Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 11 September 2008 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, Westminster, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Faith Boardman (Deputy Chair)
• Reshard Auladin
• Rachel Whittaker

Co-opted members

• Linda Duncan (Head of Governance Services, Hyman Capital Services Limited)
• Richard Stephenson (Director, Group Health, Safety and Environment, Transport for London)

MPA officers

• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• Julie Norgrove (Deputy Director, Internal Audit)
• Ruth Hastings Iqball (Committee Officer)

MPS officers

• Dani Fitzgerald (Inspection Liaison Analysis Unit)
• Nick Kettle (Head of Safety and Health Risk Management Team)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
• Tom Edgell (Audit Manager)
• David Willis (Divisional Director Estates Management, Property Services)

Also in attendance

• Les Kidner (District Auditor, Audit Commission) (to agenda item 5)
• Martin Searle (Audit Manager, Audit Commission)

18. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies were received from Kit Malthouse and Karim Murji (members).

19. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interests were received.

20. Minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee – 12 June 2008

(Agenda item 3)

The minutes of the previous meeting were considered.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee held on 12 June 2008 be signed and agreed as a correct record.

21. Audit Commission Annual Governance report - MPA audit 2007/08

(Agenda item 4)

Members received the Audit Commission’s Annual Governance report on the MPA audit 2007/08 together with a covering report. The Audit Commission’s report was introduced by the District Auditor. He explained that the report had been seen by both the Treasurer and the Director of Resources and that the Commission was likely to give an unqualified opinion of the accounts. He added that, unlike in the previous year, the conclusion concerning ‘value for money’ (VFM) was also likely to be unqualified. There still remained some outstanding issues, and if anything occurred within the next two weeks to qualify the opinion the Chair would be informed.

The Treasurer responded by saying that officers were content with the changes proposed, and that the unqualified opinion of VFM reflected the hard work by MPA and MPS officers. The Chair echoed these sentiments.

Resolved - That the Audit Commission’s annual governance report be received.

22. Internal Audit quarterly progress report

(Agenda item 5)

The Deputy Director of Internal Audit introduced a report summarising the work of Internal Audit for the period April to September 2008. It also summarised the results of significant Internal Audit work to date and the adequacy and effectiveness of control in MPS systems where Internal Audit has issued final reports since April 2008.

The Chair and members were pleased to note the introduction of the ‘raising fraud awareness’ initiative and appointment of a fraud prevention officer.

Resolved – That

1. the progress made in achieving the 2008/09 Internal Audit Plan be noted; and
2. the current Internal Audit evaluation of the adequacy and effectiveness of internal control in the MPS be noted.

23. Annual Governance statement - Quarterly update

(Agenda item 6)

Police authorities were required to include an Annual Governance Statement in their financial statements. Annual Governance Statement include details of governance arrangements, highlighting how effectively they are being deployed and identifying significant governance issues and actions being taken to address them. The Committee had requested a report providing an update on progress in addressing the significant governance issues included in the statement of accounts for 2007/08

Members asked for an update on the contracts database mentioned in the report. The Director of Resources informed them that it was part of the workstream on contract compliance and work was ongoing with contractors.

Resolved – the progress in addressing the significant governance issues included in the 2007/08 Annual Governance Statement for the MPA be noted.

24. Business card update

(Agenda item 7)

A report, introduced by the Director of Resources, provided details of the work that had been completed in relation to the corporate business card investigation, first reported to full Authority on November 2007 and to this Committee in March and June 2008. The report also detailed progress on the implementation of the new management process for the governance of the MPS business card and the introduction of the new credit card contract. The Chair welcomed the action and approaches taken.

In answer to members’ questions, the Director of Resources outlined the controls in relation to using business cards to obtain cash. She added that this report had been submitted to the MPS’s Senior Management Board, which was continuing to monitor the use of corporate credit cards. Members expressed concern of the reconciliations remaining outstanding after 30 days (table 4), especially in Territorial Policing. They were informed that these were investigated, but there had to be some tolerance especially for officers on duty abroad. Members also asked if non-compliance, perhaps through misunderstandings of the regulations, had been found in other areas of expenses payments. They were told that processes in relation to fuel and procurement cards had been tightened up. If cards could not be reconciled, they were withdrawn. With regard to general expenses, the Director HR was overseeing the drafting of a revised and simpler guidance. The Director of Resources added that the perception of financial governance within the MPS was stronger than 12 months ago.

Resolved

1. the actions that have been completed in processing outstanding Business Card reconciliations be noted;
2. the progress with ongoing investigations being undertaken by the Directorate of Professional Standards and MPA Internal Audit be noted; and
3. the progress on the implementation of the new management processes put in place to avoid a recurrence of the issues identified be noted.

25. MPS corporate governance framework update

(Agenda item 8)

This report provided a progress report on the MPS corporate governance work programme. It included updates on the areas identified by the MPS Annual Assurance Statement to enhance the MPS governance arrangements, in addition to workstreams previously identified as part of the work programme. This report also incorporated the Corporate Risk Management Update report that this committee previously received as a separate item.

The Director of Resources noted that, as outlined in paragraph 3, lead officers for each workstream had been identified in order to embed the framework within the MPS.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

26. Implementing International Financial Reporting Standards

(Agenda item 9)

In March 2007, the Government announced in its Budget Report the intention that all government and other public bodies should in future publish their annual financial statements in line with International Financial Reporting Standards. The new reporting standards would be implemented by central government bodies for 2009/10 and other public bodies, including police authorities, for 2010/11. Early planning was seen by the MPA as key in successfully making the transition to the new arrangements, and the report received by members provided them with an early indication of the task ahead.

The Chair noted that leases for property would need to be split in two, one for land and one for buildings, with accounting treatment for each potentially being different. He was informed that the valuation contractor for the MPS was already alert to this. Members also noted that there would be a need to accrue for all employee benefits in the year in which they were earned. This would include both untaken holiday pay at year-end and possibly police officer overtime where a decision had yet to be taken on whether payment or time off would be claimed. It was felt this should focus the minds of Senior Management Board members and that police authorities should be raising this with the Police Negotiating Board.

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted; and
2. regular updates, including a detailed project plan at the December meeting, be received by the Committee until the new arrangements for accounting were in place.

27. Health and safety performance in the MPS

(Agenda item 10)

Members received a report providing a comparison of injuries reported on the Metropolitan Police Accident and Incident Reporting System (MetAIR) between July 2006 - June 2007 and July 2007 - June 2008 and informing members that the MPS, with others was working with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to develop a high level statement defining the balance between emergency services response and compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act.

In response to concerns expressed by members at an earlier meeting on the number of assaults suffered by Police Officers and PCSOs, the Safety and Health Risk Management Team (SHRMT) is sponsoring an assault study with the Officer Safety Unit, Federation and PCS Union. Over 3000 questionnaires have been sent to police officers, PCSOs and operational police staff. It was hoped initial draft findings would be available in the next few weeks. The Committee would be updated at its December meeting, when it would also be updated on the work with the HSE.

The Chair was concerned by the number of major accidents occurring during training. He was told that the SHRMT proposed to look at this in greater depth which would require extraction and analysis of data currently contained with free text fields from MetAIR when it had available finance to support this study. It was also suggested by the Committee that as the time spent in training was relatively small, the statistic relating to injury training was proportionally greater. The Head of SHRMT added that officer safety training had to be realistic and officers were trained to deal with conflict scenarios, but he agreed there was a need to look at the issue further.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

28. Update on MPA/MPS assurance process

(Agenda item 11)

A report was received stating that Central Operations (CO) and Directorate of Resources (DoR) will be the first Business Groups to submit assurance letters to the Commissioner in this financial year 2008/09. It was envisaged that the remainder of the Business Groups and their (Borough) Operational Command Units ((B)OCUs) / departments will provide assurance letters over the next two/three financial years.

The Chair stated that he was pleased to see a clear process emerge. Members asked about training for OCU commanders. They were informed that it was already a mandatory training requirement for OCU Commanders to complete and pass a Health and Safety Leadership course. The assurance process involved no additional training.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

29. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 12)

Resolved – That the press and public be asked to leave the meeting during discussion of the remaining item of business because exempt information as defined in of Part 1, Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) was likely to be made known.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

30. Exempt appendix to Business card update (item 7)

(Agenda item 13)

The exempt appendix to the linked agenda item was considered.

31. High-risk audit recommendations

(Agenda item 14)

The current status of all outstanding high-risk recommendations made in relation to MPS control systems by MPA Internal Audit was noted.

32. Update on the governance of sports clubs –oral update

(Agenda item 15)

The Divisional Director for Estates Management provided an update on the incorporation of the sports clubs and work to grant them formal leases with responsibility for governance and compliance with statute arising from their use and occupation of the MPA’s club premises.

33. Exempt minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee – 12 June 2008

(Agenda item 16)

That the exempt minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee held on 12 June 2008 be signed and agreed as a correct record. The Chair referred to the fact that this was the last meeting of the Committee in the present Authority and thanked Rachel Whittaker for the sterling work she had done as member of the Committee.

The meeting ended at 10.55 am

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