Minutes

Minutes of an inquorate meeting of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 5 December 2005 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, Westminster, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (items 1-9)
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Rachel Whittaker (Deputy Chair)

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive and Clerk)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• David Riddle (Deputy Chief Executive and Deputy Clerk)
• Peter Ticker (Director, Internal Audit)
• Ruth Hastings Iqball (Committee Section)

MPS officers

• Louis Backwell (Head, Health and Safety) (items 1-6 and 7)
• Tony Baden (Acting Director of Strategic Finance)
• Nick Chown (Director of Risk Management)
• Terry Price (Director of Strategic Finance)

Co-opted member

• Richard Stephenson (Director, Group Health, Safety and Environment, Transport for London) (items 1-5 and 7)

Also in attendance: Mike Howarth–Maden (District Auditor, Audit Commission) and Neil Gray (Audit Manager, Audit Commission) (items 1-4 and 7)

28. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies were received from Jennette Arnold, Chair of the Committee. In her absence, Rachel Whittaker, Deputy Chair, took the Chair. Apologies were also received on behalf of Keith Luck (Director of Resources) and Stephen Rimmer (Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance). As the Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance had just joined the MPS, the Chair requested that he be informed of dates of future meetings so he might attend future meetings of this committee.

29. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were received.

30. Minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee – 17 October 2005

(Agenda item 3)

The Committee considered the minutes of the inquorate meeting held on 17 October 2005. The minutes were agreed and the recommendations therein ratified.

Resolved – That the minutes of the inquorate meeting held on 17 October be confirmed and signed as a correct record and the recommendations therein be ratified.

31. Chair and members update

(Agenda item 4)

The Treasurer reported that the MPS’s Corporate Governance Strategic Committee referred to in agenda item 8 had ceased to exist. Members and the Clerk asked if it was the intention of the Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance to consult them about this.

Resolved – That the update be received.

32. Update on MPS health and safety performance

(Agenda item 5)

Members received a report updating them on the MPS’s health and safety performance. The increased number of injuries from collisions involving police vehicles (PolCols) was noted. Members were informed that a campaign, Safe Driver Two, had been launched to and try to reduce these. A report on this was requested at the next meeting. The co-opted member requested that the report contain the objectives of the campaign and how its success would be evaluated. Members requested that the report summarise the PolCols referred to in this meetings report. In answer to questions, members were informed that information from the vehicles’ black boxes was used to evaluate each incident.

Resolved – That

1. the update on MPS health and safety performance be received; and
2. a report be received at the next meeting on police vehicle collisions

33. Progress report from the Director of Internal Audit

(Agenda item 6)

A report was received summarising the work of Internal Audit for the period April to October 2005.

Members asked about the common factors between (B)OCUs that had good financial controls and those that did not. They were informed that the good (B)OCUs had low turn over of staff and a clear separation of financial functions. Members asked the Director of Strategic Finance if devolved financial management concerned him. He replied that when staff were experienced it worked well, although the Finance Directorate was considering brigading some functions as absence in small units left a bigger gap and required more controls around systems. Staff education was an ongoing process. Finance staff were not relatively well paid, so it was not always possible to fill posts with the most able staff. In answer to question about local procurement, members were informed that articles such as stationary were purchased centrally to obtain economies of scale.

Resolved - That the report be received

34. Annual audit letter for 2004/05

(Agenda item 7)

This report was dealt with after agenda item 4, as the external auditors had prior engagements. This report was received within less than five clear working days of the meeting, however the committee agreed that it should be received under the provisions of section 100B 4b of the Local Government Act 1972 as it had to be considered by the Corporate Governance Committee before the Auditor’s deadline for publication for the letter.

The District Auditor introduced the annual audit letter for 2004/05 noting that auditors had found continuing to improvement. Members asked if all the GLA family was being audited by Audit Commission. They were informed that it was, although some work was being completed by outside companies. Members were informed that more work needed to be done to ensure that background papers supported the balance sheet. Members were informed that the Finance Directorate was aware of the problem and that the Property Services and Information Departments in particular were obtaining new systems that would link with the financial ledger. Questions were asked about the overtime budget. The external auditor said that the Audit Commission had recognised the work done in this area in setting, measuring and monitoring the budget and that the Authority needed to continue to give oversight.

It was agreed that the audit letter would be sent to all members for information as soon as the Auditor had formally released it. It would also be submitted to the full Authority in February with a joint MPA/MPS action plan addressing issues raised by the auditor.

Resolved – That the audit letter be submitted to the full Authority in February with a joint MPA/MPS action plan.

35. Joint review of risk management strategy

(Agenda item 8)

36. Corporate Risk Team work programme

(Agenda item 9)

Items 8 and 9 were taken together. The report ‘Joint review of risk management strategy’ summarised recommendations made to update and enhance the joint MPA/MPS Risk Management Strategy following a review undertaken by the Director of Risk Management in conjunction with the Treasurer. The second report was on the MPS Corporate Risk Team 2005/06 work programme and covered business risk management, based on the MPS Business Risk Management Maturity Model and insurance management.

Since the first report had been written the Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance had taken up his post. He had decided that the MPS’s Corporate Governance Strategic Committee would cease to exist. He would take forward corporate governance, with each member of the Management Board being responsible for risk management in his/her area of responsibility. In relation to the teamwork programme, it was explained that the MPS was now at level 3 and was working towards level 4. This would be achieved by engaging senior management and producing good quality risk registers.

Members asked how corporate governance would now be reported to the MPS’s Management Board. They were told it would be reported by managers on an exception basis, but that the precise details were still under consideration by the Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance.

Members were concerned that some risks lay outside MPS control. A report had been received by the Coordination and Policing Committee on Operation Safeguard (the possible housing of Her Majesty’s Prison Service prisoners in police cells, if prisons were full). The Deputy Commissioner was aware of the risks to the MPS if the Operation was implemented, but would still be forced to take the prisoners. Members asked if the MPS’s Risk Management Team had liaised with the Home Office’s Risk Management Team and if the risks presented by any implementation of the Operation fed into the MPS’s risk registers. They also asked if responsibility for risk was devolved to individual Management Board members, who were identifying risks across the whole MPS. Members felt there was need for someone to look across the individual risks, identify which ones were likely to be critical and where they impacted upon each other. For example, if Operation Safeguard was implemented and a high profile death in custody occurred, it might impact on the stop and search implementation and on the reputation of the MPS.

Members asked if a risk assessment had been done on the MPS ‘fix on fail’ policy, on which a report was expected at the next Corporate Governance Committee.

Resolved – That

1. members approve a revised Joint MPA/MPS Risk Management Strategy, noting the reasons for the various changes from the original;
2. that a report on the MPS Corporate Risk team’s current work programme be received; and
3. a further report be received in March on the MPS Corporate Risk team’s work programme.

37. Corporate risk update

(Agenda item 10)

Members received a report detailing progress made by the MPS Corporate Risk Team in the areas where it provided a professional lead for the Service: corporate governance, business risk management, and insurance management. The report included the refreshed MPA and draft MPS corporate risk registers.

Resolved - That

1. progress up to the end of the third quarter of 2005/06 be noted; and
2. the refreshed MPA Corporate Risk Register be approved and draft MPS risk Register be approved in principle.

The meeting ended at 11.35 a.m.

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