The proposed merger of the Royal Parks Constabulary with the Metropolitan Police Service

Report: 9
Date: 5 March 2004
By: Commissioner

Summary

Agreement was reached in 2003 for the Royal Parks Constabulary to be merged into the MPS, and for the MPS to take on the policing of London’s Royal Parks, funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Primary legislation has not so far been found to enable a merger to take place. The MPS will nevertheless be requested by the Secretary of State for Culture to assist in policing, and plans are in hand for a new MPS Operational Command Unit (OCU), the Royal Parks OCU, to be created on 1 April 2004.

A. Recommendations

That the Committee:

1. Notes the progress of this project;
2. Authorises expenditure to be reimbursed in full by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on goods and services required to establish the Royal Parks OCU within the MPS;
3. Authorises the formation of the Royal Parks OCU from 1 April 2004 on an interim ‘cost-neutral’ basis as described in this report, pending legislation to effect a formal merger with the MPS.

B. Supporting information

Legal position

1. Under the Parks Regulation Act 1872, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, has responsibility for policing the ten major Royal Parks and several smaller pieces of Crown Land [1], which comprise an area of more than 6,000 acres.

2. The Royal Parks Constabulary (RPC) is responsible to the Secretary of State through the Royal Parks Agency (RPA), and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The officers, of whom there are about 150, have full police powers, but only within the Royal Parks.

3. Following a critical inspection report of the RPC by former-AC Anthony Speed in 2000, the DCMS requested that the Constabulary be merged into the MPS. In 2003, the MPA approved the principle of a merger on a cost-neutral basis.

4. Without a change to primary legislation, it will be ultra vires for the Commissioner to take on the responsibility of policing the Parks. Therefore, if a merger is to happen, legislation is needed to transfer policing responsibility from the Secretary of State for Culture to the Commissioner. This does not prevent MPS officers from exercising police powers in the Royal Parks as in other parts of London.

5. It had been hoped that primary legislation could be included in the Civil Contingencies Bill, but this has not proved possible. It is now hoped that legislation may be included in a Home Office Bill commencing this autumn and the merger finally take place in the summer of 2005. Failing this, other Bills may become available over the next few years.

6. Leading Counsel’s advice is that it is highly unlikely the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) Regulations will apply to the merger when it ultimately happens. Leading Counsel also advises that there is a strong argument that the merger should be treated as an exception to the Cabinet Office Statement of Practice which stipulates that transfers between public bodies should be treated as if TUPE applies. Even if TUPE does not apply, the MPS would probably intend to observe the spirit of the majority of the Regulations by ensuring that transferee staff are not financially disadvantaged. The MPS will seek to indemnify itself against claims rising from the merger and against pre-existing claims.

Interim arrangement

7. Despite the lack of primary legislation, an interim arrangement for policing the Royal Parks is being progressed, because the RPC is no longer viable as an effective Force. The RPC has not recruited for over a year in anticipation of a merger taking place, and wastage has been steady. By invoking an interim arrangement, the policing of the parks can be maintained without compromising safety or security.

8. The interim arrangement entails the creation of an MPS Royal Parks OCU in April 2004, to assist in policing the Royal Parks. At the request of the DCMS Minister, Lord McIntosh, the OCU will work alongside the RPC, with the two units being integrated as far as possible.

Project management

9. DAC House leads on this project, which is overseen by a Steering Group of which the Clerk to the MPA is a member.

10. Superintendent Helen Ball has had day-to-day control of the project from 1 September 2003, and has been working from Hyde Park Police Station, at the invitation of the Chief Executive of the RPA. In April, Supt. Ball will assume the role of OCU Commander.

Royal Parks Operational Command Unit

11. A Steering Group meeting on 14 April 2003, chaired by DAC House and attended by the Clerk to the MPA and the Police Federation, examined options for the delivery of policing services post-merger. The option that was chosen, and which remains the favoured option, was the creation of a separate and distinct ‘Royal Parks Operational Command Unit’, as recommended in the Speed report. (It is acknowledged that this would need to be reviewed should funding streams disappear.) The same structure is favoured for the interim arrangements leading up to merger.

12. Features of the Royal Parks OCU will include:

• The MPS will maintain a policing-style specifically designed for people at leisure. The policing style to be deployed in the Royal Parks OCU will fit with the work underway in the Reassurance Policing programme and the Step Change Programme.
• There will be a focus on the safety of open spaces. The Mayor is currently concentrating on the policing services delivered to women, including as users of parks and open spaces. The Royal Parks OCU will provide the MPS with an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the safety of parks and open spaces, as well as to the Mayor’s tourist strategy. There is, too, a similarity with the work of the Transport OCU in relation to safety on buses. The Royal Parks are also an integral part of London life and one where people seek reassurance.
• Environmental issues will be important to the OCU, including supporting the Royal Parks’ environmental management system.
• A main foundation of the policing strategy will be a high number of Police Community Support Officers. The OCU will progress the concept of ‘Parks PCSOs’ and the future development of open spaces policing.
• The OCU will contain a Career Development Unit, enabling training to be delivered in-house, and for the incoming staff to develop their skills and gain experience to enable them to deliver a service that meets the needs of the Royal Parks and is to MPS standards.

Interim arrangement – staffing issues

13. RPC officers are employees of the Royal Parks Agency. All RPC officers joining since 1980 have been recruited and trained to Home Office standards, undergoing recruit training at Ashford Police Training Centre. They have been integrated into the national promotion system since the inception of the OSPRE examinations in 1992. Skills training, such as driving, equestrianism and searching, has all been delivered by national Police Training Centres.

14. Five members of civilian staff work for the RPC, in administrative, stores liaison and criminal justice roles.

15. The officers and staff have been expecting a merger to happen since the publication of the Speed Report. The continuing uncertainty as to their futures has had an impact on morale and increased loss of staff. If there is no change to their position until full merger is achieved, there is the potential for the loss of staff to accelerate.

16. Once legislation is enacted, Police Regulations will be changed in line with that legislation. However, at the request of the DCMS, the Home Office is progressing the same changes to Police Regulations now as would have been made on merger.

17. In full, these are:

• To recognise service in the RPC on a like-for-like basis when RPC officers transfer to another force;
• To enable RPC officers transferring to a Home Office force to retain rent and/or housing allowance that they were entitled to when serving in the RPC;
• To set out that RPC officers who have completed their probationary service will not have to serve a further period of probation after transfer to another force;
• To allow personal records of RPC officers to be kept on transfer to another force.

18. The success of the interim arrangements is to a large extent dependent on the Police Regulations changes, in that the changes will mean that the proportion of MPS police officers and police staff in the OCU is much higher than the proportion of RPC officers and staff.

19. On 12 February 2004, Police Negotiating Board considered these changes to Police Regulations, and remitted them to the Joint Secretaries. It is the MPS’s hope that the Regulation change can be effective from 1 April 2004. If this were achieved, then on 1 April we would intend to attest as MPS officers all RPC officers who are eligible and apply to transfer to the MPS. It is expected that the changes could be made by 1 April 2004.

20. Once these changes are made, RPC officers could join the MPS (or other Home Office forces) to become police officers on the same terms and conditions as they would have received through a merger. It is likely that a significant number will transfer into the MPS on or after 1 April 2004. They will be attested and gain full police powers irrespective of their location. It is also likely that a number of RPC civilian staff will apply to become police staff in the MPS.

21. The MPS has commenced an ‘eligibility exercise’, through which those RPC officers and civilian staff who wish can have their eligibility for MPS roles checked. There has been good take up of this opportunity, and so far 60 RPC officers and 3 RPC civilian staff have proved eligible for MPS roles. The eligibility criteria checked are age, health, absence records, vetting status, and complaints & discipline records.

22. RPC officers who are ineligible to enter the MPS as police officers (for example, there are seven MPS retirees, and two officers aged over 59 years) have been informed of their position. They will be able to remain in the RPC (subject to performance) until full merger, at which point they could enter the MPS as PCSOs or members of police staff on protected terms and conditions on a marked time basis of three years.

23. The MPS OCU will therefore be made up of:

• Former-RPC officers who have transferred into the MPS (subject to the Police Regulations change),
• A small number (about ten) of experienced MPS officers (who arrive on or before 1 April 2004),
• 24 MPS probationers (who arrive in four intakes between April and August 2004),
• 45 PCSOs (who arrive between April and August 2004),
• A small number (about eight) of police staff.
• Until full merger, there will also remain a number of RPC officers who are ineligible or unwilling to join the MPS. (At full merger, the DCMS will be responsible for funding any redundancies or early retirements that may arise.)

24. The following staff breakdown is being used for planning purposes:

• Superintendents – 2
• Inspectors – 7
• Sergeants – 19
• Constables – 104
• PCSOs – 45
• Police staff – 8

Accountability

25. Before agreeing to the merger, the RPA asked the MPS to set out its intentions for policing style, accountability, staffing levels and costs post-merger. As a gesture of good faith, the MPS has compiled a ‘Statement of Intent’, which it has asserted carries no legal or contractual obligations for the MPS or the MPA. The Clerk to the MPA has been involved in this process. This Statement will form the basis of an interim accountability agreement.

C. Equality and diversity implications

1. About 33 per cent of RPC officers and staff are women, and just under 5 per cent are from visible ethnic minorities. It is the intention of the OCU to maintain the level of female staff and if possible to increase the level of staff members from visible ethnic minorities.

2. The eligibility exercise includes an equal opportunities monitoring form, and the exercise will be monitored for any disproportionality.

3. The safety of women as they use the Royal Parks will be a feature of the OCU Policing Plan, with specific initiatives to reassure and protect the many women who use the Royal Parks. Superintendent Ball has been invited to attend meetings of the GLA Advisory Group Women’s Safety in Parks and Open Spaces.

D. Financial implications

Funding

1. The MPA has previously approved the principle of a merger on a ‘cost neutral’ basis. The same principle is being applied to the interim arrangements. The MPA Treasurer has been briefed regularly on the emerging developments of the merger proposals.

2. The MPS has received written confirmation that the DCMS will pay £1.3m to meet start up costs. This is the MPS’s estimate, and covers equipping for AWARE in RPC sites, telephony, buying Airwave radios, training and so on.

3. The DCMS has indicated that the start up costs will be paid in two instalments, with the bulk paid next financial year. There was a delay to start up work programmes until this assurance was received, and so in practice many of the invoices for start up costs will actually be settled next year. On 23 February 2004, approval was given through the MPA’s urgency procedures for these interim work programmes to continue, and Members are asked in Recommendation 2 to confirm this approval.

4. DCMS officials have recommended on-going funding of £7.5m in the financial year 2004-2005, rising to £7.8m in the financial year 2005-2006 for Royal Parks policing. This is less than the MPS’s full year costing estimate of £8.0m, but the DCMS accepts that the level of service would be commensurate with the funding made available.

5. In practice the exact sum the MPS will receive is more complicated in the interim. This is because the RPC will still exist, and be incurring some costs. The number of officers who will transfer under the Police Regulations changes, and the timing of those transfers, are both uncertain, and anyway the MPS will not take all the officers and civilian staff until legislation is in place. Also the assets will not transfer until legislation is in place, so the RPC will continue to meet the existing running costs. There will be work over the next few weeks to assess each party’s cost requirements and the MPS 'service' will be scaled to meet the share of the funding available.

6. The MPS is meeting the Home Office in the week commencing 23 February to discuss the means by which the annual running costs will be transferred from the DCMS to the MPA. The funds are likely to be transferred to the MPA via a Specific grant or an adjustment to the Special Payment are both feasible methods that have been agreed with the Home Office. The Home Office will also write to the MPA and the DCMS giving an undertaking that whatever DCMS hands to them they will pass onto the MPA. (This is of particular importance to the interim arrangements as the Secretary of State for Culture still retains responsibility for policing the Royal Parks and so needs assurances about where the money has gone)

Pensions

7. Actuarial work is ongoing to inform staff about the value of their pensions. Most of the RPC officers belong to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, and funds would transfer with them. If they become MPS police officers they would be required to join the Police Pension Scheme. The transferee RPC officers will only receive the level of pensions credit which their service in the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme equates to in the Police Pension Scheme. This is likely to be about 2/3rds or less.

8. Initial indications are that there may be a shortfall in the accrued pension value of between £1 million and £1.8 million based on the assumption that the majority of the RPC staff will become MPS officers and will be appointed at a salary level based on their accrued service as opposed to commensurate with their current salary levels. (Even in the latter approach the shortfall is estimated to be about £900,000.) This shortfall will not be met by the MPS.

E. Background papers

• Briefing paper for the informal session of Co-ordination and Policing Committee held on 1 September 2003
• Discussion paper for the Co-ordination and Policing Committee meeting held on 17 February 2003

F. Contact details

Report author: Superintendent Helen Ball, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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