Treasurer

This position is held by Bob Atkins.

The Treasurer of the MPA carries the statutory responsibility for the integrity of the MPA’s finances, including those of the MPS. Apart from a small number of relatively senior people who support him directly, he has to work through and co-operate with others, especially the Director of Strategic Finance in the MPS and his senior staff. There is a clear need to establish and develop mature working relationships through which the Metropolitan Police Authority can:

• assure itself that policing in London makes best use of available resources;
• work jointly with the MPS to identify improvements;
• agree/implement appropriate arrangements with all interested parties (the MPA, the MPS, the GLA, the Mayor and his staff, and the Home Office) to secure the right level of funding for London’s police service.

Ultimately the Treasurer of the MPA is the head of the finance profession for the organisation although in practice this role is performed on a day to day basis through the MPS’s Director of Strategic Finance. Joint working and transparency is necessary in many areas. It is the MPA’s role to gain resources for the MPS Commissioner, and to this end joint representation on many bodies and in many discussions is required. The MPA is also however responsible for the robustness of financial management as a whole and for obtaining Best Value. The Treasurer of the MPA has a particular responsibility for monitoring and auditing the MPS’s practices.

Biography

Born in North London, Bob commenced his local government career in 1966 with the London Borough of Camden. In 1978 he moved to Fenland District Council and subsequently worked for Portsmouth City Council (1980), Wiltshire County Council (1984) and Buckinghamshire County Council (1989).

He was appointed as Deputy Treasurer of Thames Valley Police Authority (the largest non-metropolitan authority in the country) in 1993 and took over as Treasurer in 2003. He was Honorary President of the Police Authority Treasurers’ Society (PATS) in 2004/05 and is a PATS Adviser to the Association of Police Authorities (APA); this entails being lead advisor to the APA Board and the portfolio includes the 2012 Olympics, police authority inspection, protective services, governance and audit.

Bob has lectured extensively for the Chartered Institute of Public Finance (CIPFA), PATS, regional and other groups, covering topics ranging from ‘the meaning of Lent’ to the ‘Auditing of Contracts’.
In his leisure time, Bob is an ordained priest in the Church of England, with a wife and four grown up children. In his youth, Bob was a keen sportsman, but is now reduced to watching from his armchair!

Contact details

MPA Treasurer
Metropolitan Police Authority
10 Dean Farrar Street
London
SW1H 0NY

Tel: 020 7202 0202
Fax: 020 7202 0200
Minicom: 020 7202 0173
MPA Treasurer's contact number for urgent business: 020 7202 0208

General enquiries email

enquiries@mpa.gov.uk

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