Policing and Performance Plan 2002/03: priorities, objectives, measures and targets

Report: 6
Date: 21 March 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

This paper seeks approval of the MPA Policing and Performance Plan for 2002/03, highlighting the priorities, objectives, measures and targets. Issues raised at the meeting of the full Authority in February have been addressed with amendments and additional information. The annexes to the plan will be available to members prior to the meeting.

A. Recommendations

1. Members are asked to note and approve the responses, further information provided, and changes to measures and targets, in respect of the issues raised at the full Authority meeting in February.
2. Members are asked to approve the Policing and Performance Plan at Appendix 3 (see Supporting material).
3. Members are asked to delegate final approval of the plan's format and presentation to the Clerk.

B. Supporting information

1. At the February meeting of the full Authority, the MPS proposed a suite of priorities, objectives, measures and targets for 2002/03 to the MPA. Members expressed a number of concerns whilst giving general support to the plan itself, and it was agreed that discussions would be concluded at the March meeting, having considered proposals regarding the issues raised.

2. There was some discussion about the number of priorities and objectives, and whether there were too many. The meeting concluded by agreeing to retain them as stated, given that they were of a varied nature (eg not all objectives have a direct impact on BOCUs).

3. As with last month's paper, the proposed priorities, objectives, measures and targets have been summarised in Appendix 1, and the objectives set out and explained in more detail in Appendix 2 (which also forms an annex to the plan itself). Further work is ongoing to finalise the format of the plan and associated annexes (including consideration of anticipated feedback from District Audit).

4. For each objective in Appendix 2 (see Supporting material), there is a description of the target for 2002/03 with the most appropriate measure. Also shown are some of the key enabling activities being undertaken by support units. The process of identifying, agreeing and monitoring these enabling objectives is part of a continuously developing process that will be updated and maintained throughout the year. To place the target for each objective into context, there is also a brief summary showing the corresponding performance being achieved in 2001/02.

5. The issues raised by members at the February meeting of the full Authority are summarised below together with the MPS' response.

Concern was expressed that the nine 'Safer Streets' boroughs are having targets imposed on them without sufficient time for consultation.

6. This concern applied to the street crime targets that were the subject of a bespoke bottom up process, which was designed to ensure that targets were challenging but achievable.

7. The original bespoke targets were negotiated locally by BOCUs with partners and their cluster Commanders. Having consolidated the bespoke targets, the MPS then continued to negotiate with the MPA over the corporate target, which emerged as +10% for the street crime rate, and the MPS was asked to reconsider this in order to see if it could achieve a more challenging target.

8. At the same time, the Safer Streets initiative began to show results, which meant that BOCUs could be re-challenged over their original targets. The Safer Streets BOCUs were consulted, and they have agreed that they could be held to a tougher target of –5%. They were promised continued support from TP headquarters officers such as the TSG, with resources applied in proportion to the difficulty that they would have in achieving the new target. In addition, a number of other BOCUs were identified where displaced crime might occur as a result of intensive Safer Streets activities, and where some additional resources might be redirected should they show in year difficulty in achieving their own targets.

9. Other BOCUs, who originally set targets of over 10% increases in street crime, have been challenged to hold any increase to a maximum of 10% year on year. This will mean that they will be expected to hold the levels of crime experienced over recent months throughout the coming year. In the main, these BOCUs experience substantially lower rates of street crime than the Safer Streets BOCUs, and the 10% year on year increase will not contribute greatly to the corporate total, the target for which will now be a 0% increase.

10. BOCUs have been asked to discuss these developments with their partners and where relevant, bring to their attention the recent impact of the Safer Streets initiative.

There was a lack of clarity as to how additional resources would be made available in order to achieve the Safer Streets targets.

11. The initial impact of Safer Streets was made in part by the temporary utilisation of Traffic Officers. These will, however be returning to those duties, but there are a number of contributory factors that will enable Safer Streets BOCUs to achieve their targets, as well as those other BOCUs who have had a cap of +10% agreed with them. These factors are:

• the engagement of the mobile phone industry to render stolen phones unusable, together with a blitz on property marking phones,
• a greater focus throughout the criminal justice system to remove more rapidly habitual criminals from the streets,
• a 'contract' between BOCUs and Commander Quick of TPHQ to focus corporate resources such as the TSG where they are most needed to achieve the targets, through weekly tasking and the use of overtime contingency;
• small reductions in non-priority targets as outlined at paragraph 21 below.

The relevance of retaining the measure of 71 days from charge to sentence in the Youth Offending objective was challenged, given that the MPS did not have control over the delivery of this.

12. It is considered important to keep the 71 day target since it is a government priority in relation to bringing offenders to justice. The MPS also wants to retain it as part of our contribution to a joined up effort to ensure we make the CJ process an effective deterrent to young criminals. The MPS is currently involved in a joint task force with GLMCA and CPS and LCD to attack the underlying causes of our collective failure to meet the target. As part of this we will from April have a new case tracker system on all BOCUs to track PYO cases, ensure deadlines are met, and that management information is available to target improvement.

Following discussions at earlier meetings, there was a request to review the possible inclusion of measures of satisfaction levels for various categories of vulnerable victims.

13. The Diversity Directorate has considered a number of options for measuring victim satisfaction in relation to hate crimes. For race crime the target will be that there will be no difference between the satisfaction levels of victims compared with the average satisfaction of victims of all other crimes. Victims of racist crimes are currently around 9% less satisfied with their treatment by police than victims of all other crimes.

14. With other hate crimes such as domestic violence and homophobic crime, it is more difficult and sensitive to establish victim satisfaction from traditional survey methods. The Directorate is currently developing a methodology for measuring victim satisfaction for these crimes, and will identify differences in satisfaction levels compared to other crimes by the end of October 2002. A support programme for victims will then be established, in place by the end of the year. This should allow meaningful targets to be set for 2003/04.

15. Project Sapphire has been set up to improve rape investigation and the service given to victims of rape. The project is developing a qualitative questionnaire for victims to assess whether the treatment provided is satisfactory, and to identify any weaknesses in the approach. The questionnaire will be developed by July and piloted across all BOCUs during the remainder of 2002.

The use of the Public Attitude Survey as a measure for objectives 5 and 6 was considered to be of limited value due to the timing of the survey work.

16. This issue has been recognised, particularly when a single year's performance is considered. The survey data when considered over a number of years presents a more informative picture, and this data is now replicated in the relevant sections of Appendix 2 (see Supporting material).

17. Work is also in hand to undertake more frequent surveys, and produce the analysis more rapidly. A number of options are being considered: repeating the public attitude survey three or four times a year, conducting the survey on a continuous rolling basis that would provide regular statistically sound corporate data, and using other sources of data to determine public perceptions.

The presence of on objective related to autocrime in preference to one related directly to road safety was challenged.

18. Both autocrime and road traffic collisions involving death or serious injury have to have targets set as part of the national requirement to report on BVPIs. The autocrime measure features against an objective because BOCUs are measured individually having set bespoke targets in this area. The traffic collision BVPI is a measure of performance primarily on the Traffic OCU, but is not a measure fully within the control of the police service to deliver. As a BVPI, however, a target has been set, and can be found in Annex C. The target for 2002/03 for road traffic collisions is 0.73 collisions involving death or serious injury per thousand population. This is an improvement on this year's target which is 0.74, and for that of 2000/01 which was 0.76.

19. In addition to changes resulting from comments made by members other amendments to the plan have been made since the February meeting of the full Authority as set out below.

Best value performance indicators (BVPIs)

20. In line with statutory guidelines, the MPS proposes to set a small number of additional performance targets for best value performance indicators. These are included in Annex C of the plan, and cover 'business as usual' areas of performance. The general approach taken is that the targets set last year have been carried over, unless the BVPI is scheduled for deletion in which case the target is not retained. If new indicators are introduced, during 2002/03 baseline data will be collated for target setting in future years.

21. Members attention is brought to the following points:

• no targets are proposed around stop-search and, rather than set strict targets, we propose to monitor performance and flag areas of concern for investigation; the process by which we do this will be transparent to the MPA;
• three targets have been reduced as their current levels are unachievable given the focus on agreed Policing Plan priorities as shown in the table below.

*April to December

Drugs strategy

22. The plan has been updated to reflect the launch of the new three year Drugs Strategy this coming April, as a 'Key Initiative' for the MPS in 2002/03. This re-enforces our commitment to the Ministerial Priority of reducing the availability and use of Class A drugs, and links to the local targets set by a number of BOCUs that have identified drugs hotspots.

Ministerial priorities

23.These are now expected to be (subject to the order being laid in Parliament):

• To help create safe communities by reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and disorder through effective partnership working, including reducing the availability and use of Class A drugs.
• To reduce the fear of crime in all sections of the community and in particular to increase the trust and confidence in policing amongst minority ethnic communities.
• To increase the number of offences for which offenders, and particularly persistent offenders, are caught and brought to justice, in partnership with other criminal justice agencies.

24. Members will note that the Home Secretary has made some small changes to the proposed Priorities following the consultation exercise. The key points are:

• Priority 1 - unchanged;
• Priority 2 - no longer includes reference to increasing confidence amongst those experiencing repeat victimisation and persistent anti-social behaviour;
• Priority 3 - now refers to increasing the 'number of offences' for which offenders are brought to justice, rather than 'increasing the number and percentage of recorded crimes' for which offenders are brought to justice.

25. Connections between these redrafted Ministerial Priorities and our objectives are as follows.

• The 'safer communities' Ministerial Priority is covered by the corresponding MPA priority, with the exception of the availability and use of Class A drugs. Although drug related crime is not a specific corporate objective, it is a problem on particular boroughs and is therefore included in those borough plans with appropriate bespoke targets. It is also covered by the inclusion of a three year drugs strategy as a key initiative (see para 22 above).
• The fear of crime, and trust and confidence among ethnic minorities is similarly dealt with under the safer communities and vulnerable victims priorities.
• The third Ministerial Priority on delivering justice more effectively is a new priority, and one on which the MPS and MPA have provided specific feedback to the Home Office. The rewording of this objective will make it easier for the MPS to measure, particularly through the proposed focus within the youth offending objectives.

Next steps

26. Following final agreement to the plan, it will be published on the internet on 28 March 2002. A limited number of hard copies will be available at that stage, with a print run being completed in the first week in April. A colour summary document of the Policing Plan will also be available in early April. The summary and magazine produced jointly with GLA partners will be distributed to households in May.

C. Financial implications

27. Work is ongoing within the MPS to ensure that the MPA's budget submission is applied to achieving the local and servicewide targets included in this plan.

28. Separate bids to fund resources, which will increase the Service's capacity, have been made to Home Office, in relation to Counter Terrorism and Transport for London. This is in respect of the new Transport OCU.

29. The anticipated levels of resourcing in the budget submission have been used as the basis to build this plan. Any variation in the overall level of funding, or any significant variations in its application, may lead to the proposed plan requiring reconsideration.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

Report author: John Zlotnicki and Michael Debens, MPS.

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1: Priorities, objectives and targets proposed by the MPS

Priority: To increase the security of the capital against terrorism

1. To prevent and disrupt terrorist activity

2. To achieve an effective response to suspected and actual terrorist incidents

Priority: To create safer communities for Londoners 

3. To work with community safety partnerships to reduce the incidence of crime and disorder in the most troubled areas in each neighbourhood

* N.B. The figures quoted within objective 3 do not take account of the National Crime Recording Standards, which come into effect in April 2002.

4. To reduce violent armed criminality

5. To reduce the fear of crime

6. To increase the public's satisfaction with visible police presence

Priority: To improve the police response to vulnerable victims

7. To improve child protection procedures following recommendations from HMI and Ministerial Inquiries

8. To improve victim satisfaction and investigation of racist incidents and racist crimes

9. To improve the investigation of homophobic crimes

10. To improve the investigation of domestic violence

11. To improve victim care and investigation in cases of rape

Priority: To tackle youth offending

12. To improve the diversion of youths away from crime, through enhanced multi-agency activity

13. To reduce re-offending by Persistent Young Offenders

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