Contents

These are the minutes of the 14 Jun 01 annual general meeting of the MPA.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

Warning: This is archived material and may be out of date. The Metropolitan Police Authority has been replaced by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC).

See the MOPC website for further information.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 14 June 2001 at Romney House, Marsham Street, London, SW1.

Present

Members

Toby Harris (Chair)
Jennette Arnold
Anthony Arbour
Reshard Auladin
Richard Barnes (Deputy Chair)
John Biggs
Cindy Butts
Lynne Featherstone
Nicky Gavron
Peter Herbert (Deputy Chair)
Elizabeth Howlett
Darren Johnson
Jenny Jones
Cecile Lothian
R David Muir
Eric Ollerenshaw
Sir John Quinton
Angela Slaven
Richard Sumray
Graham Tope
Abdal Ullah
Rachel Whittaker

MPA staff

Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
Peter Martin (Treasurer)
Nick Baker (Secretariat)

MPS staff

Sir John Stevens (Commissioner)
Ian Blair (Deputy Commissioner)
Bob Alexander (Head of Finance)

Approximately 87 members of the press/public and other MPA/MPS staff were also present.

The Annual General Meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority followed the conclusion of the ordinary meeting.

15. Election of Chair of the Authority

(Agenda item 1)

The Clerk reported that written nominations had been sought for the position of Chair in advance of the meeting. One nomination form proposing (and seconding) Toby Harris as Chair had been received.

Resolved:
that Toby Harris be elected Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority until the annual meeting of the Authority 2001/02.

16. Election of Deputy Chair(s) of the Authority

(Agenda item 2)

The Chair reported that two nominations had been received for the positions of Deputy Chairs of the Authority for 2001/02 for Richard Barnes and Peter Herbert.

Resolved:
that Richard Barnes and Peter Herbert be elected Deputy Chairs of the Authority for 2001/02.

17. Election of chairs and deputy chairs of MPA committees

(Agenda item 3)

The Chair reported that there had been one nomination per position had been received for the positions of Chairs of the Consultation, Diversity and Outreach Committee, Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee, Professional Standards and Performance Monitoring Committee and the Audit Panel.

It was noted that two nominations had been received for the position of Chair of the Human Resources Committee, for Rachel Whittaker and Jennette Arnold. The Chair called for a ballot to take place for the election of Chair of this Committee. Following a ballot Rachel Whittaker received 12 votes and Jennette Arnold 11 and Rachel Whittaker was therefore elected Chair of the Human Recourses Committee.

The Chair reported that nominations for the positions of Deputy Chairs of MPA committees had been received and that a ballot was not required.

The Authority agreed that the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Co-ordination and Urgency Committee would be the Chair and Deputy Chairs of the Authority. The Authority also agreed that the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Standards Committee would be decided by the membership of that Committee.

Resolved:

that the Chairs of the MPA Committees be:

Consultation, Diversity and Outreach Committee

R David Muir

Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee

Graham Tope

Professional Standards and Performance Monitoring Committee

Richard Sumray

Human Recourses Committee

Rachel Whittaker

Audit Panel

Sir John Quinton

that the Deputy Chair of the MPA Committees be:

Consultation, Diversity and Outreach Committee

Cindy Butts
Abdal Ullah

Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee

Reshard Auladin
Nicholas Long

Professional Standards and Performance Monitoring Committee

Elizabeth Howlett

Human Recourses Committee

Angela Slaven

Audit Panel

Eric Ollerenshaw

that the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Co-ordination and Urgency Committee be the Chair and Deputy Chairs of the Authority;
that the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Standards Committee be decided by the membership of that Committee

18. Appointment of membership of MPA committees

(Agenda item 5)

Members had been asked in advance to express an interest in which MPA Committee they wished to be members of and these expressions of interest were tabled for Members information.

Resolved:
that the committee membership be as shown at Appendix 1 to these minutes.

19. Appointment to outside bodies/organisations

(Agenda item 6)

The Authority considered member appointments to various outside bodies. Details of these appointments are given at Appendix 2 to these minutes.

With regard to the appointment to London Police Education Limited three nominations were received and seconded: Nicholas Long, R David Muir and Rachel Whittaker. The Chair called for a ballot, which resulted in Nicholas Long, and R David Muir receiving 9 votes and Rachel Whittaker 5 votes. A second ballot was called and Nicholas Long received 7 votes and R. David Muir 16 votes. R. David Muir was elected to represent the MPA.

In relation to the appointment to the Police Advisory Board, two nominations were received and seconded for Jennette Arnold and Richard Barnes. The Chair called for a ballot, which resulted in Jennette Arnold receiving 14 votes and Richard Barnes 9 votes. Jennettte Arnold was elected to represent the MPA.

20. MPA first year

(Agenda item 6)

As the MPA approached its first anniversary, the Chair addressed Members on some of the key issues, achievements and experiences during that year. These included:

the establishment of an London wide Authority to maintain an effective and effective police service;
working closely with the Mayor, the London Assembly, the Commissioner and others to secure the biggest budget in the history of the MPS, which will allow for the recruitment of an extra 1,050 extra police officers deployed in borough responding to Londoners requests for more visible policing;
improving developments in pay and conditions for civil staff to aid recruitment and retention and release 200 officers for operational duties;
enhancing important developments from the budget to increase the modernisation of information systems; funding of the Diversity Directorate and Serious Crime Group; and support in the use of DNA;
the consultation of Londoners on such issues as the MPA’s Policing and Performance Plan for 2001/02; Best Value Review; and the implementation of Recommendation 61 of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry;
addressing the issue of diversity in the MPS, by increasing numbers of minority ethnic officers in the service, challenging the disproportionate use of stop and search powers, together with appointments to senior ranks of individuals such as Tarique Ghaffur and Michael Fuller, as well as other ethnic minority officers reaching their full potential.
undertaking important inquiries including looking at the lessons emerging from the case of Sgt Gurpal Virdi and working with the MPS on the inquiry into the case of Delroy Lindo; and
the successful free rail travel acquired for police officers within a 70 mile radius of London and the £3,300 London pay lead for officers

The Chair also highlighted areas that the MPA need to challenge in its second year. These included:

continuing work on the recruitment and retention of officers, retention of officers who have completed 30 years service and looking at more flexible ways of working such as part time;
address the current recruitment process. Reducing the time to process applications and overhaul the selection process to avoid decimation intentionally or unintentionally;
continuing to tackle the low percentage of officers from minority ethnic backgrounds and women and adapting policies to encourage these people into the service;
the urgent need to upgrade police building,
develop the independent custody visiting scheme and in association with Community and Police Consultative Groups improve work on crime prevention; and
develop new and different ways of beating criminals and reducing crime, which could include looking and best practices from other police service nationally and internationally;

The Chair paid tribute to fellow Members of the Authority for their work and contribution during the first year of the MPA, often to the detriment of their personal and professional lives.

The Chair also acknowledged and thanked officers of the MPA for their essential support to MPA Members during the year.

The Chair concluded by thanking the police officers, civilian staff and senior mangers at the MPS for providing a professional, high-quality service to London throughout the year under very difficult circumstances.

Members of the Authority supported the comments made by the Chair and requested that there thanks be noted to police officers, civilian staff and officers at the MPA.

Resolved:
that the report be received.

The meeting closed at 1.25 p.m.