Provision of additional officers on boroughs - 2nd initiative

Report: 03
Date: 5 March 2009
By: T/Assistant Commissioner on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

The MPA previously agreed an initiative in February 2008 to put up to 320 additional officers onto boroughs on a cost sharing basis. This paper proposes that a second initiative to put additional officers (up to 200) onto boroughs through a cost sharing approach with local authorities subject to the approval by the MPA.

A. Recommendations

That

1. members give formal agreement to this initiative and agree that discussions can continue with local authorities within the proposed financial framework set out in Section D and subject to final budget decisions;
2. agree that the provision of the officers is on a cost sharing basis rather than full cost recovery for this initiative only
3. agree that, subject to recommendations 1 and 2 being supported, delegated authority is given to the Commissioner to exercise the MPA’s powers under section 92 of the Police Act 1996 (power to receive grants from local authorities) to take forward this initiative with local authorities, subject to the Chief Executive approving model terms and conditions in relation to grants to be received from local authorities, and for the Chief Executive to enter into appropriate agreements recording the terms agreed for each grant.

B. Supporting information

1. In February 2008, the MPA agreed an initiative that provided additional officers to boroughs to support the delivery of local services through joint working between the local authority and the MPS. The scheme was extended to support the delivery of operation Tyrol and Diamond Districts. That initiative provided an extra 320 officers for which local authorities and TfL agreed to a two year financial contribution. On that basis the additional officers were available at a significantly reduced cost to the MPA.

2. It is proposed that the initiative is repeated to provide up to an additional 200 officers to boroughs for which local authorities would make a financial contribution.

3. The original initiative provided resources to boroughs over and above those provided through other means for core policing activity. The additional resources enabled the borough, in partnership with their local authority, to manage and task resources to deal with neighbourhood and local authority issues, in support of the challenging performance targets that will be contained within the Local Area Agreements. They provided also an additional level of resilience to the boroughs and support to the work with TfL on bus routes

4. Appendix 1 shows the benefits achieved by these resources on Hammersmith and Fulham (24/7 policing initiative) and within the Tyrol initiative as examples of what can be delivered with the additional resources.

5. Since that initiative was put in place, it has become clear that there are some local developments that increase the demand on policing to a considerable degree but which cannot and should not be met through the use of officers provided to undertake core policing. Two examples are the new Westfield Shopping Centre at Hammersmith and Fulham and the O2 Arena in Greenwich. Nevertheless, the impact on communities of these developments will be substantial and there is the potential for MPS officers to have to be redirected to manage that impact to the detriment of other policing services.

6. The proposal is therefore to offer the local authorities, and specifically those where these developments are happening, the opportunity to obtain more officers for their boroughs. Realistically the local authorities will be looking for good value in such a scheme and therefore it is proposed that we take a cost sharing approach – as we did in the original initiative – rather than seeking full cost recovery.

7. This initiative would support the following corporate objectives:

•  Make our neighbourhoods safer through local and city-wide problem solving and partnership working to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and road casualties
•  Make our services more accessible and improve people’s experience of their contact with us, especially victims and witnesses
•  Reduce serious violence and protect young people

8. The delivery of this initiative is dependent on the preparation and signing of appropriate contracts. The deployment plan already includes the provision of 200 officers by the end of the 2009/10 financial year to support this initiative should it be agreed and therefore the constraints on recruitment and training of officers to meet this need has been taken into account.

Allocation of posts to boroughs

9. Three boroughs have expressed interest to date even though this proposal has not been formally shared with local authorities. We do not anticipate that the number sought will exceed the 200 as many local authorities are already participating in cost sharing schemes.

10. However, if local authorities do seek more than the 200 available, it is proposed that the allocation will be prioritised in relation to the potential impact of the local developments on a borough on crime.

Exit strategy

11. When the contracts come to an end, the additional officers will be subsumed into the MPS officer strength to replace a proportion of the officers lost to the MPS. The contracts are likely to finish at different times (based on our experience of the varying length of time it takes working with local authorities to get contracts into place) so the redeployment of officers will happen over time. The annual wastage of officers from the MPS is sufficient (over 1300 each year) to allow this to happen.

Abstractions

12. Alongside safer neighbourhood teams (SNTs), officers provided under this initiative will only be abstracted from such activity in accordance with the corporate guidance on SNT abstractions. That means that the officers would be ‘red circled’ from abstractions that would take them away from undertaking these activities. The officers would still be entitled to rest days, annual leave and compassionate or other leave entitlement, they would undertake mandatory and public order training, and they would be available for public order commitments at three major events (Notting Hill Carnival, New Years Eve and May Day). The 7/7 clause would also apply as with SNT officers.

Selection of officers

13. Officers will be posted to boroughs in the usual way and boroughs will determine appropriate postings to activity.

Timing

14. As mentioned above, the time it will take to put contracts into place for this initiative will vary from borough to borough. There will not therefore be one date on which all the additional officers will be provided. The provision of up to 200 officers is included in the 2009/10 deployment plan but it is unlikely that local authorities will receive officers before the summer of 2009. Start dates for each contract, linked to the provision of the officers, will be negotiated with each local authority.

Management of contracts

15. The development and management of the contracts will be undertaken by members of the Safer Neighbourhood portfolio, who have experience of handling the contracts for the PCSO cost sharing initiative and TfL safer Transport Teams. The financial arrangements will be put in place and managed by TP Business Support who also manage the PCSO contract financial arrangements.

Communication

16. We will support boroughs in their negotiations with the local authorities, including providing answers to FAQs. The borough commanders and local authority will consider how best to publicise the provision of additional resources for their boroughs that will available to tackle local issues.

17. DPA and the MPA Press Office will liaise on appropriate corporate publicity for the initiative and the preparation of press lines.

Impact on support services

18. The impact on HR services in terms of recruitment and training can be identified and the costs have been included in the financial implications. However, until it is known which local authorities will participate in this initiative, it is not possible to identify any impact on the estate or the IT infrastructure of the increased numbers. Once that is known, the impact will be fully assessed.

C. Race and equality impact

1. An initial equality impact assessment has been undertaken. That assessment showed that tasking officers against the increased demand is likely to increase the level of policing against specific types of crime, e.g. knife crime, other crimes of violence, dipping, shoplifting. That could be said to potentially treat groups differently. But such activity will positively impact on victims who may come from the same groups. In addition the choice of whether to access these resources will be the local authority’s and that may depend on their ability to provide the funding required. If a local authority decides not to participate, there could be a view that this discriminates against the members of that community. That is outside the control of the MPS/MPA.

2. As the agreements would be in place for individual boroughs and the targets for each will vary, it is proposed that an EIA is undertaken when the individual contracts are being developed so that boroughs can consider the impact in relation to how they use the resources and the targets that are put in place.

D. Financial implications

1. The MPA policy (FR8.7) is that ‘All agreements for the provision of services to other organisations will be on the basis of full cost recovery at least, except with the specific approval of the Authority’. As the proposals currently being developed will deliver MPA/MPS, as well as local authority, objectives they involve a cost sharing arrangement and would not achieve full cost recovery on the officers provided.

2. It is proposed that local authorities cover costs equivalent to £40,000 per police constable a year. Based on some initial consultation, it is considered that this charge would be attractive to local authorities in encouraging them to participate in the scheme which aims to provide additional policing resources to support the delivery of local priorities.

3. Based on full cost recovery, the charge for 200 officers and the proposed funding package is set out in the table below which shows that the cost of 200 officers for a two year period is £25.41m of which £9.41 would be met by the MPA/MPS. Having regard to the costs of £4.08m which can be met within existing budget, growth of £5.33 is needed over the two year contract period. The estimated costs and funding proposals are summarised below.

Proposed funding package based on full cost recovery

4. The funding outlined above can be accommodated within the provision made in the draft budget submission and will be reflected in the final budget proposals to be considered by the Authority in March.

5. On the basis of a fixed contribution of £40,000 from local authorities for each of the two years covered by the contract the cost of pay awards will fall on the MPA/MPS. The estimates above include the pay award provision included in the 2009/12 draft budget submission. If pay awards exceed that provision then the cost to the Authority/Service will increase.

6. The proposed sharing of costs between the MPA/MPS and the local authorities reflects the potential impact of other proposals included in the 2009-12 budget proposals considered at the Finance and Resources Committee on 20th November 2008 and the Full Authority on 27th November 2008. In particular, the proposals by TP to tackle on costs, support costs and realign the delivery of functions to create the capacity within their budget to consume the overhead costs of up to 200 additional officers. The proposed increase in officer numbers has been built into the 2009/10 three year deployment plan.

7. In developing the 2009-12 draft budget submission, proposals for efficiencies have been focussed on overheads and support services. In developing the current borough partnership proposals, consideration has been given to the potential impact on support services. On the basis of no new requirements on the property estate or IT infrastructure, additional marginal costs are only anticipated on HR recruitment activity given the overall potential net increase in officers and staff included in the 2009/10 draft budget submission. Having considered these issues a provision of £0.63m has been included in the proposal for the anticipated additional recruitment costs by HR which cannot be contained in their existing budget provision.

8. In considering these arrangements the MPA/MPS need to have due regard to their fiduciary duty in terms of non-recovery of the full cost of the officers involved in the proposed partnerships. In reaching a decision, regard must be taken of all relevant, both financial and non-financial, factors. The MPA/MPS need to be satisfied that the cost to the service is commensurate with the benefits gained.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Diana Marchant, Director of Business Development, Territorial Policing, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Key Findings from the two years of the 24 Hour Safer Neighbourhoods policing initiative in Hammersmith and Fulham

Background

1. At the beginning of 2007, Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Borough Council invested in an additional 50 officers to take part in a two-year trial of a 24/7 Safer Neighbourhoods on two wards - Shepherd’s Bush Green (SBG) and Fulham Broadway (FB). This was as part of the Borough Conservative Council’s priority to reduce crime and Anti Social Behaviour (ASB). The additional officers purchased were two Inspectors, eight Sergeants, 16 Constables and 24 PCSOs.

The Strategic Research Unit (SRU) conducted an ongoing benefit and process analysis of this initiative, and commissioned MORI to undertake ongoing survey work. This report outlines the key findings during and at the conclusion of the trial.

Key findings on public perceptions

2. In summary we can compare the findings of public confidence and satisfaction with local policing against the Public Attitude Survey (PAS) results for Hammersmith & Fulham Borough as a whole:

These figures should be treated with an element of caution, as the data source is different, but they can be used as a tool for comparison. It clearly shows that the public perception of the effectiveness of local police was far higher and improving when compared to the Borough as a whole.

Benefits achieved by police officers and PCSOs and Tyrol

Operation Tyrol was launched on three boroughs (Croydon, Haringey and Newham) in May 2008. Data below is based on the specific geographical locations of the Tyrol teams, each team being 1PS, 1PC and 7 PCSOs

Between April 2008 through to November 2008, compared with same period of the previous year 2007, there has been an overall reduction of 14% in all major crime types. The table below looks at the reduction for the major crime types compared with the borough.

Drugs offences and Other Notifiable offences (e.g. going equipped) has seen an increase in crime figures though with the extra resources being deployed to the areas the proactive police operation would increase detections in this area.

During the pilot period of the Tyrol Operation (May to August 2008) the teams carried numerous interventions:

•  999 Stop and Search & 2,345 Stop and accounts
•  1,629 Stop and Search and 1,298 Stop and accounts under S44
•  Carried out 38 knife search operations in support of Operation Blunt 2
•  33 PCSO detections
•  236 Arrests
•  Current PAS results for confidence on public transport is:
  •  Tube and Tram – 96% (September 2008)
  •  Bus networks – 96% (September 2008)

From good practice learnt from this operation Safer Neighbourhoods is looking into creating the dedicated town centre teams.

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