Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee held on 22 October 2009 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Steve O’Connell (Chair)
• Faith Boardman (Vice Chair)
• Dee Doocey
• Deborah Regal
• Graham Speed

Joanne McCartney also attended.

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Annabel Adams (Acting Treasurer)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Anthony Doyle (Director of Procurement
• Peter Greig (Director Core Finance)
•  Nigel Jakubowski
•  Paul Madge (Director HR Operations)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)
•  David Reed (TP Patrols OCU)
• Martin Tiplady (Director of Human Resources)
• John Whittaker (Director of Logistical Services)

45. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Reshard Auladin, John Biggs, Cindy Butts , Kit Malthouse and Richard Tracey.

46. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

47. Minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2009 (PART 1)

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 September 2009 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

The Committee also noted that the actions arising from the last meeting had either been undertaken or were scheduled to be undertaken.

48. Business considered by the Sub-committees

(Agenda item 4)

A report was submitted which contained a summary of the business considered by the sub committees since the last meeting of the Finance and Resources Committee.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

49. Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2009/10 – period 5

(Agenda item 5)

This report provided an update on the revenue and capital budget monitoring position for 2009/10 at period 5 (to the end of August). The revenue budget is forecast to overspend by £16.1m (approximately 0.5% of budget). The capital programme as at period 5 shows year to date total expenditure of £44.5m. This total represents 19% of the revised annual budget of £234.2m. The forecast for the year of £218m is £16.2m below the revised annual budget.

Resolved – That

1. the year to date and forecast position for revenue and capital budgets be noted;
2. Approval be given to the transfer to reserves of £2.4m of Proceeds of Crime Act income referred to in paragraph 46.

50. Update on the modernisation of the estate: patrol bases

(Agenda item 6)

This report provided an overview of the development of the Patrol Base Programme and its place within the overall MPA/MPS Estates Strategy. It advised that four patrol bases have been opened to date and a further single Patrol base and a joint custody centre / patrol base are under development. A wide range of benefits and efficiencies of a patrol base have been identified by BOCUs albeit that, to date, these have proved difficult to quantify.

Detective Superintendent Sue Williams, the Acting Borough Commander for Waltham Forest attended for consideration of this item. The Acting Borough Commander said that the patrol base in her borough had been operational since 2005 and had proved to have operational advantages and she would therefore favour this approach as the way forward . There were certain caveats –for example, since 2005 the number of officers in the BOCU had increased and there would be further pressure on space with the anticipated increase in the number of Specials which meant the base would not be large enough. She felt that a lesson which had been learnt was that siting a base in an industrial estate would reduce residents concerns about the noise from sirens. She confirmed that there were no catering facilities at the patrol base and this could be an issue in the context of 12 hours shifts.

The Director of Resources confirmed that the template for new patrol bases reflected the lessons which had been learnt from the initial bases. She would agree that there needed to be a flexible approach but that there was also a need for clarity regarding the policing model and the related service specification for buildings to avoid mission creep.

Members expressed some reservations at the current patrol base programme and questioned whether one base per borough was appropriate in all cases and felt that in the boroughs which covered a larger geographical areas this could lead to longer response times especially if the base was sited at some distance from where it was known that incidents were likely to occur and there was also arguments in favour of having a multi- function building. The Director of Resources emphasised that the policing model did not reflect one base per borough without regard to size and need.

It was suggested that in order to meet the concerns which had been expressed by members, recommendation 2 be amended to read “support be maintained for the patrol base concept in line with the MPA/MPS estate strategy but that this should take into account the individual needs of each borough .“

Accordingly, it was

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted; and
2. support be maintained for the patrol base concept in line with the MPA/MPS estate strategy but that this should take into account the individual needs of each borough.

51. The GLA electric vehicle commitment

(Agenda item 7)

A report was submitted which advised that the Mayor of London has identified the potential of electric power to make significant reductions in the environmental impact of road vehicles and that he had made a number of commitments including for the functional bodies to have 1000 electric vehicles across the GLA Group by 2015. The report advised that the MPS has coordinated the gathering of data and analysis of the GLA vehicle fleet to scope the potential for utilising electric and electric plug in vehicles within the fleet. In addition, the MPS is working with the functional bodies to develop the procurement, finance and communication strategies which have included evaluating government procurement frameworks and GLA fleet contracts, as well as exploring available funding opportunities.

Members commented that they were not aware of the Authority having previously received reports on the subject of electronic vehicles yet there would appear to be operational issues concerning the deployment of electronic vehicles which were quite separate from the financial aspects. In reply to questions from members the Director of Resources clarified the financial implications by confirming that the planning assumption was that there would be no additional cost.

In reply to questions the Director of Logistical Services provided clarification that the figure of 800 vehicles mentioned in the report was the anticipated maximum number and vehicles would only be purchased if they were found to be fit for purpose. They would be replacement vehicles and not additional to the fleet.

In summing up the discussion the Chairman suggested that in order to capture the clarification which had been provided parts a and c of the recommendation should be amended.

Accordingly, it was,

Resolved – That.

1. That approval be given to the approach outlined in the report to:
   1. Develop a nil-cost funding solution exploring a number of EU government, public sector funding opportunities to ensure a cost effective and value for money solution enabling the GLA Group to implement the Mayor’s electric vehicle target;
   2. Lead on a collaborative procurement exercise to develop a framework for the purchase of electric vehicles for use by the MPS, GLA Group, London Boroughs and potentially wider public sector organisations in London;
   3. To source, subject to funding and detailed feasibility, up to 800 electric and electric plug in vehicles for the MPS by 2015 on the basis that these be replacement vehicles; and
   4. Seek London Councils’ funding (£250,000) to cover project management, procurement and legal costs to support this initiative.

52. Routine contracts programme

(Agenda item 8)

This report set out the latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme, which provides members with detail on the contracts above £1m that the MPS wishes to let over the next twelve months on a rolling programme, as well as details of those contracts let since the last report. The rolling programme covers routine renewals/re-tenders and all known new or emergent requirements.

Resolved - That approval be given to the latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme and authorisation be given to the placing of OJEU advertisements where appropriate.

53. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 9)

Resolved - That under section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved disclosure of exempt information as detailed in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

54. Report from Resources Sub-committee

(Agenda item 10)

This report sets out the comments made by the Resources Sub-Committee on agenda item 11.

55. Exempt appendices to routine contracts programme

(Agenda item 11)

The information was noted.

56. Transforming HR-Programme update

(Agenda item 12)

Recommendations relating to the revised starting date for the introduction of THR were adopted.

57. Minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2009 (part 2)

(Agenda item 13)

Agreed and signed as a correct record.

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