MPS Community Engagement Interim Report

Report: 6
Date: 5 May 2011
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report summarises the MPS response to the joint MPA / MPS Community Engagement Commitment 2010/2013 and introduces an action plan through which improvement activity can be coordinated and driven during the lifetime of the strategy.

A. Recommendation

1. That members note the contents of the report.

B. Supporting information

1. In July 2010 the joint MPA/MPS Community Engagement Commitment (CEC) 2010/2013 was approved at Full Authority. The Commitment recognises that effective community engagement is fundamental to the policing of London and set out to build on the MPS confidence objectives, plans outlined in the MPA’s three year strategy, MET Forward and the MPS Diversity and Equality Strategy.

2. It has been observed that, for some the distinction between diversionary activity and engagement activity has been difficult to identify. Therefore for clarity in this report, engagement is defined as follows: “The proactive harnessing of the energies, knowledge and skills of communities and partners not merely to identify problems but also to negotiate priorities for action and shape and deliver solutions”.

3. The MPA/MPS CEC 2010/13 is based on the following six principles:

• Information: We will provide clear information on how people that live in, work in or visit London can get involved in policing, engagement and problem solving opportunities.
• Inclusion: We will ensure that our engagement activity involves a wide range of communities (in terms of age, race, sexual orientation, gender (including transgender), disability and faith). We will improve participation of groups who have not traditionally taken part in MPA and MPA community engagement activities.
• Preparation: We will ensure Londoners who participate in our formal community engagement processes (for example Safer Neighbourhoods Panels or CPEGs) are provided with the information they need to perform their role effectively.
• Integration: We will plan and coordinate our engagement work both internally within the MPA and MPS and, where appropriate, with Local Authority partners to prevent duplication, reduce costs and share results. We will equip our staff and ensure good practice is shared with partners and across the MPA and MPS.
• Involve: We will ensure that we have effective community engagement mechanisms in place that allow the public to raise the issues and concerns that affect them, their communities or their areas and contribute to the setting of policing priorities at Ward, Borough and pan-London levels. We will also engage with communities at the earliest and most appropriate stages to inform decision making and build trust.
• Feedback: We will provide timely feed back to those who have been involved in consultation and engagement activities on the decisions that have been taken. We will communicate widely the results from engagement activity and how these have informed policing activities and policies. Governance and development of the action plan.

4. Engagement is the most important of the four drivers of confidence. Each Business group has been charged with developing confidence plans coordinated and governed through the Confidence and Satisfaction Board (CSB), chaired by DAC Territorial Policing. Although these plans have not been developed to respond specifically to the MPA/MPS CEC 2010/13, they do reflect measured cross business activity in progressing the agenda towards a goal of all of our communities being more confident in their police service.

5. The MPA CEP Committee received a report during February, largely describing the current position of engagement activity within the MPS. This report endeavours to build upon this by crystalising in one place the new activities under development and indeed activity planned for the future. This has been presented in the form of a single coherent action plan, albeit that the specific activities are referred to in other plans. N.B. In adopting this approach, the many excellent examples of ongoing engagement activity previously reported upon are not revisited here.

6. Notwithstanding the above, the principles within the MPA/MPS CEC 2010/13 are recognised across all business groups and Safer Neighbourhoods (SN) as core policing activity. Ward boundaries remain unchanged across the MPS. Ward panels continue to be the key local priority setting structure on boroughs. SN officers and those from specialist business groups continue their engagement work with children and young people; this is a specific activity which is different but still linked to, dealing with the diversion of young people from criminality. Police volunteers are a vital link between the police and local communities, as are the increasing number of Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC). A dedicated Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA) Community Engagement team works to improve relations with ethnic and specialist media (ESM) by giving them more access to the MPS, whilst utilizing them to help us engage with hard to reach audiences. The corporate outward facing websites are being reviewed under the remit of the MPS Digital Engagement Strategy which will allow for real time updates to be made to the MPS corporate and SN team pages providing information and feedback to local people. More modern digital communication methods such as Facebook are currently being evaluated, with a Twitter site being piloted already

7. The MPA/MPS CEC 2010/13 is underpinned by twenty one specific statements that show “how the MPS will do things differently”. Of these five refer to business which has been embedded within core service activity under the MPS seven step engagement model. The statements referred to are shown below:

• Make a commitment to only engage when there is an opportunity for communities to raise issues, influence and change decisions and services or to build and strengthen relationships and trust between communities and the police
• Ensure that when people take part in MPA and MPS community engagement activities they are told why the activity is taking place
• Use a variety of methods and media to provide feedback on what has been achieved as a result of the public’s involvement in community engagement activities
• Ensure that police intelligence and information held by individual SN teams is shared with other SN and local police teams in each borough and across boroughs
• Where relevant, provide information to communities on policing powers/methods when planning consultation and engagement activities

8. The remaining sixteen statements provide the structure followed by the MPS CEC 2010/13 action plan.

Future Uncertainties

External Funding

9. The Home Office have announced that Area Based Grants will incorporate a Community Safety Fund (CSF) totalling £10.58m in 2011/12 for London reducing to £5.35m the following year. This funding is for resource spending and consolidates the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF) together with funding for Young People Substance Misuse and Community Call for Action, all of which were previously given to Local Authorities. Police Crime Commissioners (PCC) will be granted this funding and in London the GLA will be in receipt of this from April 2011.

10. In announcing this change to partnership funding the government have reiterated that effective partnerships play a crucial role in helping to tackle crime and reduce re-offending. It is essential that local agencies work together to protect vulnerable people, provide better services for their communities, and limit the impact of tightening public budgets.

11. The new funding is non-ring fenced to allow maximum flexibility in management of resources. Future plans will see other funding such as Drug intervention Programme grants being consolidated with CSF for PCCs.

12. The significant reduction in funds available to Local Authorities will undoubtedly have an impact on the amount of community engagement activities that will continue to be funded across London.

13. An example of a BCU funded project being mainstreamed was an outreach worker pilot in Hounslow West London. The BCU fund was used to help pay for a small team of outreach workers to be posted to specific estates on the borough which had been identified as being subject to higher levels of youth crime than other parts of the borough. The team would spend a set period of time at one location before moving on to another estate identified and agreed by all partners. The scheme was part of the BCU fund spend plan for two years before being expanded and mainstreamed within youth service provision on the borough.

14. The loss of the BCU Fund will undoubtedly have an impact on partnership working and community engagement initiatives. This fund has been used to provide additionally in terms of resources and partnership activity. The MPA has commissioned a paper – due in July – addressing the scope and scale of this impact specifically in relation to BCUF.

15. For 2010/11 BOCUs were required to identify projects for funding that clearly linked into their community engagement work and confidence targets for the current financial year.

16. The total number of projects receiving funding from the BCUF and identified as contributing to the five confidence themes are as follows:

• Tackling crime and ASB effectively 170 projects.
• Driving effective partnerships 100 projects.
• Working with and for the public 50 projects.
• Delivering a high quality local service 40 projects.
• Building an empowered, engaged and confident workforce10 projects.

17. A dip sample of ten BOCU spend plans indicate the potential loss of up to 41 police officer, police staff and local authority or other partner posts. These are currently being funded by the BCUF.

18. There is now a particular funding challenge for genuinely innovative practices which might make a contribution to engagement and crime reduction. At the same time, there is a shortfall in that funding which has driven joint tasking by partnerships.

19. These issues were highlighted in a report to the CEP committee (6/1/11) and an action was given to the MPS to report on the impact of the loss of BCUF. The report on this action is due in July, to coincide with the final, end-of-year report on BCUF allocations. The response will seek to identify a number of examples of innovative practice supported by BCUF and evaluated for mainstreaming. It will also assess the level of funding allocated to pro-active tasking, with a view to indicating the impact on partnership working at borough level.

Estates Strategy

20. The MPA/MPS has an agreed engagement strategy for changes to the estate. Local engagement activity is carried out by Borough Commanders with key stakeholders which includes, Local Authority key stakeholders, local MPs and Councillors, Safer Neighbourhoods Ward Panels and other local stakeholders.

Public Access Project

21. The MPS understands and respects the Mayoral commitment around access to front counter provision. A review of public access policing services is currently being carried out with the aim of developing and implementing a more cost efficient model for delivering services to Londoners that will improve performance and customer satisfaction through redesign. Policing services are accessed via different mechanisms or 'channels' that are divided into 'remote' such as via the telephone and 'face to face' such as through front counters or via pre-planned surgeries or public meetings. There is a great disparity between front counters in terms of footfall.

22. The intention is provide 'face to face' access at times and locations that are more closely aligned to public demand. The introduction of a service based approach to public access supports a channel strategy. This will however require support from local communities to underpin a business case for change. The business case must be supported by an engagement process that shows that local communities are aware of the proposed principles of change, that they understand what the consequences could be in their local areas and that they agree the benefits of the change process.

23. A community engagement process will commence on 4th April 2011 and boroughs will engage with strategic and neighbourhood partners. An online survey will capture the views of the public and pan London consultation will ensure that the views of vulnerable communities and under represented groups are also captured. Any change will only be implemented following a further period of community engagement.

Safer Neighbourhood Review.

24. We are currently conducting a Safer Neighbourhoods review that focuses on their location, what they deliver and how they are structured. The Commissioner has stated that there will be no changes to the current structure until such a time that Management Board and the MPA have had time to consider the options put forward.

25. The Policing London Business Plan 2011/14 sets out the funding commitment for the overall number of funded PC and PCSO posts within Safer Neighbourhoods to remain unchanged, to maintain a consistent presence in SN, with resources equating to 2 Constables and 3 PCSOs for every ward. The MPS is committed to retaining all SN PC and PCSO resources within their existing boroughs, with no current plans for movement of these staff across Borough boundaries to areas of higher demand.

Governance Arrangements

26. The MPS established the CSB to oversee and coordinate work being undertaken across the organisation to improve public confidence and customer satisfaction. The Board comprises representatives from all business Groups and as described earlier is chaired by DAC TP. MPS Management Board directed that corporate responsibility for community engagement would rest with ACTP and that the MPS Confidence and Satisfaction Board would oversee delivery of actions to support the implementation of the MPS CEC 2010/13 within the MPS. The CSB ultimately reports to the MPS Diversity executive board chaired by the Deputy Commissioner. This ensures that delivery supports the organisational approach to confidence and satisfaction and coordinates community engagement activity being undertaken across business groups.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. A full equality impact assessment was undertaken as part of the development of the Community Engagement Commitment and the issues raised by it have been reflected Commitment’s principles and in the improvement actions.

2. The Commitment places a strong emphasis on ensuring the engagement mechanisms used by the MPA and MPS are as inclusive as possible and in designing engagement activities and encouraging participation amongst those communities and groups that have traditionally been less involved in police community engagement activities.

Consideration of Met Forward

3. The MPA/MPS Community Engagement Commitment is a key deliverable within MetConnect strand of MetForward. The Commitment is intended to improve how the MPS listens to and responds to the needs of communities and improves levels of confidence amongst the diverse communities that live in, work in or visit London.

Financial Implications

4. This report contains references to other actions and developments such as the Public Access Project and the Safer Neighbourhoods Review, for which the financial implications are separately reported.

5. Thus there are no direct additional financial implications arising from the recommendation contained within this report: The work to enhance the MPS approach to community engagement, as described within this report, will be delivered within existing budgets as contained and approved within the 2010 - 2013 Business Plan.

Legal Implication

6 There are no specific legal implications arising from this report which is for information only.

Environmental Implications

7. There are no direct environmental implications arising directly from this report.

Risk (including Health and Safety) Implications

8. There are no specific risk implications arising directly from this report.

D. Background papers

• The MPA and MPS Community Engagement Commitment 2010 - 2013

E. Contact details

Report author: A/Chief Inspector Trevor Farrell, Crime and Customer Strategy Command (Safer Neighbourhoods)

For information contact:

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

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