Police performance programme

Report: 12
Date: 26 July 2001
By: Clerk

Summary

This paper pulls together the elements of the police reform programme and attempts a preliminary allocation of lead responsibility for the various elements on the part of the Authority's Committees and sub-groups. It also aims to stimulate debate to inform the MPA members of the Association of Police Authority's plenary committee for their attendance at the meeting on 1 August. 2001

A. Recommendations

1. That Members note the report and approve the proposed fora in which to take forward the work arising from the reform programme.
2. That Members feed in a response to the Association of Police Authority's (APA's) discussion papers.

B. Background

1. On Thursday 12 July 2001 the Home Secretary met all chairs of police authorities and all chief officers to set out his proposals for policy changes to deliver more effective policing with a more consistent set of standards. The Chair of the MPA and the Deputy Commissioner, along with some of his senior colleagues, attended that meeting. A copy of Dr Ruth Henig's address to that meeting, focussing on the police authority's role, has been circulated to members separately.

2. This meeting was very much part of the police reform programme, which was instigated at a tripartite seminar involving the Home Secretary, the Association of Police Authorities, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), and the other staff associations in December 2000. The legislation flagged in the Queen's speech for the forthcoming session of parliament will include a police bill to take forward some of the reform proposals which require legislation to bring them into force.

3. Members have already been involved, in different capacities, in the development of some of this reform agenda. It is now necessary to assess the progress that is made, consider how to feed into the formation of a national police authority perspective and influence the debate during the passage of the Bill.

4. There are four strands to the police reform programme.

Engaging criminality

5. Work on this strand of the programme is being driven forward by a steering group, the Police Investigative Capacity steering group, with joint Home Office and ACPO chairs. The central proposal is for more focussed training on investigative skills and the increased use of specialist investigators, who need not necessarily have police powers.

6. The implications for the Metropolitan Police are clear. The HMIC report has already reinforced the existing concern about the capacity and resilience of the Met to continue to investigate serious crime. Much of the debate must centre around operational requirements but there are obvious implications for the Human Resources strategy if there is to be an increased use of non-police personnel in these specialist areas.

Leadership

7. The Human Resources Committee has already considered some of the proposals that have arisen from the tri-partite leadership group, led by the APA. The key assumption behind the leadership development process is the need and willingness to invest more in the development of all police and support staff, along with targeting additional training and investment in those with potential for key leadership roles. More specifically, the Senior Appointments Panel (SAP) is now up and running, with a remit to introduce greater coherence and transparency into the process of making ACPO rank appointments. It is explicit that this will not diminish the autonomy of police authorities, but should contribute to sensible succession planning nationally. The Human Resources Committee is already formulating proposals to apply these principles to succession planning within the MPS. The third important issue within the leadership strand is that of performance development reviews for chief officers, where national discussions are still underway and where, again, the HR committee is looking in its work programme for the next twelve months to develop proposals for operation between the MPA and the MPS.

Reassurance

8. Reassurance is the short-hand term for a range of initiatives that might go towards restoring the public's confidence in their safety on the streets and in public places. It encompasses the use of neighbourhood wardens, volunteers, special constables and, in the case of the Met, the policing of traffic violations. There is an ACPO position paper on the use of the extended family but that has not yet been formally adopted. The Home Office are also sponsoring a number of pilot projects which will inform the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) thematic inspection on visibility and accessibility. As part of that inspection, HMIs are visiting two London boroughs.

9. This is clearly an area in which the MPA will want to have a strategic view of the direction in which the Met should go. Some work on this has already been done as part of the development of the corporate strategy and will be continuing with workshops on wardens and volunteers and through a meeting planned for the members of CUC with the Deputy Commissioner.

Science and technology

11. The fourth strand, science and technology, is clearly seen by ministers as crucial to deliver the developments in a more flexible and wider-ranging approach to policing that the other three strands will define. Within the MPA the lead on science and technology, in terms of its operational benefits, lies with the IS/IT subgroup. In developing its work programme for the following year, that group will focus very much on the proposals that are being taken forward nationally for a more corporate and imaginative integration of technological developments.

MPA role

12. Members will want to ensure that they are fully engaged in taking forward the implications of the various initiatives now being proposed. There are a number of channels and fora to do this. At the plenary meeting of the Association of Police Authorities (APA) a number of position papers relating to the reform programme will be discussed. These papers have been circulated separately to all members. It will be very helpful, if, either during the Authority meeting itself, or outside the meeting, in writing or orally, members' views on the position papers could brief the MPA's delegates attending the plenary meeting. These are Toby Harris, Richard Barnes, Richard Sumray, Rachel Whittaker and Graham Tope.

The body of this paper has already identified lead committees on some specific aspects of the proposals. Not formally included at the moment are amendments to Police Regulations which will take forward some of the initiatives which the HR committee has already identified as being essential to increase the scope for retention and to provide the scope for more flexible management provisions. Most of these will fall within the remit of the HR committee.

Later on the Agenda is a paper proposing a draft scheme for a pilot to be run within the Met to retain officers beyond the thirty years. Given that the legislation is likely to include a relaxation of the relevant Regulations, it seems sensible that the HR Committee should consider the sort of range of flexibilities that it would ideally like to see negotiated for changes in the Regulations and feed into those national proposals. The pilot scheme can be part of this process.

Conclusion

13. The purpose of this paper is to bring together some of the threads of policy change that are incorporated within the police reform programme, and to flag up the extent to which detailed consideration of each of these strands needs to be taken forward within the relevant committee.

C. Financial implications

None at this stage, but will need to be kept under continuous review.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Catherine Crawford.

For information contact:

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

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