Reports from committees

Report: 8
Date: 22 July 2010
By: Chief Executive

At each meeting of the Authority members will receive a report from committees that have meet in recent weeks.

This is the first report from the authority’s committees to the full authority. It provides members with details of the key items considered at each of the committees and their sub-committees.

This report covers the following meetings:

• Strategic and Operational Policing Committee – 10 June 2010
• Corporate Governance Committee – 14 June 2010
• Finance and Resources Committee - 17 June 2010
• Joint Strategic and Operational Policing Committee/Finance and Resources Committee – 1 July 2010
• Communities, Equalities and Peoples Committee – 8 July 2010

Strategic and Operational Policing Committee – 10 June 2010

The following Members were in attendance: Reshard Auladin (Chairman), Tony Arbour, Chris Boothman, Toby Harris, Joanne McCartney, Jenny Jones, Caroline Pidgeon, Valerie Brasse.

Urgent actions and urgent operational issues

The Deputy Commissioner (DC) responded to news items emerging regarding the apparently ultra vires use of powers under the Terrorism Act 2000, Section 44. Members were informed that the Home Secretary had failed to sign his approval until approximately 3 hours after than the 48 hour deadline. 840 people were affected by searches.

This omission had come to light following a Freedom of Information request, and that all authorities’ records had been reviewed as a result. Six further errors came to light during this investigation, wherein a calendar error had resulted in the Home Secretary signing orders for detention of up to 29 days, 1 day over the legal limit. Members were told that the MPS had acted in good faith, and the legality of its actions could only be established through legal proceedings.

Headline performance report

Members were presented with the monthly Headline Performance Report by Deputy Commissioner Tim Godwin. Trends observed reflect those reported to this month’s meeting of the Full Authority – violent crime is down, homicide detection rate remains high, and rises in robbery and gun crime have been recorded. The DC encourages a continued emphasis on containment of youth and weapons crime – although the age profile of serious youth crime remained the same.

Members noted that MPS user satisfaction amongst BME communities is not hitting the agreed targets. The DC expressed his disappointment and informed the committee that a new confidence and satisfaction board had been established to investigate these failings. The evidence suggests that the means by which the public make contact will impact their user satisfaction, and in specific, front counters have performed the worst. Despite this, the MPS is well placed in comparison to other forces due to initiatives such as enlisting PCSOs to support administrative staff.

TP performance report

Significant resource has been diverted into the identification of persons calling repeatedly regarding anti-social behaviour. Such data is monitored daily within each borough, and central oversight is provided monthly and bi-annually. Data-mapping techniques have been refined to a lower level of granularity – whereas before street names would be recorded, now victim-offender location (and offence type) is mapped to the yard.

Members noted that the February 2010 report of HMIC had revealed inadequacies in the IT system that identified repeat callers. The MPS responded that they are fully cognisant of the challenges presented by cases such as Pilkington, and that the system is in development and rollout is anticipated to go ahead in October 2010.

Members questioned why it was that the survey cited within the report recorded such low public awareness of the work of Safer Neighbourhood Teams. The MPS confirmed that they are reviewing the practices of Safer Neighbourhood Teams to better engage with communities.

Stop and search

ll told MPS conducted 488,455 PACE searches over the year to March 2010, although the frequency of s.60 searches has been lowered to approximately 5000 a month, down from highs of 12000 in October 2009. Home Office statistics suggest that BME people are 7.6 times more likely to get stopped and searched than white people nationally, down to 4.1 times across the jurisdiction of the MPS. Ninety percent of searches are conducted on males, and the burden of stop and search falls significantly upon 19-25 year olds.

The MPA were asked to contextualize these figures. For instance, in approximately seventy percent of gun crimes, both the victim and perpetrator are BME. Eighty—seven percent of knife crime relates to youth violence, and is concentrated in BME communities. Intelligence-led stop and search has been an effective tool, leading to the seizure of 9.5 thousand weapons since 2008. Operation Pennant has been in existence since 2006, concentrating on the quality and timeliness of data outputs from stop and searches. A monitoring panel including BME members oversees this work. Furthermore, community engagement has been prioritized e.g. in Brent.

Members raised the issue of the EHRC report ‘Stop and Think’ which highlighted the ‘excess’ number of searches performed on BME citizens by the MPS. The MPS have been given 21 days to respond, and the committee was informed that they have a robust business case. Members noted the ‘media storm’ that such disproportionality figures have previously provoked, and asked whether the MPS have the evidence necessary to justify them. The MPS remain unable to correlate the frequency of stop and search and the reduction of crime as form 5090 – used for stop and search – does not include a field for geo-coding the location. Nor do they collect data on suspects charged as a result of a stop and search.

Members agreed with the MPS that people generally accept stop and search as a tactic – e.g. its inclusion in the Young Londoner’s manifesto - but object to the manner in which such encounters are managed by police. Stop and search should be intelligence-led and local bureaucracy should, therefore, continue to provide the predominant accountability framework. Furthermore, The use of s. 44 powers has been refined.

MPA overview of MPS domestic violence performance

During the financial year 2009-2010 the MPS recorded approximately 120000 incidents of domestic violence and 59000 offences. Measured against the previous year incidents are up, whilst offences are down. The MPS has exceeded targets and arrest rates, and cautioning alone has been reduced. Furthermore, reporting of forced marriage and ‘honour’ based violence has increased, which is welcomed.

Although there is a flag to capture instances of domestic violence and a flag to capture when an individual has been the repeat victim of an offence, there is no way to identify when an individual has been a repeat victim of the same type of offence. The committee supported the recommendation that a flag be created for cases of repeat domestic violence.

Report by the Director of Professional Standards on behalf of the Commissioner (exempt)
The committee agreed to approve the request of separate funding for legal representation.

Corporate Governance Committee – 14 June 2010

Members Present: Toby Harris (Chair), John Biggs, Valerie Brasse, Joanne McCartney and Caroline Pidgeon.

Committee work programme

The Committee approved its work programme for the coming year.

MPA Urgency procedure annual review

Following a review the MPA urgency procedure which was carried out in 2009 it was agreed that an annual report on the use of the procedure be presented to members. The Committee received the first such annual report which contained a summary of the use made of the summary

Raising fraud awareness

n the financial year 2008/09 a programme of events to raise the level of fraud awareness amongst managers and key financial personnel was conducted in the MPA and MPS Finance Services and the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance staff. The workshops were attended by over 200 staff and centred around the use of a toolkit developed by the Audit Commission called Changing Organisational Cultures . The Committee received an Audit Commission report on the outcome of the programme and noted that a further series of workshops will be held in the current financial year. A fraud prevention strategy is due to be submitted to the September meeting of the Committee.

MPA/MPS Assurance process

In accordance with the MPA/MPS Corporate Health and Safety Policy Management Board Members are required to provide a letter of assurance to the Commissioner who will subsequently provide appropriate assurance to the MPA. During the second phase of the assurance process Central Operations (CO), Directorate of Resources (DoR), Specialist Operations (SO), Serious Crime Directorate (SCD) and Department of Information (DOI) were required to submit letters of assurance for Financial Year relating to the financial year 2009/10. These letters were submitted to the Committee and members considered that the relevant issues had been addressed.

Annual Governance Statement

The Committee approved the Annual Governance Statement which the Authority is required to include in its financial statements. The Annual Governance Statement includes details of governance arrangements, highlighting how effectively they are being deployed and identifying significant governance issues and actions being taken to address them. In producing the Annual Governance Statement reliance is placed on the Annual Assurance Statement produced by the Metropolitan Police Service which was also submitted.

Updates

The committee received updates in respect of a number of issues including a report from the external auditor on progress on their action against the 2009/10 audit plan, The MPS Corporate Governance Framework, business charge cards and on implementing International Financial Reporting Standards.

MPS Risk Management Update (exempt)

The Committee reviewed the current MPS risk register and a summary of the ongoing work to improve the quality of the risk analysis and information contained in the register.

Finance and Resources Committee - 17 June 2010

The following members were in attendance: Faith Boardman (Vice Chair in the Chair), Reshard Auladin, Chris Boothman, Dee Doocey and Graham Speed.

Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2009/10 – Provisional outturn

The report provided an update on the provisional & unaudited outturn position for revenue and capital budgets in 2009/10. The revenue budget is under spent by £2.9m (0.1% of budget). The provisional outturn takes account of proposed transfers to earmarked reserves as part of the year-end process of £15.7m. The provisional outturn for the Capital Programme is £186.3m, which is £27.7m below the revised budget of £214m.

Monitoring of the Metropolitan Police Authority/Metropolitan Police Service 2008/09–2010/11 efficiency plan

Overall, the outturn position indicates an over-achievement against the 2009/10 cumulative efficiency target (year 2 of the 3 year plan) by £1.9m.

Special services agreement for the provision of a Safer Transport Command

Approval was given to a new Section 25 Special Services Agreement between the MPA and Transport for London. Members were advised that following a comprehensive joint review undertaken in 2008, the new Agreement consolidates the previous Special Services Agreements for the Transport OCU, Safer Transport Teams (STT) and Hub Teams (Operation Tyrol) and incorporates the "Bike Safe" and "London Safety Camera Partnership" activities, also previously governed by separate agreements. The new agreement is scheduled to take effect retrospectively from 1 April 2010 (when the STC became operational) and will be the subject of a post-implementation review by the parties before April 2011, and a further review within three months of the end of the Olympic (including the Paralympic) Games in 2012.

Patrol Base and Custody Centre Property Programme

The Committee received its annual update on the progress and performance of the patrol base and custody centres programme to date. The report provide an update on all those schemes included in the current seven year capital programme.

Award of contracts (exempt)

1. A framework contract was awarded for the support, maintenance and upgrade services of Digital Video Recording Systems (DVRS), Videowalls and Ancillary Audio/Visual (A/V) Systems for a four year period until June 2014.
2. A discount agreement in the form of a three year framework agreement was awarded for the provision of voice telephony and data networking equipment from June/July 2010
3.  The Committee also approved an extension to the Metropolitan Police Property Information Centre contract until 2014.

Joint Strategic and Operational Policing Committee/Finance and Resources Committee – 1 July 2010

The following Members were in attendance: Reshard Auladin (Chairman), Tony Arbour, Chris Boothman, Jennette Arnold, Joanne McCartney, Jenny Jones, Caroline Pidgeon, Valerie Brasse, Graham Speed, Valerie Shawcross, Steve O’Connell, Cindy Butts, and Nigel Lawton.

Policing London business plan

The Chair is informed that it is intended that this report and agenda item 5b should complement one another. The Business Plan is an iterative process that is developed in partnership with the MPA. The financial landscape has shifted since this report was written, and the plan must now account for expected budget reductions arising as a result of plans to curtail public sector spending.

The MPS Services Management Board is now planning to work from the assumption that there will be a budget gap of approximately 160 million pounds this year, rising to 444 million pounds over three years. This constitutes a 25% reduction in the general grant awarded by the Home Office. The Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing (TP) outlined the development of the scoping phase for strategic improvement work-streams – which began 10 June. His outline was consistent with the current policing model, which is premised upon 32 boroughs providing the majority of policing services. Safer Neighbourhoods remains at the heart of the model. Only a broad, overarching business model has been developed as yet.

Members affirmed the need for the MPS to meet with the Mayor as soon as possible in order that they may better understand his priorities and his intentions regarding the timeline for budget cuts. The Chair agreed to write to the Mayor in order to seek urgent advice on this subject. Members are to be informed of progress.

Members sought further information regarding whether the £160 million figure (projected cuts for the forthcoming financial year) excluded consideration of specific grants. The MPS confirmed that it related to general grants only. The report recommends that Members note progress of the MPS Corporate Strategic Assessment (CSA) process. Members responded that they had not been privy to the CSA that supports the budget process. The MPS agreed to provide the draft documentation ASAP.

Mayor’s budget guidance

The MPA’s Treasurer reported to the committee that the Mayor’s budget guidance had been written prior to the Chancellor’s Budget – this will require new targets to be drawn up and means that the planning process has been delayed by approximately two months.

Members asked whether this year’s financial targets would also be affected by the measured announced by the Chancellor. The Treasurer responded that the Finance and Resources Committee will hear more on the subject next week – 9 July. The Mayor has outlined baseline cuts of 1.5%, and the Treasurer understands that the 25% figure will be against the budget prior to this projected cut. Cuts to specific grants will likely include: £5 million to Counter-Terrorism and £2 million to capital grants.

MPS Strategy report

The MPS outlined that whereas previous agenda items referred to the process, this report concerns the substance. The policing strategy is premised upon three themes: safety; confidence; and improvement, and is underpinned by the ‘five Ps’. The business plan is informed by a number of products, including the CSA. The CSA looks at a range of issues from: the London Landscape work; Olympics committees; and budgetary requirements. This report includes key findings to date.

Members asked whether that endorsement of the concept of location-centric crime mapping signified that the MPS intended to make significant organisational change ‘for its own sake’. The MPS stressed that strategy will not be premised upon a blank slate but will build on past progress. The current operational paradigm is that of ‘crime type’, which leads to squads being developed in order to deal with specific crimes. Greater productivity can be achieved by breaking down crime based upon victims, repeat-offenders, and repeat locations. This framework is particularly relevant to ASB. Operations such as Trident and Blunt2 are premised upon the victim-offender-location.

Strategic and Operational Policing Committee – 1 July 2010

The following Members were in attendance: Reshard Auladin (Chairman), Tony Arbour, Chris Boothman, Jennette Arnold, Joanne McCartney, Jenny Jones, Caroline Pidgeon, Valerie Brasse, Cindy Butts, and Nigel Lawton.

Urgent actions and urgent operational issues

The Chair asked the MPS to update the committee on their response to the ECHR decision which declared S.44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to be unlawful. The committee heard that a Gold Group had been formed and was awaiting guidance from the Home Secretary regarding how to proceed.

Appointments to Sub-committees

Members took no issue with the appointments notified to them in agenda item 5, the addendum paper to that item, or the appointment of Victoria Borwick to the Olympics Sub Committee as verbally notified to the Chair.

Headline performance report

The MPS introduced the report, which was intended to measure performance against key performance indicators (KPIs) during the first two months of the financial year. Most Serious Violence (MSV) remains low (23% down from highs), and the two months have seen a seven percent reduction in crime where a knife has been used to injure. Burglary is at its lowest level in 12 years, dropping consistently with MSV figures. The MPS highlighted robbery as a potential challenge, as well as the retention rate of BME officers – targets in relation to this may be missed, and will be reported on in future.

Members sought to clarify what tactics are available to the MPS in tackling knife offences. The MPS responded that Operation Vinco attempts to coordinate activities: deploying Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs) as a physical deterrent; weapons sweeps (including 200 in the past week, and leading to 2000 confiscations to date); stop and search; and joining up intelligence (utilising the victim-offender-location framework). Members requested a briefing note in relation to Operation Vinco.

The MPS confirmed to Members that with regard to gun- and gun-enabled crimes, the ‘proactive use of the firearms OCU (CO19)’ (paragraph 12) refers not to street patrolling but to youth engagement activities.

Thematic performance report

The MPS introduced this report into ASB and road casualty. Each borough has been provided with a new product – tool kit – regarding the handing of ASB and an HMIC progress report is forthcoming. In light of the recent abolition of the Policing Pledge, Members requested to know whether the MPS was intending to keep similar internal targets in its steed. The MPS has been considering the issue and will update the SOP Committee at the September meeting.

Members questioned whether the level of traffic policing was sufficient given the number of uninsured vehicles on the roads – 10,000 seized within the last four months – and the impact this has on other road users, for example. The MPS conceded the point that tackling illegal road users is an excellent method for reducing criminality in general, but reminded the committee that every police officer has powers to stop vehicles, and officers can tackle these crimes in other forums – SNTs challenge potential risk-makings within the context of neighbourhood policing, for instance. The four biggest killers on the UK’s roads are not listed in order at paragraph 87.

Members sought clarification regarding the competence of CCC operatives and the robustness of repeat caller identification - paragraph 42. The MPS responded that the calls were being dip-sampled and that the MPA could receive a report on the outcomes of this process. Operatives are given training regarding vulnerability, discussions from the customer user forums (with senior MPS managers) being fed into this training. Defining ‘vulnerable’ has been discussed, but was rejected as any definition is likely to preclude or ignore certain groups.

MPA Safer Neighbourhoods scoping study

MPA Officer, Hamera Asfa Davey introduced a scoping study into SNTs which concentrated on Harrow, Croydon, Fulham, and Hackney. The study is premised upon local interviews in order that variation across wards can be observed and the bespoke qualities of each local service measured.

Members welcomed an emphasis on team structure, and expressed particular eagerness for the scrutiny to focus its consideration on ‘flexibility models’ of delivery. Policing issues straddle borough boundaries, and often green spaces create ambiguity regarding where ward borders lay. The needs of borough commanders vary and perhaps the allocation of officers within SNTs should reflect this.

Delivery plan for the MPS Anti-violence Board

It has emerged from senior level discussion that London faces a problem was not from groups of offender but of ‘violence’ generally. The AVB would be established in order to develop a broad anti-violence strategy.

A similar board internal to the MPS is currently chaired by the Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing. The board looks at strategic partnerships with local authorities and social services, for instance. The proposed AVB would be a pan-London board and would probably require a Government body to provide policy direction given the ambiguity regarding its remit. It was reported that repeat victimization would be ‘at the heart’ of the strategy of any new board, and that disability would be picked up.

IPCC presentation from Deborah Glass

Deborah Glass provided a presentation to the committee regarding the work of the IPCC since last May. One question that she hoped to emerge from the presentation was: in what ways could the relationship between the IPCC and the MPA be better formalized?

The IPCC has an increasing investigative capacity (33 this year), has been supervising MPS investigations more regularly (66 this year), but have managed fewer investigations as measured against the previous year (62 this year). Most referrals are assessed and sent back to the MPS, who have a far greater capacity for investigation. The IPCC considers cases based on ‘themes’. Some themes oblige the MPS to refer, whereas some are agreed voluntarily e.g. cases involving the use of tasers, and the use of s. 44 powers.

The G20 conference engendered new patterns of coordination between the IPCC and partner organisations such as the HMIC – who were completing a review of policing tactics – in order to drive down duplication and ensure information sharing. Many referrals from the DPS were not mandatory. Deborah Glass has been in consultation with the committee Chair in order to define a process by which IPCC recommendations are incorporated into MPA core business.

It is the position of the IPCC that the MPS should be willing to apologize, and that complaints should be dealt with more efficiently at a local level. The MPA sought best-practice advice, given the IPCC’s country-wide remit. The IPCC responded that the remit of the MPA is so broad that it is difficult to draw comparison. The revised statutory guidance on police complaints issued by the IPCC is replete with examples of how best to handle complaints at a local level. Deborah Glass reported that local resolution rates were in fact down within the jurisdiction of the MPS.

Professional standards indicators

The MPS informed Members that although public complaints were up during 2009/10, the increase was in fact greater in the year previous. Events relating to the G20 summit accounted for a significant proportion of the change. Although reports of ‘incivility’ are down, ‘oppressive behaviour’ and ‘failure in duty’ are up.

A key process in ensuring professional standards indicators are met is the complaints intervention scheme, wherein officers are flagged if they attract three complaints in 12 months. The number of officers on this scheme has been reduced by one third over the course of the last twelve months.

Each borough operates different procedures and high levels of complaints often reflect the need for early intervention. Packages of bespoke borough stats are now provided to commanders – which show breakdown of complaints by team, for instance. Members requested to see a more detailed breakdown of borough performance and a breakdown on ethnicity – both will be in the next report.

Request for funding in relation to a civil claim (exempt)
Members considered a request for additional funding made by the MPS in order to satisfy a civil claim. The proposed sum was agreed.

Communities, Equalities and Peoples Committee – 8 July 2010

Change to Terms of reference of Committee and Sub-committees

The Committee considered amendment to the Committee and Sub-Committee terms of reference. The main changes are to the TORs of CEP and Community Engagement and Citizen Focus Sub-Committee (CECF), which have been amended to ensure the appropriate delegation of relevant issues, particularly in relation to citizen focus and independent custody visiting. Members should note that the amendments to the ToRs for CECF were discussed by that sub-committee on 21 June 2010 and have been amended to reflect the discussion that took place at that time. The ToRs for both Human Resources and Remuneration (HRR) and Equality and Diversity (EDSC) sub-committees remain largely unchanged from those agreed in 2009/10. The full Authority are asked to endorse these changes.

Recommendation:
Members are asked to endorse the amendments to the terms of reference for CEP committee and its sub-committees.

Other matter discussed at the Committee

The Committee considered a range of issues, including the Met’s current policy and practice with regard to safeguarding adults and an overview of the Met’s detective capacity and capability. Members also received a report on the Met Volunteer Programme, which highlighted the excellent work ongoing in the Met with regard to volunteers and the future development plans.

In addition, the Committee received the annual report, the work plan and equality objectives for 2010/11 and considered amendments to the terms of reference (a full copy of the amended terms of reference is available from the Equalities and Engagement Unit). Members felt the committee had operated effectively throughout the year, having considered a range of important topics and ensured that all members were suitably engaged in the matters considered, but particularly those of most concern to communities.

Members were also asked to note that full Authority had approved the appointment of Richard Hunt (London Communities Policing Partnership) as a co-opted member of the Community Engagement and Citizen Focus Sub-Committee. Members asked to endorse that appointment.

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