Proposed MPA member declaration of freemasonry membership

Report: 12
Meeting: Metropolitan Police Authority
Date: 14 September 2000
By: Clerk

Summary

To seek views from the Authority on whether members should be asked to complete the attached voluntary declaration of freemasonry membership.

A. Supporting information

Background

1. Members may be aware that at the request of the Home Office, all police officers in England and Wales have been asked by their Chief Constables to complete a voluntary declaration of membership, or otherwise, of the freemasons. The Commissioner has similarly completed the exercise for the MPS (both officers and civilian staff) See memorandum and declaration form attached Appendix 1.

2. The form seeks a voluntary declaration as to membership and also as to whether the individual is happy for this information to be so recorded. The information gathered in respect of individual memberships is not made public and is only used for statistical purposes. Police services are then in a position to quote the figures of returned and responses in number and percentage terms only. All officers are asked to complete the form, partly as this is felt to be the proper thing to do but also because the presumption that freemasons are all male is false.

3. A further report will be presented to a future meeting of the Authority on the level of responses by MPS officers to the exercise, and on a national exercise that the Home Office are undertaking with a view to improving Police response levels generally.

Police Authority members

4. Many Police Authorities have similarly asked their own members and staff to complete the declaration form. Indeed, this was prompted as good practice by the Association of Police Authorities (see letter and declaration form attached at Appendix 1).

5. In addition, the Authority may recall that this issue was raised informally at the conclusion of the MPA on 10th July 2000 by Mr Nicholas Long. Consequently, this matter has been brought before members for them to determine if they wish all members and staff to be asked to complete the voluntary declaration.

B. Recommendations

That the Authority determine if it wishes members and staff to be asked to sign the attached voluntary declaration on freemasonry membership.

C. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising from the report.

D. Review arrangements

The results of any exercise undertaken would be made known to members and staff. Information gained from the forms would, however, be released only in statistical summaries.

E. Background papers

The following is a statutory list of background papers (under the Local Government Act 1972 S.100 D) which disclose facts or matters on which the report is based and which have been relied on to a material extent in preparing this report. They are available on request to either the contact officer listed above or to the Clerk to the Police Authority at the address indicated on the agenda.

None.

F. Contact details

The author of this report is Mike Robinson, Interim Head of Secretariat.

For information contact:

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

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