become a National Partner of ContactPoint, the Department for Children, Schools and Families project for sharing information between professionals to safeguard children. PPD's will be heavily involved in its use, staff will be amongst those first trained in how to use the database including how and when to share information with partners. Directions governing its use will be included in the Standard Operating Procedures prior to any live date.

C. Race and equality impact

1. Merlin has a limited search facility for the daily user and one of the enhancements in June 2009 was to enable Merlin Reports to have an ability to show the ethnicity of a child as a mandatory field. It must be borne in mind that there is an additional option of “Unknown”, to the ethnic appearance descriptors.

2. Merlin will need significant changes and investment before it is able to provide enhanced management or performance information. At present Merlin does not contain sufficient mandatory fields to extract meaningful equality and diversity data for the subjects of reports.

D. Financial implications

1. ContactPoint. The MPS are required by the Children Act 2004 Information Database (England) Regulations 2007, made under the 2004 Act to supply data to ContactPoint. The MPS have also opted to use the optional search facility, which will enable staff to gather information from partner agencies to enhance outcomes for children. The final costs are currently being reviewed and are dependant on the IT solution selected. Once determined, consideration will be given to the inclusion of this project in the capital programme before it is finalised in March 2010. The MPS have received support from the project owners the Department for Children Schools and Families to become National Partners. In order for this to become effective a change to the Regulations is required. The changes are to be debated by Parliament and the MPS is therefore waiting to see if the funding request is realised.

2. Vetting. The MPS are making application through ACPO to be absolved from the requirements of the Vetting and Barring Scheme pursuant to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. Application has been made to the Home Secretary for Police Forces to use their own vetting procedures for officers and staff, the assertion being that the police standard would exceed that of the Criminal Records Bureau both in terms of databases checked and frequency. The outcome of this application is unknown at this time. In the meantime the MPS have identified staff that require vetting and have begun to vet those in the most high risk roles, noticeably Child Abuse Investigators, Schools Officers and those working with Volunteer Cadets. Officers and staff in public protection roles form the second tranche of those to be checked. To vet all 30,000 police officers will cost in excess of £2M. It should be noted that the vetting budget has been increased by £650,000 from 2009/10 to cover the cost of the number of people expected to require Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) vetting, resulting in 10,000 additional cases.

3. Safeguarding Adults at Risk. The MPS has recently reviewed Policies around “Vulnerable Adults”, as a direct result there is a Policy and SOP for Safeguarding Adults at Risk (SAAR). These procedures were developed with statutory and non-statutory organisations; this policy went live in June 2009. The MPS is currently liaising with partner agencies in the development of Pan London procedures. In addition we are completing a joint agency consultation regarding Adults coming to notice of Police that, due to their situational risk, fail to meet a number of key outcomes (awaits agreement). These will complement our partner’s aims and objectives. The rationale is to create a similar process for vulnerable adults as we currently have for children. The financial element stems from the need to alter Merlin to accommodate adult reports. The approximate cost of this change is £60,000. At present this funding will form part of a future business case, as there is no Merlin budget for changes. The MPS is also exploring the possibility of alternative funding outside the organisation.

4. Any changes to budgets, as a result of the costs identified, will need to be subject to the MPS business planning process.

E. Legal implications

1. The MPS recognises the fundamental importance of multi-agency working for the prevention and detection of crime, and its wider obligations to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

2. This report demonstrates the MPS’s commitment to share information and intelligence via the PPD’s with key organisations for the purpose of protecting children, which is underpinned by its statutory duties under the Children Act 2004 (and other legislative provisions), as described in the report.

3. In carrying out its policing functions, the MPS must also take into account a statutory guidance to ensure its functions are discharged with regard to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

F. Background papers

• HMIC report “Protecting Vulnerable People”

G. Contact details

Report author(s): DI Mark J Clark, MPS

For information contact:

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

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