Minutes

Notes of the inquorate meeting of the Equalities & Diversity Sub Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 27 March 2009 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Kirsten Hearn (Chair)
• Clive Lawton

MPA officers

• Siobhan Coldwell (Head of Oversight and Review)
• Doug Lewins (Equality and Diversity Officer)
• Shiriani Gunawardena (Oversight and Review)
• Michael Wadham (Oversight and Review)
• Chris Benson (Committee Services)

MPS Officers

• Wayne Chance (Commander Response and Patrol)
• Trish Lincoln (Central communications Command)
• Mike Wood (OCU Commander Central Communications Command)

1. Introductions

Kirsten Hearn, Chair of the Sub Committee introduced herself and invited all those present to introduce themselves.

2. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Cindy Butts. The Chair advised that as the meeting was inquorate any decisions it made would require the endorsement of the Communities, Equalities and Peoples Committee.

3. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were made

4. The Sub Committee’s terms of reference, operation and work plan.

(Agenda item 3)

4.1 Kirsten Hearn, Chair of the Sub Committee introduced the report. It was noted that the meeting would be less formal than the other Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) committees, with members of the public being invited to speak at the discretion of the Chair.

4.2 The Chair asked the Sub Committee and the members of the public present if they wished to add any item to the Sub Committee’s proposed work programme.

4.3 The following additions were made:

• Club and vice issues regarding the disabled community. It was noted that some aspect of this issue may be picked up by the Domestic & Sexual Violence Board (DSVB)l.
• Mental health issues – to assess the progress made since last review
• Use of tasers against individuals with a mental illness or with a sensory disability.
• Faith and race inquiry – any specific issues arising from it
• Stop and search - any specific issues arising from the report to Communities Equalities and People Committee.
• Membership of safer neighbourhood panels - to examine how representative the members of the panels and other such groups are of the communities they purport to represent.
• Sensory disabled – how many individuals with sensory disabilities are employed by the MPS and what can be done to increase this number.

Resolved to recommend the Communities, Equalities and People Committee to approve the work plan for the Sub Committee subject to the inclusion, where possible this year, of the above topics.

5. Equality and diversity issues in C3i and Central Communications Command

5.1 Wayne Chance, Commander Response/Patrol introduced the report assisted by Mike Wood, OCU Commander Central Communications Command and Trish Lincoln, Central Communications Command.

5.2 The Sub Committee was advised of the role being played by Central Communications Command (CCC) in supporting the MPS Citizen Focus agenda and the Policing Pledge, how CCC is engaging with the community it serves, the initiatives within CCC to engage with, and support a diverse workforce and the key challenges and successes in relation to equality and diversity.

5.3 The C3i Programme delivered the centralisation of all MPS Borough Command Units (BOCU) control rooms, the Information Room at New Scotland Yard and the three telephone operator centres (TOCs)

5.4 Approximately 1500 staff were transferred into the three new contact centres to form Central Communications Command. The transition began in November 2004 and was completed in January 2008 when the last of the TOCs closed. The transition was complex and represented a period of significant change for both the means of service delivery and the staff involved.

5.5 The transition to three centres meant that some members of staff had longer journey times to and from the centres and different shift patterns.

5.6 The Sub Committee noted that

• 60% of the workforce was female
• 25% of the workforce was BME
• 18% of supervisory grades were BME
• 40% of all disciplinary cases related to BME staff
• 85% of the workforce was aged 49 or under
• 1% of the workforce have registered as disabled
• Sexual orientation is not recorded
• 80.9% of the staff had not stated their religion.
• 267 members of staff work part time and 400 currently have a flexible working pattern.

6. The Chair on behalf of the Sub Committee thanked Wayne Chance and his colleagues for presenting the report and opened the discussion of the report.

6.1 It was noted that the civilian staff posts were advertised in the London Evening Standard newspaper and similar publications. No adverts were placed in specialist press or ethnic publications particular publications to attract a higher proportion of BME candidates.

6.2 The Hendon call centre had a number of vacancies that were being advertised locally in the Hendon area. This was due to the relative lack of transport facilities serving the area rather than to attract any specific ethnic group.

6.3 A waiting list of individuals waiting to work within the call centres was now being maintained.

6.4 The number of BME staff employed and aspiring to supervisory roles did not reflect the makeup of the community. It was hoped that initiatives like the Leadership Academy would encourage more BME people and women to seek promotion.

6.5 Any new recruitment will be managed under the Transforming HR process and this will provide an opportunity to review the style and the publications in which the post are advertised.

7. The Sub Committee was advised that the sexual orientation of the staff was not monitored. However the Bow call centre had piloted a diversity programme to get a profile of its staff. The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Group and Gay Police association were active and had a good relationship with the CCC management.

8. The Sub Committee noted that 40% of all disciplinary cases related to BME staff (were disciplined in CCC). This figure was not unique to CCC. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) was trying to identify the reasons why such disproportionate numbers of BME staff were disciplined.

9. The Sub Committee acknowledged the difficulties in trying to assess callers’ satisfaction with the service they received during what might be a traumatic and emergency situation. It was noted in some cases a call would be followed up by a text message sent through the SMS text service to the caller’s mobile phone asking for feedback. This process had to be used very selectively and whilst those that responded had been satisfied with the service there were not a sufficient number of responses to be significant. A report on the use of the SMS text service and the feedback received was available and it was agreed to circulate a copy to members of the Sub Committee.

10. The call centres used the Language line service. Call handlers used their experience to identify the language spoken and had a speed dial facility to contact the language line. Once contacted a three-way conversation would be held. It was noted that the translators are based in their own homes and that the procedure only added an insignificant time to the 130 seconds response time

11. It was noted that the relationship with the Trade Unions and Staff Federations was very constructive.

11.1 Since (In) December 2006 when on one occasion the call centres were unable to manage the numbers of calls generated, the call handling situation had been stabilised and greatly improved. (The C3i process was designed to stabilise the situation within two years.) It was a challenging transition process with the individual BOCU control rooms (call centres) being merged into 3 main call centres. The learning from the transition process is used to inform other change programmes in the MPS.

11.2 The number of civilians working within the call centres increased and warranted officers reduced. Out of 2000 staff members, 1700 are civilian police staff.

11.3 As part of the transition process some experienced police officers employed in BOCU control rooms and in Information Room (, who had local knowledge were) have been replaced with (relatively untried) police staff. At this time, given the potential risks that face the OCU, e.g., in terms of resilience, (The risk was considered to be too great to aim for 100 % police staff during the initial transition stage) it was agreed that a percentage of police officers would be retained. Whilst this (a) pool of police officers would be maintained to provide resilience; the number of police officers within the call centres will be reviewed by the end of April and possibly reduced now that the environment is stable.

11.4 It was noted that a number of police officers have retired from duty within the CCC and returned as police staff.

11.5 The Sub Committee noted that the transition could not have been achieved without the support and co-operation of the Police Federation and the PCS.

11.6 The Trade Union have access to the leadership teams and have 2 full time representatives. Meetings are held with the Police Federation and Trade Union every 6 weeks.

11.7 The Sub-Committee noted that the Police officers were used mainly in the dispatch environment. The Sub-Committee asked to be advised of how many of the police officers were on restricted or recuperative duties as the work area would seem ideal for officers within these categories.

12. Since moving to the new call centres the average level of days taken as sick leave have reduced from 20 to 12. Whilst this is considered to be high when compared with other groups within the MPS who record an average of 10 days, it compares favourably with other call centres. The management team continued to work hard to reduce sickness levels and were pleased to report that sick rate for February was 9.91 days

12.1 The call centres environment was not always able to respond to requests for leave at short notice. CCC Management are aware of this and the need to address any issues that might arise from it.

12.2 The Call Centres provided a good work environment but given the large numbers of staff employed the work force was susceptible to problems such as viral infections

12.3 There was a need to understand the cause of the absences, the reasons why some members of staff report in sick more often than others. It was noted that the sickness procedures etc were different for police officers.

12.4 The call centres had a break entitlement of 2 hours 40 minutes which has now been reduced by 20 minutes. As a result an extra 8 members of staff are on duty, reducing overall levels of stress. The effect of the reduction of breaks on sickness levels was too early to assess. 13.

12.5 The Sub Committee thought the work and the environment would suit individuals with a disability and was surprised that only 1% of the staff had declared a disability. The management team thought that the real figure was significantly higher but individuals did not wish to formally declare. Individuals were more likely to self declare anonymously in the staff survey.

13. The reasons why disabled members of staff do not feel comfortable or confident enough to formally record their disability should be researched.

14.1 Distance/home working had been investigated as it may benefit individuals with a disability and may provide greater resilience in times of emergency.

14.2 There was a need to adopt a smarter approach to home working. Whilst the cost of providing the necessary adaptations and it equipment at a wheelchair user’s home was £10,000, it was estimated that it would cost further £50.000 to make the premises and the equipment secure in terms of meeting MPS security standards. In addition the issue of positive vetting for visitors to the members home was also raised.

15. The Sub Committee recognised that the call centres actively encouraged public engagement by supporting children wards in local hospitals, local charities, and inviting schools into the call centres etc.

15.1 However the perception of the 999 service within some communities was that it was not responsive or reactive to people’s needs. The challenge was to communicate the message that improvements had been made.

15.3 The call centres receive approximately 15,000 calls per day. Different satisfaction levels were found in the white and BME communities.

15.4 The BME community was more likely to use the 999 system and was more likely to visit a police station than talk to a police officer on the beat. The reasons why are not known.

15.5 As part of the policing pledge CCC had to deliver the police service the community want and expect. It had to understand what is expected of the service, to identify what motivates individuals to use the 999 service.

15.6 The call centres also had regular contact with the Community Consultative Forums. The Sub Committee asked to be advised of the forums constitution, who is on the forum, who it represents and how it operates.

16. From May 2009 the Staff within the call centres will receive 4 hours personal development training each month; this is in addition to the foundation course and other mandatory training. The standard of the training was considered to be high although it had not been externally assessed. An external independent assessment of training would be welcome.

17. The Sub Committee was advised that the staff rosters were published some 12 months in advance. In order to ensure adequate staff cover a manual system was in place that looked at the call histories of similar date/time periods for previous years.

17.1 This paper based system was to be replaced by the software based “my Planner” system in May. This system enables the staff to input information direct and allows leave to be booked. The new system will provide a degree of sophistication not possible with the paper based system and will improve further the degree of fairness and flexibility for staff whilst meeting the business need.

18. The Chair thanked all those present for their contributions to the successful debate and asked that the Sub Committee is provided with the following reports and information.

• A report on the work of the CCC in partnership with Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate looking at the disproportionality of BME discipline cases.
• A copy of the report on the levels of satisfaction expressed by respondents to the SMS user’s survey.
• The numbers of Police Officers working in CCC currently on restrictive or recuperative duties.
• The results of the review of the police staff /police officers ratio within the call centres.
• What work is CCC intending to do around extending distance working and to what timescale?
• The data from the self declaration of disabilities exercise within the call centres. Why do some staff not feel confident to make their disability officially known?
• What is the make-up of the Community Consultative Forums and how do they operate?
• An external independent assessment of the quality of the training offered by CCC - what is the time-tabling and methodology for this work?

The meeting closed at 11:40 am

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