Complaints management information

Report: 5
Date: 11 March 04
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report includes data for the 12 months to January 2004. It focuses on the key changes or exceptions within the data, as trends are slow to change. Appendix 1 includes graphs illustrating the trends.

Public complaints allegations have declined by approximately 10% from February 2003 to January 2004.

The number of public complaint cases under investigation has dropped by 16% from 572 cases in February 2003 to 479 cases in January 2004.

Public complaint investigations over 120-days old have reduced from 182 (32% of the total ‘live’) to 144 (30% of the total ‘live’).

Since September 2003 approximately 1000 probationer officers have received integrity strengthening training by DPS staff.

A. Recommendation

That the report and the illustration of trends outlined at Appendix 1 to the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. Appendix 1 graphically illustrates some of the key trends using data drawn from Appendix 2.

2. The summary of DPS performance indicators is attached at Appendix 2 and focuses on timeliness, quality and outcomes of investigations.

3. The diversity information is attached at Appendix 3.

4. The latest Performance Bulletin used by Internal Investigations Command is attached at Appendix 4.

Key performance indicators

5. This report focuses on the key changes or exceptions within the data as the nature of the figures and trends are slow to emerge.

6. Due to the different timings required by the MPS and MPA secretariats for the preparation of the report for the Professional Standards and Complaints Committee the data may appear dated by the time it is discussed.

Complaints reduction

Public complaints (BVPI 21) – chart 1 Appendix 1 & row 1 Appendix 2

7. This shows a significant downward trend in the 12-month rolling average of the number of allegations recorded since February 2003.

8. A comparison is now made between the current rolling 12-month average and that from the same period in the previous year. This reveals that, on average, 14% fewer allegations were recorded in the period February 2003 to January 2004 than in the previous 12 months.

Public complaints finalised – charts 1 & 2 Appendix 1 & row 9 Appendix 2

9. The 12-month rolling average of the number of finalised allegations has remained steady at approximately 400 from February 2003 to November 2003. They have dropped below that in following months, which reflect the fact that fewer allegations are being made.

10. By comparing the totals of recorded and finalised allegations on chart 1 Appendix 1 it can be seen that DPS investigative teams are more than keeping pace with the number of allegations being recorded, and thus significantly reducing the number of cases under investigation and improving timeliness. (The apparent decline in finalised allegations since August 2003 is magnified by the scale of the chart and is not significant.)

11. Chart 2 Appendix 1 shows that there has been an increase in the percentage of allegations that are unsubstantiated and a corresponding slight decline in the percentage of other outcomes such as dispensation from investigation. This appears to be a result of the focus on proportionate investigations, whereby Investigating Officers are encouraged to investigate complainants’ allegations in a timely and proportionate manner.

Timeliness – charts 3 & 4 Appendix 1 and rows 10/11 Appendix 2

12. The process improvements and performance expectations set for investigative units and teams continue to have a positive effect on performance.

13. The number of ‘live’ cases under investigation at row 10 Appendix 2 shows that overall the number of public complaint cases under investigation has dropped by 16% from 572 cases in February 2003 to 479 cases in January 2004.

14. The figures at row 10 Appendix 2 show a reduction in the number of current internal investigations over the same period from 144 to 119, a reduction of 17%.

15. Over the last 12 months there have been further reductions in the number and percentage of public complaint investigations over 120-days old, from 182 (32% of the total ‘live’) to 144 (30% of the total ‘live’), a reduction of 21%.

16. Over the same twelve months the number of internal investigations has reduced. The percentage of those over 120-days old has remained between 60%-70%, however in recent months further efforts have been made to reduce these further. The total for January 2004 now stands at 54% of the total ‘live’ cases.

Performance management framework

17. Attached at Appendix 4 is the Performance Bulletin used by the Internal Investigation Command (IIC) senior management team to reduce complaints and improve timeliness.

18. It contains the performance expectations of each unit within IIC and ‘control charts’ that illustrate both the targets and whether any fluctuations in performance are outside what could be regarded as natural variation.

19. The source data for this bulletin is the Investigating Officer Workload Analysis (IOWA) summary and the Investigating Officer Throughput Analysis (IOTA) for the MPS.

20. These reports are produced twice weekly (IOWA) & twice monthly (IOTA) each being produced at three levels: firstly showing the performance at MPS level, secondly at Borough Support Unit level, and finally at Investigating Officer (IO) level where a case list for each IO is produced.

21. Investigating Officers use the IOWA data to manage their caseload on a weekly or even daily basis.

Training – row 17 Appendix 2

22. At the request of the MPA, a training element now features within Appendix 2. The information relates to both training sessions conducted for DPS staff and additionally by DPS staff for Probationer Officers and shows a year to date, cumulative, total.

23. Senior Investigating Officer training is generally for DPS staff however Borough Commanders and other non-DPS ACPO staff and senior internal and external stakeholders such as the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) and the MPA itself. Ordinarily 2 or 3 of these courses will run each year.

24. Over the same period Investigating Officer training has been run too. Six such courses have run between April 2003 and January 2004.

25. As part of the DPS Prevention Strategy the directorate now conduct integrity training to probationers on a weekly basis. It is delivered to all probationers as part of their continuation training at the 18-month stage of their employment. 84 sessions have been run between Sept 2003 and January 2004, this equates to approximately 1000 probationers trained.

C. Equality and diversity implications

Diversity Information

1. The data provided in Appendix 3 outlines the equality and diversity issues related to the work of the Directorate of Professional Standards.

2. In a number of categories there are no longer any minority ethnic officers represented. The categories where they are absent tend to be those where the actual numbers are low. This highlights some of the difficulties in identifying trends and patterns where the data is small.

Further research

3. A further meeting has taken place with the MA student at the London School of Economics. He will be looking into the possible reasons for the general downward trend in public complaints and the disproportionality evident in relation to complaints being made by different ethnic groups within society.

D. Financial implications

There are no direct financial implications coming from this report.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Michael Clark, Higher Performance Analyst and Guy Ferguson, Detective Superintendent, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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