Mapping Community Engagement – a internal MPA review

Report: 9
Date: 21 May 2009
By: Chief Executive

Summary

The MPA undertakes extensive communication, consultation and engagement activity, however, the internal review highlighted there is capacity for improvement. The MPA could benefit from having an accessible Community Engagement Strategy which in turn would ensure a cohesive operational response when planning and undertaking communication, consultation and engagement activities.

A. Recommendation

1. That Members note the content of this report.
2. That Members consider the advice outlined in Appendix 1, in particular next steps and how these will be taken forward.

B. Supporting information

1. At the 15 January 2009 Communities, Equalities and People committee, Members requested that the MPA undertake an internal community engagement review. The aims of this review were to:

• determine the current and planned communication, consultation and engagement work of the MPA;
• establish the gaps in the current and planned work and ascertain how these gaps could be addressed;
• ascertain how Community Police Engagement Groups (CPEGs) are being utilised by the MPA;
• recommend and gather feedback on new corporate definitions for the terms communication, consultation and engagement;
• gather evidence for the upcoming revision of the joint MPA/MPS Community Engagement Strategy 2006 – 2009; and finally,
• inform the upcoming Police Authority inspections.

2. In undertaking this review, the mandatory duties placed on Police Authorities had to be considered. Police Authorities’ statutory requirement to consult with the public has developed since the 1980s and has been shaped by various pieces of legislation. These include:

• The Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) which required Police Authorities to consult the public prior to the setting of local police objectives and to publish a local policing plan;
• The Police Act (1996) which required Police Authorities to make arrangements to obtain the view of people in their areas about policing matters; seek their cooperation with the police in preventing crime and take account of the view of communities in setting local policing priorities; and finally;
• The Police Act (2006) which reiterated the Police Act of 1996.

3 To date these duties have been interpreted in two key ways by most Police Authorities:

• ensuring the Police are actively engaging with the public;
• undertaking their own consultation and engagement work in order to gather views to inform the policing priorities process and policy and service provision development.

4. This is the approach that has been adopted by the MPA to date and on the whole it has been successful one.

5. The findings of the MPA internal review are outlined in Appendix 1.

In summary the review found:

• current and planned communication, consultation and engagement work undertaken by the MPA is extensive and on occasion innovative;
• the MPA would benefit from utilising traditional and new media to share information with Londoners and highlight consultation and engagement opportunities;
• the MPA can only take into account public views if Londoners are aware of its existence. The poor public profile of the MPA was considered a hindrance which needed to be proactively challenged;
• the MPA must consider what it wants to achieve from its communication, consultation and engagement programme. Is it the MPA’s intention to simply gather information to inform its work and the policing plan? Or is the MPA interested in building long term collaborative relationships with groups of Londoners? If this is a key goal, will resources be made available to ensure that relationships with groups of Londoners are maintained and developed?
• in light of the mixed responses to CPEGs by interviewees and the plans to review MPA engagement structures outlined in Met Forward, the MPA should consider what additional value CPEGs bring at a borough level and whether CPEGs are best available method for the MPA to engage with Londoners at a borough level.

C. Race and equality impact

1. In planning and undertaking consultation and engagement activities, the MPA needs to ensure that methodologies used provide opportunities to all Londoners to take part. The internal mapping review highlighted that there are groups of Londoners, including young people, victims and other vulnerable Londoners that the MPA is not hearing from regularly. However, there was also recognition that proactive targeting of particular groups of Londoners requires a sustained commitment and that this is not always possible in a fast moving environment and when resources are limited. Nevertheless, this should not be used as an excuse for failing to consult and engage with a wide range of Londoners.

2. By providing clear information - via a range of mechanisms - on how Londoners can contribute and make a difference to policing in the Capital and by ensuring that consultation and engagement methods are not a hindrance to a cross section of Londoners taking part, the MPA can ensure that those Londoners who want to have a say have the opportunity to do so.

D. Financial implications

The financial considerations are dependent on next steps. Whilst the MPA are limited to what has been agreed within the 2009 budget, consideration should be given to how existing resources can be best used based on the internal review.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Hamera Asfa Davey, Oversight and Review Officer, MPA

For information contact:

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

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback