Update on diversity within Specialist Operations

Report: 4
Date: 24 November 2011
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations (ACSO) on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This paper provides an update on the approaches being undertaken within Specialist Operations to positively address the recruitment of under-represented groups across the Business Group.

A. Recommendations

1. That Members are requested to note this report and the attached appendices.

B. Supporting information

Analysis and Current Position

2. When the last report was submitted to the CTPS Sub-Committee in November 2010, the percentage of female police officers within SO was 9.2% in September 2010. This has increased slightly to 9.9% in September 2011. In most of the OCUs, there has been an increase in the number of female officers.

3. During the same time period, the percentage of BME police officers has increased from 7.7% in September 2010 to 8.3% in September 2011.

4. The percentage of female police staff has fallen slightly from 44.3% in September 2010 to 42.4% in September 2011. Percentages of BME police staff have increased slightly from 22.1% in September 2010 to 22.9% in September 2011. Appendices i to iv show the detailed breakdown of these figures.

5. Details of representation are published on a monthly basis to the SO Chief Officer Group and OCU commanders.

6. All SO OCUs completed workbooks for the Equalities Standard for the Policing Service during 2010 and are in the process of working on the next phase. All OCUs take an active part in the SO Diversity Forum, chaired by DAC SO, and any business group initiatives that are held.

SOHQ Business Support Unit

7. The recruitment issues facing SO are, in broad terms, similar to those in other specialist units. The ongoing issues with regards to recruiting female and BME officers to firearms commands (four of the SO commands are armed) are service-wide, and apply equally to the Counter-Terrorism Command. These are:

• Officers recruited into specialist roles are generally older in service. There are fewer officers from under-represented groups at this stage of their service, therefore, the potential recruitment pool is smaller;
• All specialist units are seeking potential recruits with a defined range of skills and abilities, eg firearms commands want officers who have the ability or can be taught to handle a firearm safely and correctly, etc. Therefore, they are all seeking to “fish from the same pool.”

8. SO works with the other armed commands to try to attract more officers from under-represented groups (eg firearms awareness events, organised by SOHQ Business Support Unit) as it recognises that there is a relatively small group of officers service-wide who may wish to carry a firearm.

9. The Business Support Unit’s function is to co-ordinate activities across the Business Group, organise pan-business group events, assist and participate in any activities that will assist in development of officers and staff (e.g. providing support to candidates who have been unsuccessful at selection processes, delivering presentations to OCUs in relation to the new MPS Performance Framework (with a view to assisting OCUs in PDRs and preparation for selection/promotion processes). 228 officers and staff have contacted the unit between January to September 2011 for assistance with regarding applications to join SO. Of these, 63% contacted the unit as a result of the website. Appendix v gives details of officers who applied to join SO as a result of various initiatives. SO Business Support is working with HR Recruitment and Selection to refine this process in order to obtain more meaningful data, with a view to improving marketing processes.

10. The first Live Forum referred to in the last report took place at the beginning of October - a pilot was held in May, and, some amendments were made, having taken on board the learning from the first. This included opening the mailbox a week before the forum was live in order to give individuals the greatest opportunity of sending in information requests, advertising anonymity to participants, etc. Only three questions were asked prior to the forum “going live,” a further ten were asked whilst it was live, however, we will continue with this as a means of further advertising SO and promoting good communication. More events are scheduled for next year.

11. A CT Awareness event was held in May to advertise the roles within the Counter Terrorism Command, with a view to recruiting more officers into this part of the business group.

12. Pan-Business Group work includes, in conjunction with the Specialist Crime Directorate, holding focus groups with TP OCUs’ about their perceptions of SO and SCD. This project is ongoing; however, early indications appear to show that perceptions have not significantly changed in the past nine years. The challenge now is to find a way to make a positive improvement in these perceptions and this will be the next phase of the work.

13. The Myth Busting Campaign referred to in the last report is up and running - on the SO website homepage. The page has had a number of searches recorded each month - from 39 in the first month it started to a peak of 67 in April.

14. Across the Business Group, OCUs are working towards increasing the number of MSC officers who are used. The Protection Commands are looking to host a joint recruitment event and those who are selected will be used as part of a pan-OCU cadre of MSC officers. These OCUs will also seek to exploit joint training opportunities to maximise use of resources for MSC officers. The Muslim Contact Unit in SO15 is also proactively seeking to recruit MSC officers.

15. So far, across the business group, SO has recruited one hundred MSC officers who are employed permanently or on an ad hoc basis - the nature of SO’s business means that it is not productive to have all exclusively employed by SO all of the time. It also ensures that MSC officers retain the skills necessary to maintain their independent patrol status.

16. A number of MSC officers are employed with SO18, at the airport, (21). 53 are used by SO15 as Prevent Engagement Officers, and 17 are used by SO20 as licensed search officers. All of this serves to increase the diversity profile of SO.

SO1 - Specialist Protection

17. A Female Forum has been established, comprising representatives from police officers and police staff, to identify any gender issues within the command, chaired by an SMT member. Issues raised so far include travel after finishing tours of duty late at night and deployments generally.

18. The diversity working group has been re-established and re-invigorated with volunteers from across the OCU invited to participate. The first meeting was due to take place on 14 September 2011.

19. A female chief inspector represented the firearms commands at a recent Female Firearms Awareness Event held at the Metropolitan Police Service Training Centre (MPSTC) at Gravesend - SO1 is due to start a recruitment campaign for constables and sergeants and this is part of the process for trying to attract more officers from under-represented groups.

20. Topics referred to in the last report include:

• SO1’s work about reviewing customers’ needs - ongoing;
• Working with partners to ensure effective cultural briefing for officers working overseas/protecting individuals visiting the UK - the Organisational Learning Committee meets regularly to discuss such issues, which are captured in de-brief reports and progressed for further operations;
• Reviewing staff skills to ensure the ability to give an effective service to customers and to support fellow officers - work is ongoing in this area;
• Developing the use of EIAs for all policy and operations - this is being done for all new policies. Those already in existence will have EIAs carried out as they are reviewed;
• Monitoring/analysing female and BME numbers within the OCU and identifying barriers - the figures are reviewed on a monthly basis by the SMT and the workforce planning forum. An OCU presentation to SAMURAI was arranged, in order to raise awareness of the work of the OCU within the staff support associations, and to gain feedback about any barriers to applying for roles within SO1. One of the actions from this is for awareness groups and practice shoots to be held for female officers with a view to assisting them in overcoming any initial concerns they may have that are specifically related to gender.

SO6 - Diplomatic Protection

21. SO6 is currently running a recruitment process - of 120 applications received, 11 were from female officers.

22. The OCU has a Continuous Improvement Forum which covers the four strands of the diversity strategy as well as equality and customer service issues. Each of the four work streams has a nominated lead.

23. Other initiatives, designed to improve engagement within the existing workforce, include an OCU commander’s weekly blog and “Ask the Boss” webpage; OCU commander’s surgeries at each of the bases; continuing work with the Diversity and Citizens Focus Directorate Diversity Adviser in relation to equality issues; and analysis of the last Your Views Count Survey to address any relevant issues - all falling within the Workforce and Culture Strand of the Strategy.

SO14 - Royalty Protection

24. The OCU has developed a mentoring scheme to support new and existing female and BME staff. This commences at selection stage and provides support through firearms courses prior to joining OCU.

25. Research within SO14 identified that there was a high attrition rate for SO14 females attending the Milton based CO19 Reactive Firearms Course. As a direct result SO14 instigated an independent SO led review of all female attendees. As a result recommendations for change are being driven forward. The recommendations implemented so far include the attendance of senior officers from firearms commands at training sessions to assess the learning environment, a full review of the training and learning environment to take place, with a view to implementing recommendations before the end of this year.

26. SO14 has developed an internal Female Support Network which provides a confidential point of reference and support to address issues at an early stage. This is further reinforced by the use of trained mediators in the SO14 workforce who provide services to avoid escalation of issues.

27. Lateral development is now standard practice within SO14. Every vacancy is first offered within the Department to encourage candidates from under-represented groups to join SO14 and then move around the more attractive positions that become available.

28. SO14 conducts Diversity Impact assessments at each stage of recruitment and selection, to ensure candidates from under-represented backgrounds are not disadvantaged. Additional measures have been implemented to ensure that female and BME candidates are interviewed by experienced interviewers from diverse backgrounds to ensure that they are put at ease and therefore given the best opportunity at a stage where evidence shows that they struggle.

SO15 - Counter Terrorism Command

29. SO15 has run a female awareness day for those interested in the work of the Command - this followed on from feedback from the wider SO careers day where it became very clear that perceived barriers needed to be addressed particularly with potential female candidates. The day was proposed by our own female detectives who wanted to showcase the work of SO15 and indeed address concerns and issues raised at the careers day.

30. The command has recently conducted a cultural analysis survey within Communities and Partnership strand - as a pilot before going command wide. There was a very high return rate and initial analysis of findings indicated where activity should be focused - leadership and communication. The command is about to embark on the seminar phase to get into detail - a lot of responses were in the 'don't know' category, so additional work is required to gain more insight into what is actually meant. More importantly the command SMT wants to illustrate that by taking part this was a not a tick box exercise but that it was taking what staff said seriously. An action plan based on the findings from the seminar will be prepared, which will be applied across the command as it is anticipated that similar issues will arise elsewhere.

31. A communications champion has recently been appointed - a newsletter, with a regular diversity feature is now being published. The edition relates to LGBT issues and the importance of accessing the right communication and that support processes are applied, including within investigations. In order to ensure that officers understand the relevance of this, it has been linked to the activities of the nail bomber, David Copeland.

32. A diversity briefing has been introduced on all induction days with SO15 appointed strand leads delivering the input to ensure a well rounded approach.

33. SO15 has also been working with the Disabled Staff Association to ensure that robust systems are in place in relation to installing reasonable adjustments when required.

34. The Command has also been updating the intranet site to ensure in order to maximize support structures available to staff within the command, and to those who wish to join. This work will be supported by a poster campaign.

SO17 - Palace of Westminster

35. An open day was held recently to encourage police officers and police staff to consider SO17 as a future career move. Of the three sergeants recently recruited, one was female. The Senior Human Resources Advisor (SHRA) is currently developing a recruitment action plan to target BME and female officers and staff.

36. The police officer establishment continues to be mainly middle aged, white men. This mirrors the intakes of the mid to late 1980s when the significant majority of current officers were attested. This demographic mix will become healthier over time as officers in the 20- 30 year service band begin to better reflect the diversity of London. That said, the OCU will continue (through the recruitment action plan mentioned above) to encourage BME and female officers to view SO17 as a future OCU of choice.

37. A significant majority of police staff are security officers employed on a 24/7 shift roster. Between 5-8% of security officers work a form of flexible working but the OCU continues to struggle to attract female security officers due to the unsociable hours worked. This is in contrast to the majority of OCUs that offer police staff day time (and therefore more attractive) hours.

38. Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) continue to be carried out in consultation with police staff unions and the Federation in relation to all significant policy decisions

SO18 - Aviation Security

39. SO18 has a comprehensive diversity strategy in place, contained within its comprehensive staff engagement plan. This strategy is measured against the MPS Equality & Diversity Strategy to ensure its aims are delivered by officers within the OCU itself and also when engaging with the wider community.

40. A cultural analysis survey was conducted earlier this year - two areas identified for improvement were communication and leadership. As a consequence, the OCU has

• Started production of a weekly newsletter,
• Set up “Ask SMT” fora,
• Set up a series of briefings to all officers and staff;
• Introduced notice boards to advertise good work,
• Started holding monthly Improvement Groups, with representatives from all ranks in the OCU,
• SMT members now attend parades,
• A OCU commander’s commendation ceremony has been held,
• Divisional Management Team meetings have been started,
• Three new boards have been established (learning and development, organisational learning and mentoring and coaching).

41. The OCU has delivered training around professional standards and misconduct, in order to ensure fairness and transparency around these processes, which has impacted on the number of issues reported.

42. SO18 currently mentors female officers who attend Reactive Firearms Courses, which, thus far, appears to be proving useful. Meetings have been held with representatives of SO18 and SOHQ with a view to introducing a formal mentoring scheme within SO18.

43. A recruitment process is about to start - an Equalities Impact Assessment is being carried out to ensure proportionality.

SO20 - Protective Security

44. SO20 has developed an extensive Continuous Improvement Plan, designed to be used as a powerful diagnostic tool to track and measure all activities, policies and plans in relation to diversity and equality issues. The OCU will present this plan at the next SO Diversity Forum, chaired by DAC SO. It has also drawn praise from an ongoing MPA audit of the OCU.

45. SO20 has released a new OCU Equalities and Diversity Strategy for 2011-13 and this has been published on an updated page on their intranet site.

46. SO20 has re-launched their ‘2020’ Equalities and Diversity Working Group and agreed new terms of reference. Members include Federation/PCS reps as well as an external adviser. Volunteers are being sought who are representative of other diverse groups. An LGBT SPOC has already been appointed. The 2020 group will review EIAs and CIAs as an agenda item.

47. Every staff member of SO20 has been personally contacted by the SMT Diversity lead to raise awareness of the Equalities and Diversity issues that may be relevant to the proposed Olympic strategy. They have been invited to feed back issues to assist with the planning process.

SO23 - Olympic Security

48. The OCU is in the process of what is anticipated to be the last major recruitment drive prior to the Olympics - an accurate breakdown of officers who applied and were selected should be available at the end of the process. There is a system in place to monitor the quality of the recruitment process and to seek feedback from those involved, with a view to achieving continuous improvement.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. There are no explicit equality and diversity impacts arising from this report. The report outlines how the business group is working towards increasing the percentages of officers and staff from under-represented groups. Although not directly relevant to recruitment (as SO does not take probationary constables) SO continues to maintain contact with key community groups across London.

Consideration of Met Forward

2. There are no implications for the delivery of MET Forward. Activity detailed in this report either directly or indirectly contributes to the key outcomes of MET Forward.

Financial Implications

3. There are no financial implications as a result of this report. The costs of the activity described are covered by CT specific grant and Dedicated Security Post funding, both of which are subject to regular review and report to the CT and PS sub-committee.

Legal Implications

4. The report helps to demonstrate Specialist Operation’s compliance with the MPA’s general legal duty to advance equality of opportunity between different groups

Environmental Implications

5. There are no environmental implications arising from this report.

Risk (including Health and Safety) Implications

6. There are no risk implications other than those already discussed within the body of the report.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: Susan Shirley, Senior Business Support Manager, SOHQ, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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