Minutes

Minutes of the special meeting of the Community Engagement and Citizen Focus held on 12 February 2009 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Clive Lawton (Chair)
• Victoria Borwick
• Valerie Brasse
• Joanne McCartney.

MPA officers

• Martin Davis (Head of Engagement and Partnerships),
• Natasha Plummer (Engagement & Partnerships Manager)
• Maurice Blades (Engagement & Partnerships)
• Chris Benson (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• David Skelton

1. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Victoria Brasse and Joanne McCartney apologised for being late.

2. Declarations in interests

(Agenda item 2)

There were none

3. Terms of reference for the Community engagement & Citizen Focus Group

(Agenda item 3)

The Sub Committee agreed a number of refinements to its suggested terms of reference.

RESOLVED to approve the amended terms of reference for the Sub Committee.

4. Introduction to sub-committee work plan 2009/10

(Agenda item 4)

Martin Davis (Head of Engagement and Partnerships), introduced the report.

The Sub Committee noted that the work plan was a living document that would be subject to change as the work of the Sub Committee developed.

The Sub Committee agreed that the work plan would benefit from a narrative that set out what was expected of the Sub Committee and by what date.

5. Development of a performance framework for community engagement

(Agenda item 5)

David Skelton gave an oral presentation on the development of a performance framework for community engagement.

The presentation provided a summary of the work conducted as part of the joint MPA/MPS Community Engagement Strategy to develop a performance management framework for community engagement. It described the development of a framework agreed by the MPS and MPA in early 2008. It also included information on work conducted by business groups to assess the effectiveness of some key engagement activities and the proposed oversight role for the MPA.

The current joint MPA/MPS Community Engagement Strategy contained a commitment to develop a performance framework to monitor the effectiveness of the engagement activity that it conducted. Work was undertaken to develop a model that could be used by business groups and (B)OCUs across the MPS to assess the effectiveness of their community engagement processes and identify where improvements could be made.

The Sub Committee noted that a generic four stage model for measuring engagement had been developed under the following headings ‘Engagement activity’, ‘Output from engagement’ , ‘Diagnostics indicators’ and ‘Outcomes’. The model was used by business groups to structure any community engagement work.

The Sub Committee thanked David Skelton for the presentation.

 It was noted that there was a degree of confusion as to what is meant by ‘community engagement’; was it the same as or different to ‘community involvement’? It was agreed that the MPA and MPS had to agree a common definition for both of these terms.

The Sub Committee welcomed the development of the model and agreed that to be consistent any community engagement work carried at by the MPA should be designed and measured against it, although it was aware that a one size fits all approach was not appropriate in all cases.

Members recognised the difficulties in understanding what constituted good community engagement and how to capture best practice for dissemination throughout the MPS. It was suggested that this could be debated at a future meeting of the Sub Committee.

The Sub Committee asked how it could add value to this aspect of the MPS’s work.

RESOLVED to note the report

6. Borough community engagement funding 2009/10

(Agenda item 6)

Natasha Plummer (Engagement & Partnerships Manager) introduced the report. The report outlined the progress made to transform community police engagement arrangements at the borough level, and set out proposals for the assessment and approval of the community engagement funding allocations to the borough based community engagement groups for 2009/10.

The Sub Committee agreed that it would be of help if future reports contained a comparison between the Community Police Engagement Groups (CPEG’s) showing, composition of the executive, number of staff employed, levels of grants made by the CPEG’s and the number of projects undertaken.

Members were concerned that legal status of a number of the CPEG’s meant that the individual members of CPEGs could be personally liable should the CPEG fail.

It was noted that a paper setting out best practice for CPEG’s had been produced within the Engagement & Partnerships team, and it was agreed that the paper should be circulated to members of the Sub Committee.

The performance of CPEG’s was assessed against their Service Level Agreements rather than an annual review. Based on this assessment the CPEG’s were grouped into 3 performance bands.

It was noted that Martin Davis was responsible for signing off the bids from the borough community engagement fund on behalf of the MPA. Members were advised that Borough link members would in future be part of the process.

It was agreed that the Sub Committee would retain the strategic overview, and help to raise the overall performance of the CPEG’s

RESOLVED

(i) to note the progress made in developing community engagement arrangements for the borough based community engagement groups

(ii) to endorse the proposed arrangements for the assessment and approval of 2009/10 funding allocations to the community police engagement groups.

(iii) to authorise the Chair of the Sub Committee to approve the grant allocations recommended on the basis of the officers assessment.

7. Cross-borough community engagement fund

(Agenda item 7)

Natasha Plummer (Engagement & Partnerships Manager) introduced the report. The report outlined the assessment and monitoring process for the cross-borough community engagement fund and sought member approval for the final allocations.

It was noted with regret that this funding would not be available beyond next year.

 The Sub Committee welcomed the range of innovative projects received. Members felt however that they did not have enough information or knowledge at this stage to comment on the final allocation of individual projects and therefore agreed to note the final allocation.

 The borough link members would be advised of the reasons for refusing applications from groups operating within the boroughs they represent.

 It was noted that the Sub Committee will receive a report setting out the success or otherwise of the projects in due course.

RESOLVED to note the assessment and monitoring arrangements for the cross-borough fund, and the final allocation of funding.

8. Community engagement conference April 2009

(Agenda item 8)

Natasha Plummer (Engagement & Partnerships Manager) introduced the report. The Sub Committee was advised that the Engagement and Partnership Unit hosted an annual Community Engagement Conference in order to bring together community representatives and volunteers who work with the MPA and the MPS from across London. The aim of the conference is to share relevant information around emerging issues, examples of good practice, to promote the work of the MPA, to encourage networking between boroughs and to offer thanks to all those who support the MPA on a voluntary basis.

 It was noted that the conference may now be held in May rather than April as first envisaged.

 It was suggested that consideration be given to holding the conference on a Saturday, (which may exclude a number of religious groups), to allow parents with childcare responsibilities to attend, alternatively crèche facilities should be provided.

 As well as showcasing the work of the MPA the conference should also empower, inspire and encourage the community to become involved.

 The conference format was designed to share best practice and to hear contributions from the community.

 The Sub Committee would like the conference to encourage the community to take responsibility for the issues that were important to it.

 Consideration was also to be given to Webcasting the event.

The meeting closed at 3:20pm

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