Policing and performance plan 2002/03

Report: 06a
Date: 28 February 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

The paper sets out the MPA policing and performance plan for 2002/3 excluding the detailed annexes. It incorporates the decisions made by the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee on the targets and measures underpinning each objective, and proposes revisions where appropriate.

A. Recommendations

1. Members are asked to approve the policing and performance plan at Appendix 1 (see Supporting material).
2. Members are asked to approve the revised targets and measures in Appendix 2 (see Supporting material; also summarised in Table 1) particularly in respect of street crime, anti-terrorism and those contained within the vulnerable victims priority.
3. Members are asked to delegate the final approval of the plan and annexes to the Clerk.

B. Supporting information

1. The plan at Appendix 1 (see Supporting material) has been prepared by the MPS in conjunction with the MPA and is the result of a detailed consultation process involving local community groups, borough commanders and the business community and using the outcome of the Public Attitude Survey

2. The plan retains broadly the same format as last year but the emphasis this year is on the priorities and objectives, which are contained in the main body of the plan alongside the key initiatives the MPS is undertaking. The more detailed background information on the priorities and objectives will be contained in annexes to the plan, together with in-year performance data, financial information and the Best Value review programme. Many of these annexes are still being developed and it is recommended that with the exception of the objectives, targets and measures, these be delegated to the Clerk for final approval.

3. The major development in the plan this year is the introduction of a bottom up element to the corporate targets for street crime, burglary and autocrime. BOCUs have set bespoke targets reflecting the content of local crime & disorder strategies and trend data and taking account of the local environment such as hotspot locations. Some of these targets have been modified following challenges by senior managers in Territorial Policing, and in particular, the implementation of the 'Safer Streets' initiative.

4. At the FPBV meeting on 21 February, Members raised a number of concerns about the targets and measures for each objective (Appendix 2;  see Supporting material), in particular that they were insufficiently challenging. The MPS has responded to these concerns by revising those targets and measures the changes to which can be summarised as follows;

Objective 1 – Prevention of terrorism

A target of zero incidents has been set in relation to preventing and disrupting terrorist incidents

Objective 2 – Responding to terrorist incidents

The ACPO responsibility for delivering the response to terrorist incidents objective has passed to AC Territorial Policing, since the initial scene management falls to local uniform officers. A broad definition of what needs to be in place for a scene management to be classified as 'very good' has been provided and lies within the contextual information

Objective 3 – Community safety

The target for the number of street crime offences has been revised. The new target is that there will be zero growth in the number of offences in 2002/3 compared with this year. The Judicial Disposal target has also been increased from 8% to 10%

At Appendix 3  (see Supporting material)is a borough by borough breakdown of the bespoke targets for street crime, burglary and autocrime shown by the number of offences and by Judicial Disposal targets. These figures reflect the position following challenge by Territorial Policing senior managers and form the basis of the new aggregated corporate targets

Objective 4 – Gun related violent crime

The target for gun related violent crime has been revised to show a reduction in the number of offences by the end of 2002/3 compared with existing levels. The wording on the objective has been amended and now reads 'to reduce violent armed criminality' and is put in context on the background sheet

Objectives 8, 9 & 10 – Race crime, homophobic crime & domestic violence

The Judicial Disposal rates under these objectives have been reviewed and increased by 1% in each case. In addition, there is more contextual information about what the MPS is doing in relation to victim care. In relation to victim satisfaction, development work is under way within the Diversity Directorate and the wording on the objective has been amended to reflect that this data is not yet available

Objective 11 - Rape

There is no change in the Judicial Disposal target for rape, but developments for measuring victim satisfaction and the care of witnesses are included. As with the other vulnerable victims objectives, a suitable methodology for surveying victims has not yet been agreed. The objective has therefore been reworded to reflect that this performance data is not available

Objective 13 – Youth offending

The percentage of PYOs dealt with from charge to first court listing in seven days has been increased from 70% to 71 %

General

The objectives are more explicit where necessary in setting out timescales to establish baselines and expectations about delivery.

The contextual information that formed part of the headline target for each objective has been removed and shown as background in the rationale for setting the particular objective

5. Following approval of the plan and completion of the appendices, a full copy will appear on the internet at the end of March which will satisfy statutory requirements. A hard copy of the full plan will also be produced 'in house', which is timed for publication in parallel. Arrangements are also in place to make the plan available to staff through the intranet system and the Job newspaper.

6. A summary version of the plan intended for GLA members, MPA Members, MPs, local authorities and other key individuals and groups is currently being designed. This is also due for publication by the end of March, and will be complemented by the distribution (starting in May) of the joint GLA summary to 80% of households in London.

Next steps

7. The key milestone in the remainder of this year's planning process is the 31 March when the plan is published on the internet. It may be necessary to arrange an extraordinary meeting of the Planning Panel in the event of any of the objectives and targets not being approved by the Authority or, if the Ministerial Priorities when announced require reconsideration of the MPA objectives. It is understood that the APA's response to the Home Secretary on the Ministerial Priorities has been circulated.

C. Financial implications

Work is ongoing within the MPS to ensure that the MPA's budget submission is directed to achieving the local and servicewide targets included in this plan.

Separate bids to fund resources, which will increase the Service's capacity, have been made to Home Office, in relation to Counter Terrorism and to Transport for London, in respect of a new Transport OCU.

The anticipated levels of resourcing in the budget submission have been used as the basis to build this plan. Any variation in the overall level of funding, or any significant variations in its application, may lead to the proposed plan requiring reconsideration.

D. Background papers

Summary Policing and Performance Plan (Agenda item 6 at FPBV on 6 December 2001).

E. Contact details

Report authors: John Zlotnicki and Michael Debens, MPS.

For information contact:

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

Table 1. Priorities, objectives and targets proposed by the MPS

* N.B. The figures quoted within objective 3 do not take account of the National Crime Recording Standards, which come into effect in April 2002.

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