MPS Corporate governance framework update

Report: 8b
Date: 23 March 2009
By: Director of Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides a progress report on the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) corporate governance work programme. It includes updates on the areas identified by the MPS Annual Assurance Statement that enhance the MPS’ governance arrangements, on the work programme itself, and incorporates the Corporate Risk Management update.

A. Recommendation

That members note the content of this report and endorse the MPS Risk Management Strategy as set out in Appendix 2.

B. Supporting information

Background

Current corporate governance arrangements

1. The MPS continues its drive to achieve excellence in corporate governance. As such an established ‘Temple’ model of corporate governance, approved by Management Board (see Appendix 1) reflects current good practice.

2. The results of a gap analysis of the MPS Corporate Governance Framework against the elements of the CIPFA / SOLACE Good Governance Framework informed the development of the corporate governance work programme. This work programme is managed and monitored through the MPS Service Improvement Board (SIB) with regular progress updates to the Performance Board and this Committee.

Summary

3. The MPS continues to use the ‘temple’ model of corporate governance set out in Appendix 1. This model is supported by the corporate governance work programme, which consists of the following workstreams. The current status of each workstream is provided below with more detail set out in the Progress Update section of this report.

Progress update

Review of all forms of public engagement and consultation

4. The MPA/Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Community Engagement Strategy is currently under review, with the strategy due for renewal in 2009. This is a key part of the Confidence in Policing work as it is the major driver for increases in confidence. This will therefore take on a new energy and direction as the board takes the work forward. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing (TP) Capability and Review will be leading on the work supported by the Confidence in Policing Board.

Safer Neighbourhoods panel training and business / youth engagement

5. The first round of Safer Neighbourhood (SN) panel training is now complete. This consisted of 32 seminars, one catch up seminar and one youth seminar held at the Greater London Authority (GLA). Feedback received at seminars has been very positive. Subjects covered this time round were history and understanding of SNs and the policing model incorporating seven stages around community engagement, role of SN panels and problem solving. The second round of seminars is due to start later in the year. We are currently reviewing what the topics will be, based upon feedback. Initial, scoping is leading us towards an input around Anti-social Behaviour (ASB). A newsletter has also been developed to keep SN panels up to date on current issues.

6. Pilot work is now complete with Business Key Individual Network (BKIN) survey results fed back to each team and business representatives. A working group is to be established to look at developing a business tool kit. Development work is currently being undertaken with problem solving activity across nine wards. BKIN will be made available to all boroughs to use in order to identify local business Issues.

7. The joint MPS/City of London Police project to develop a business policing model will meet in March 2009 to discuss the results of the scoping/survey work. The next stage is to look at engagement activity to improve business confidence. The chair of the group is the City of London Police Commissioner.

8. The SN youth survey for 2009 is now being prepared and will be made available to a wider audience of young people across London, to ensure that the views, concerns and ideas are captured and fed back to a local Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) level. The launch of this year’s survey is planned for September.

9. We are currently reviewing the number of youth panels in place. The current top five youth priorities across the MPS are ASB by youth, youth engagement, ASB in general, drug dealing and using and ASB – drugs.

Introduction of a Strategy Co-ordination role

10. The latest Corporate Strategic Assessment (CSA) was presented to Management Board on 3 March 2009. This is a bottom-up strategic analysis that will inform the 2010/11 Policing Plan, alongside stakeholder engagement and consultation with the MPA. The CSA is a restricted document and will not be published externally.

11. The Strategic Intelligence Assessment (SIA) for 2009/10, produced twice yearly by the Met Intelligence Bureau, has been circulated to senior officers for feedback. The SIA sets the crime areas for proactive focus and operations in the coming financial year. The SIA was considered by the Performance Board in February and sets the Control Strategy priorities for 2009/10. The CSA and 2009-12 Policing London Business Plan and Budget reflect the intelligence gained from the SIA process. The SIA is a restricted document and will not be published externally.

12. The London Landscape 2: Thames Gateway report is almost complete. The delivery of the report has slipped from an initial target of January 2009 but will be ready this month. The report will be published internally and a sanitised version shared with key partners. The report goes beyond the Olympic Legacy to consider the long term impacts of the Government’s Thames Gateway programme on the MPS and London. The Olympic Park Legacy is a small part of this wider programme. The London Landscape report provides a strategic context to MPS Business Planning.

Implementation of the Taylor reforms to police misconduct procedures

13. The Taylor Reforms were implemented throughout the Police Service on 1 December 2008. Early indications suggest that the transition has been smooth and that B/OCU Professional Standards Champions are being fully supported by Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) Borough Support Unit (BSU) staff.

14. The Post-Project phase is now underway for Taylor to ensure that the strategic aims are met through the benefits realisation process. In order to demonstrate that the new reforms are timely, consistent, fair and proportionate the Taylor Project Board has agreed to develop the following performance measures to be monitored on a quarterly basis from March 2009:

• increase in the use of Unsatisfactory Performance of Police Officers (UPP) (in the context of a reduction in Misconduct Procedures)
• reduction in the number of Gross Misconduct cases brought before a Misconduct Hearing
• increase in dismissal outcomes for cases brought before a Misconduct Hearing
• consistency of decision-making / outcomes amongst B/OCUS
  
• compliance of procedural timescales
• redistribution of workload from DPS BSU to B/OCUs and
• stakeholder feedback.

15. To complete the formal roll-out of Taylor training, a two-day residential course has been arranged on 30 April and 1 May 2009 to deliver Misconduct Hearing Training for Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and Superintending ranks with the input and assistance of barristers from five Essex Courts. Four senior police staff have also been nominated to attend.

16. The Taylor Project Board represents key stakeholders and continues to meet on a monthly basis to monitor progress. A review of the Taylor Project will be undertaken in June 2009.

Review of corporate risk management

17. The MPA Corporate Governance Committee noted the MPS Risk Management Strategy in December 2008 alongside the MPA strategy and the joint MPA/MPS risk management strategic statement. As a result of the discussion at Committee and a request for clarification on the MPS strategy, a revised risk management strategy was agreed by the MPS Management Board on 3 March 2009 and is attached for the MPS (see Appendix 2), which explicitly highlights the governance arrangements between the MPA and MPS. Discussions are ongoing with MPA officers to finalise how these arrangements will operate to ensure full and positive engagement with officers and members on corporate risk management. The results of these discussions are reflected in a report by the Treasurer elsewhere on the agenda. The MPS corporate risk register is in place and we are in the process of reviewing business group risk registers.

18. The SIB, which has cross business group representation, has taken over the responsibilities of the Corporate Risk Review Group and is overseeing the development of the corporate and business group risk registers. This continues to be supported by the Business Group Risk Co-ordinators (BGRCs), who will help in embedding risk management in their areas. BGRCs meet regularly in a forum chaired by the Corporate Risk Manager from the Strategy and Improvement Department (S&ID) in order to ensure a corporate approach and to exchange good practice.

19. S&ID has developed a MPS Risk Strategy Implementation Plan that has been informed by the action plan produced as part of the Corporate Risk Assessment and Management Review by Internal Audit. S&ID, Internal Audit and MPA officers have recently held discussions to progress embedding risk management within the MPS and develop an oversight process with the MPA.

Formation of MetLaw reception desk

20. The MetLaw team is working with users to begin to produce statistical and financial reports to assist in monitoring legal spend. The MetLaw team are holding quarterly client meetings to ensure that the MPS legal needs are being met. The Directorate of Legal Services (DLS) is presently working with the MPA to streamline services that DLS will provide for them in the future. These services will cover a range of work where there are no conflicts of interest.

Provision of detailed information on emerging market hotspots, especially around specialisms and specialist professionals

21. The dynamic state of the market across financial, manufacturing, services and retail sectors makes identification of employment and recruitment trends and market issues difficult. Surveys tend to lag behind the market by several months and are of limited value in employment and recruitment planning.

22. Information is being collected on the response rate to MPS press advertisements and from other public sector contacts to determine whether the recruitment position has improved as a result of the recession and related market instability.

23. Feedback is also being sought from business groups on line management perceptions of the market position as it relates to specialist functions.

Development of corporate health organisational performance indicators

24. S&ID continues to monitor the indicators and provide quarterly reports to Performance Board. The quarter three report was considered by Performance Board in February. It contains performance information on 15 quarterly and eight further indicators, which have been identified from the full set for reporting by exception. The board discussed progress to date and requested the inclusion of further indicators to form part of a reviewed suite of Corporate Health Indicators for 2009/10. Key issues of note included that victim satisfaction with overall service had improved by 1% over the rolling year to Sept 2008, existing interventions and health programme initiatives have lead to improvements in sickness levels for police officers and the percentage of new police staff completing the corporate induction programme within 3 months has increased significantly from 64% to 94%.

Implementation of Developing Resource Management Programme

25. The Developing Resource Management (DRM) programme, launched in July 2008, specifically focused on delivering efficient, controlled projects primarily in the areas of Finance, Procurement and Strategy and Improvement. The purpose of the programme is to embed a rigorous set of control processes that will provide the foundation for the delivery of projects on time and the monitoring of benefits from those projects.

26. The programme workstreams have progressed as follows:

27. Contract Compliance and Management (CCM) - Identified contracts have been loaded onto the corporate system (SAP) and given us visibility of 97% of contracts in value terms. A process has been put in place to make sure this database is properly maintained. Work is continuing to develop the future solution for contract management integration with corporate systems.

28. Purchase to Pay (P2P) - The P2P workstream have been developing a Corporate Compliance Process to support compliant routes to purchase. Work continues to bring more categories of spend on system so we can ensure the MPS is securing value for money on even more products and services.

29. Strategic Procurement Planning (SPP) - SPP has identified 31 procurement opportunities with a total value of £11.5M. These plans will assist the business groups to achieve £20M of their efficiency target for 2009-12. Procurement Services are now working with the Business Groups to validate and realise these opportunities whilst also actively identifying additional SPPs.

30. Scheme of Delegation - Work continues to develop the process for maintenance of the Scheme of Delegation. Workshops have been run with each business group to finalise the functional requirement for the full solution. Planning is underway with Directorate of Information (DoI) who will be providing the technical support to allow the Scheme to be built into MPS IT systems following the completion of the SAP upgrade in March 2009. This planning will inform the go live date of the full solution.

31. Corporate Decision Making (CDM) - The proposed CDM model was agreed by Management Board in January 2009. The Strategy and Improvement Department (SID) are now progressing plans for implementation. It is anticipated that implementation of the CDM model will be completed by September 2009.

32. Finance and Resources (F&R) Review - Recruitment to fill the revised F&R Structure within TP is currently underway with an expected completion of June 2009. This will then link to the expected go live date of the first cluster, which is also June 2009. The second cluster is due to go live in September 2009 and the third in quarter one 2009 once Transforming HR has been implemented in November 2009. A comprehensive Finance manual to support the new structures has been developed.

33. Partnership - A partnership toolkit for the MPS has been developed and widely consulted on across the organisation. It details the regulations with which partnerships must comply, as well as providing best practice guidance for partnership working. It is due to be launched in April. The initial mapping of all key partnership activity across the MPS is almost complete. The analysis of this data will help us determine what further tools the organisation requires to lead and support partnership working and provide us with a better understanding of how to improve partnership performance. Partnerships have been integrated into finance and planning and the protocols for partnership working with the MPA and GLA are in development. The requirements on the business for the sustainability of the project after its end in May 2009 are currently being considered by key stakeholders.

Corporate Audit and Inspection Strategy

34. In support of the Audit and Inspection Protocol, work is continuing to ensure further enhancement of the co-ordination and monitoring of inspection activity across the MPS through the identified synergies in working practices. Part of this work has been to revise the terms of reference of the quarterly meetings with the audit and inspection services with a view to enhancing partnership working.

35. Regular reports are received by the Performance Board on progress against plans and emerging trends and remedial actions being taken.

Enhanced MPA / MPS Fraud and Corruption Awareness Strategy

36. In December 2008, a joint MPA/MPS working party met with the Audit Commission to agree the format of the self assessment questionnaire. The questionnaire was then issued to selected senior staff, including finance and resource staff, with a covering note advising them that this was a joint MPA/MPS initiative and that Management Board expected them to complete the on-line questionnaire and to attend subsequent workshops.

37. The results from the on-line questionnaire were evaluated by the joint working party and used in developing the workshop programme. The first workshop, which is being delivered by the Audit Commission, was held in early January and they have continued throughout February and March 2009.

MPS Complaints and Compliments (policy and resource)

38. The MPS Policing Pledge was published in December 2008. An online form is available on the MPS website to enable members of the public to give feedback on instances where they believe the MPS has failed to deliver a specific policing pledge standard as well as on general policing issues. The completed forms are received and acknowledged by MPS Customer Service Unit (CSU) staff who allocate the issue to the relevant B/OCU to resolve.

39. The CSU received 169 feedback messages in January 2009, of these 26 were Pledge related, 40 were messages of praise for individual officers/staff and 103 were general messages of enquiry, suggestions or comments relating to specific issues such as the arrest of Damian Green and police officer membership of British National Party.

40. The Reward and Resolution Database is used to capture and monitor all service related complaints and was made available across the MPS on 4 February 2009. To preserve system integrity, access is limited to CSU staff and nominated B/OCU single points of contact and their deputies.

41. The Citizen Focus Team are liaising with colleagues in the Performance Development and Monitoring Unit (PDMU) of the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate with regard to analysis of the data and the development of a management information report to inform organisational learning.

Review of Expenses Policy

42. A working party will be convened to discuss the following issues:

• the approach in relation to drafting an MPS Policy, and Standard Operating Procedures on expenses
• the possibility of streamlining some of the processes and forms currently in existence and
• a more cohesive approach in relation to the storage and publication of expenses documents.

The outcome of the review is expected to be available by the summer.

C. Race and equality impact

The model of corporate governance set out in this report is based on the principles of openness; integrity; accountability and equality. The development of the framework therefore should have a positive race and diversity impact by ensuring that these principles inform the way in which the MPS operates. Furthermore, improved communication of the corporate governance framework aims to help staff understand how to apply these principles in their day-to-day work.

D. Financial implications

The work streams identified will be delivered within approved budgets.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Hana Caselton, Tanya Panchal, and Sandy Manuel, S&ID, MPS .

For information contact:

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

Appendix 2

The MPS Risk Strategy

Vision

The MPS is committed to working towards a safer London, by ensuring the appropriate assessment and management of threats and opportunities using effective risk management throughout the organisation from strategic to operational levels.

Objectives

The objectives of the risk management strategy are to:

1. Improve the delivery of MPS strategic objectives;
2. Encourage innovation;
3. Improve standards of corporate governance and strategic management;
4. Improve service quality and delivery;
5. Improve efficiency in resource usage and protect MPS/MPA assets;
6. Protect the safety of MPS staff/officers and our customers/ stakeholders;
7. Protect the reputation of the MPS.

These objectives will be achieved by ensuring:

• Effective risk management processes are in place through:
  • Developing and implementing a strategic risk management framework and toolkit, which introduces good practice techniques throughout the MPS in line with British Standards.
  • Implementing clear risk management accountabilities and reporting structures for individuals and relevant Boards.
  • Measuring performance in risk management against a maturity model based on continuous improvement.
• Risk Management is embedded in service delivery by:
  • The integration of risk management into strategic decision making, business planning and performance management.
  • Developing links between inspection/audit processes and the risk management process.
  • Working with programme and project managers to ensure that risks are effectively managed within change programmes.
  • Working with OCUs that provide specialist and operational risk management advice to ensure appropriate use of risk assessment and management techniques, improving clarity and reducing bureaucracy.
• Risk management is supported and understood internally by all staff and externally by our stakeholders through:
  • Engaging the support of management board members, business groups and (B)OCUs by raising risk awareness through engagement and training using a network of risk co-ordinators.
  • Making relevant risk management information accessible to all staff
  • Working with partners, suppliers, contractors and other stakeholders to ensure good risk management practice
  • Working with the MPA to ensure alignment of risk management processes and key risk areas

This strategy supports the joint MPA/MPS Risk Management Statement and is in turn supported by the MPA/MPS risk management accountabilities and reporting framework, the MPS risk management implementation plan, policy, and toolkit.

MPA Oversight

To enable MPA oversight of MPS risk management, MPS and MPA officers will meet with MPA members to discuss the content of Corporate and Business group risk registers. Meetings will be planned after registers have been reviewed by the Management Board and the Service Improvement Board.

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