Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 25 July 2002, at 10.00am at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Richard Barnes and R David Muir (Deputy Chairs)
• Anthony Arbour
• Jennette Arnold
• Reshard Auladin
• John Biggs
• Cindy Butts
• Lynne Featherstone
• Kirsten Hearn
• Peter Herbert
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Darren Johnson
• Jenny Jones
• Eric Ollerenshaw
• Sir John Quinton
• Richard Sumray
• Graham Tope
• Abdal Ullah
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Peter Martin (Treasurer)
• Simon Vile (Head of Secretariat).

MPS officers

• Ian Blair (Deputy Commissioner)
• Tarique Ghaffur (Assistant Commissioner)
• Bernard Hogan-Howe (Assistant Commissioner)

8. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Nicky Gavron, Nicholas Long, Cecile Wright and the Commissioner.

9. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

None made.

10. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the ordinary and annual meetings of the Authority held on 27 June 2002 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Matters arising

With regard to item 7 of the minutes of the annual meeting, it was suggested by Rachel Whittaker and

Resolved – That, following the demise of the Estates Sub-Committee, its former Chair, Nicholas Long, should continue to lead on estates issues and to continue to receive a Special Responsibility Allowance for this.

11. Launch of the MPA and MPS race equality schemes

(Agenda item 5)

The Chair and the Deputy Commissioner introduced and launched the MPA and MPS race equality schemes.

12. Chair's, Members’ and Clerk's updates

(Agenda item 6)

An update from the Chair and from Sir John Quinton was tabled at the meeting.

The Chair made some further general comments about his visit to Jamaica. He said that it was apparent that it would require a huge input of resources to counter the drugs threat because of the terrain and other physical difficulties. He had been impressed by the discussions on joint co-operation and work sharing and the real interest in developing mechanisms for civilian oversight of the constabulary. Agreements had been reached with both government and opposition representatives and there were a number of issues that the MPA would want to take up with government departments in England.

Peter Herbert referred to the lack of training for the Jamaican police on human rights issues and reported abuses by them. The Chair said that these concerns had been discussed with the Jamaican Commissioner, the opposition representatives and community interests. Information on human rights training was part of the exchange work discussed.

Jennette Arnold commented on links that she had been forging with the London Caribbean Local Government Group. This group was interested in the MPA/MPS work and she suggested that the MPA made further links with those working in boroughs with substantial Caribbean populations.

Expanding on his update, Sir John Quinton referred to the criticisms made by the House of Commons committee on the lack of anti-terrorism preparedness. He felt that the committee should have recognised that the security forces had done all they could given the resources available.

Tony Arbour reported on the recent launch by the Richmond Borough Commander of the “Cops in Shops” initiative: for a fixed time each day a police officer and a local authority representative would be available in Waitrose, Tescos, Marks & Spencers and Dickens & Jones for consultation and ordinary police reporting work. If this proved successful he hoped that it could be rolled out across the Met. He also reported that the previous week had been the first anniversary of the volunteer opening of the New Malden police station.

R David Muir reported that he had attended an Independent Advisory Group meeting to discuss the black history month and had had a meeting with the MPS to scope VEM recruitment issues.

Abdal Ullah reported that he was having an ongoing dialogue with the Greater Manchester Police and the Bangladeshi embassy about tackling the importation of drugs from Bangladesh.

The Clerk reported that she had attended the topping out ceremony of Lewisham police station. She invited members to consider link member vacancies and it was

Resolved – That Kirsten Hearn be appointed as link member for Haringey (jointly with Nicky Gavron) and that Elizabeth Howlett be appointed as link member for Bromley. 

The Chair referred to a review of MPA staffing arrangements and suggested that Jennette Arnold, Reshard Auladin, Rachel Whittaker and Cecile Wright work with the Clerk on this to bring forward some initial proposals for himself and the two Deputy Chairs to consider.

13. Commissioner's update

(Agenda item 7)

The Deputy Commissioner, Ian Blair, gave the Authority an update on the following developments and current issues:

Notting Hill Carnival

He reported that the Notting Hill Carnival Trust (NHCT) had appointed a new chair and this was resulting in an enhanced spirit of co-operation. Although there had not been agreement on a linear carnival route from Hyde Park, the ‘reverse horseshoe’ (going in the opposite direction to previous years) would be implemented. Given the uncertainty about final stewarding arrangements, the policing operation would be the same as the previous year around 10,000 officers employed over the three days. Their focus would be intelligence gathering, band serials and cracking down on street trading, particularly to restrict the quantity of alcohol.

Superintendent David Commins, who was silver for the event, reported that the MPS had seen an initial stewarding plan and were having almost daily discussions with NHCT. It was understood that they planned to recruit stewards from within the carnival community. Whilst there were only five weeks to go, there was a real spirit of co-operation this year from the NHCT.

Resolved – That the MPS provide members with a briefing paper on the arrangements for the carnival and the policing operation and also a written report to the Authority after the carnival on how it had gone and lessons learned.

Street crime

The Deputy Commissioner reported a continuing good picture, 13% down in the first quarter of the year under the Home Office definition and 6.5% down under the MPS’ own definition. In January 2002 there had been 6,945 offences. In June this had fallen to 4,726, 14% below June 2001.

The London Street Crime Management Board had been a positive development in bringing together national and local government and all the key agencies. He agreed to produce a paper, for the full Authority or the Co-ordination & Policing Committee, setting out the various bodies involved in addressing street crime, so that the MPA could consider how to feed into these bodies to best effect.

Specialist operations issues

The Deputy Commissioner referred to the fact that there had been 21 murders already that month and murder teams were at full stretch. He also reported a rise in kidnapping offences – 8 in 1998, 32 in 1999, 83 in 2000 and 49 so far this year. So far every incident had been Resolved successfully.

Cannabis reclassification and changes to enforcement in Lambeth

The Deputy Commissioner reported that the Lambeth pilot was to finish on 31 July to be replaced by policy changes following the Home Secretary’s announcement on the reclassification of cannabis. These would be the forerunner of national guidance being developed by ACPO which, when produced in September or October, would be rolled out across the Metropolitan Police District. Under the new policy in Lambeth, police officers would retain the power of arrest where there were ‘accompanying aggravating factors’ such as potential disorder or possession by young people aged 17 or under. A publicity campaign was starting that day in Lambeth to explain the change in policy.

Whilst supportive of it, Members had concerns that the policy change was quite a complex message to get across and one that could be seen as unjust, for instance if a 17 year old was arrested but 18 year olds with him or her were not. There also remained concerns about the way the pilot had been conducted, the lack of reports to the Authority about it and, for some members, the need for an independent evaluation. In any event, it was essential that evaluation was built into the roll out across the MPS.

The Chair commented that, as a public authority, it was important that the MPA received written reports on important issues such as this so that they were placed in the public domain under Access to Information legislation. 

After further discussion, it was

Resolved – That at its September meeting the Authority receive the drugs strategy report and information about how the national guidance on reclassification of cannabis will be rolled out across the MPS, including information about future evaluation and lessons learned from the Lambeth pilot.

Names on officers’ uniforms

Tony Arbour asked whether any steps had been taken in relation to the suggestion made at an earlier Authority meeting that officers’ names be displayed on their uniform. The Deputy Commissioner responded that both he and the Commissioner were in favour of this and he agreed to discuss this with the Federation at the first formal opportunity. Reference was also made to the Authority’s wish that Police Community Support Officers should display their names on their uniforms. It appeared that the MPS Uniform Committee had not accepted this. The Deputy Commissioner indicated that the Uniform Committee’s decision was not final.

14. Medium term financial projections 2003/04 to 2006/07

(Agenda item 8)

The Authority considered a report and a supplementary report by the Treasurer setting out the medium term financial projections, the Finance Committee’s response to these and information on Government decisions and proposals which would affect the Authority’s grant entitlement.

The Treasurer and the Chair of the Finance Committee outlined the issues, such as the lack of information arising from SR2002, the uncertainties of the grant formula review on which the Government was consulting, a projected sizeable budget gap together with a significant increase in the precept and the £11.7 million growth proposals considered by the MPS Management Board. These all pointed to the continued need to identify savings in the budget. The issues would be considered further at a Finance Committee budget sub-group meeting on 29 August. Further meetings of the Finance Committee itself had also been arranged, for 27 September and 14 October.

Members commented on the importance of arriving at an ‘operational policing measure’ that would be acceptable to all parties; C3i for instance offered significant savings through civilianisation which could not be achieved without the emphasis being on operational policing rather than gross police numbers. The Deputy Commissioner said that a report on an operational policing measure was to be put to the Authority at a forthcoming meeting. Members also felt it important for the MPS to learn from the experience of local authorities with many years experience of making savings, that an internal communication strategy was necessary to keep staff informed of the budget process and what it meant for them. As savings options were developed the Authority would want to see these to understand what choices were available.

Resolved – 

1. To note and endorse the views of the Finance Committee
2. To note the limited information so far available on the impact on police authorities of SR2002 and that further information will be circulated to members once it is provided by the Home Office.
3. To note the current interpretation of the potential gains and losses for the MPA under options exemplified in the Government’s consultation paper and the intention that the Authority’s response to the consultation be agreed by the Finance Committee in September.

15. MPA/MPS strategic framework

(Agenda item 10)

The Authority considered a report by the Commissioner on the development of a strategic framework document. This framework had previously been considered by the Planning, Performance and Review Committee, whose comments were tabled at the meeting. The Chair of that committee commented on the importance of proper timetabling so that a strategy could be jointly developed and in place by March 2003.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

16. The extended police family

(Agenda item 9)

The Authority considered a report by the Commissioner setting out details of the proposal to introduce Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in a community support role and some of the implications of the Police Reform Act.

In introducing the report, the Deputy Commissioner commented that whilst the Resource Allocation Formula tried to deliver equity in terms of the allocation of police resources, this became harder with wider community safety provision which would depend on which boroughs chose to buy into the service. He had been surprised by the quality of those who had applied to become PCSOs and considered that this represented the development of a new specialism and of a multi-lateral police service.

Members welcomed the innovative work carried out by the MPS in the development of PCSOs. This marked a significant moment in the history of policing and the MPS was to be congratulated for this. A number of points came out in the discussion, including:

• the need for clarity on how other resources – police and civil support staff – were allocated before the PCSO service was extended, together with the reassurance that the allocation of PCSOs would not affect police numbers in that borough
• thought as to how there might be a simplified entry system into police service for experienced PCSOs
• that it was vital that the PCSOs were integrated within the police service and that an accreditation scheme for other warden services was developed
• the need for training in some areas, such as restraint techniques, to be of the same standard as for police officers
• a high proportion of the initial PCSO applicants had been from the security industry. These were not necessarily the most suitable kinds of applicants when community style PCSOs were recruited
• the importance of early dialogue with local authorities to assess the market etc

In responding to these points, the Deputy Commissioner agreed that integration was vital – the PCSOs would be supervised and led by police officers. Training would include human rights, diversity and safety issues. An evaluation of the security PCSO had been commissioned from the University of Portsmouth. The proposal for staff in the Transport OCU to have both PCSO and traffic warden powers was intended to lead to greater emphasis on traffic enforcement than less. Discussions and negotiations with local authorities would start in the near future.

Members did not feel able to give endorsement to all the proposals in the report as they would wish to see these developed in more detail first. It was, therefore,

Resolved – 

1. that the report be noted and endorsement given to further work on the developments proposed in the report; and
2. that the informal sessions of the Co-ordination & Policing Committee could be used as a forum for further discussion although formal reports would be required as and when specific proposals were developed.

17. Police reform agenda

(Agenda item 11)

The Authority considered a report by the Clerk outlining the key and topical issues associated with the Police Reform Act.

Resolved – That the developments referred to in the report be noted and detailed further work delegated to the relevant committees.

18. Diversity recruitment taskforce

(Agenda item 12)

The Authority considered a report by the Clerk on the establishment of a taskforce to examine ways of increasing visible minority ethnic recruitment to the MPS.

Resolved – 

1. That R David Muir be appointed chair of the taskforce and its membership comprise Abdal Ullah, Cindy Butts, Peter Herbert, Kirsten Hearn and Jennette Arnold;
2. that ‘outsiders’ to join the taskforce be developed in consultation with R David Muir and Toby Harris;
3. that the remit should remain focused on recruitment, as set out in the report; and
4. that in view of the need to make an impact now, the taskforce should look to produce a substantial report for the October meeting of the Authority (reporting progress to the Equal Opportunities & Diversity Board and the Human Resources Committee as appropriate).

19. Action taken under delegated authority

(Agenda item 13)

The Authority considered a report by the Clerk on action taken by her under delegated authority on the grounds of urgency.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

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