Performance assessment of the authority

Report: 8
Date: 29 May 2003
By: Clerk

Summary

The Audit Commission plans to carry out an Initial Performance Assessment of the GLA group, including the MPA.

Later in the year Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) will be carrying out baseline assessments of police forces which will necessarily imply an assessment of police authorities’ strategic and leadership role.

The Association of Police Authorities (APA) has been working with police authorities to develop a process to assess the ‘added value’ that a police authority brings to policing within an area. This report outlines the Audit Commission and HMIC processes and proposes how the Authority responds to them, adopting the APA assessment and improvement framework. A fuller oral update will be given at the meeting.

A. Recommendations

1. That the Authority agrees the approach to the self-assessment element of the Initial Performance Assessment set out in paragraph 16 of this report, namely that the Authority seeks agreement with the Audit Commission and HMIC to use the APA self-assessment and improvement framework, to avoid duplication of effort later in the year; and
2. That the Authority appoints an informal members’ steering group to oversee the Authority’s response to the Initial Performance Assessment, ideally including members who have had experience of Comprehensive Performance Assessments as a result of their local authority membership.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The Authority will probably be involved in two assessment processes before the end of 2003, an Initial Performance Assessment (IPA) from the Audit Commission (as part of the Greater London Authority group), and by the HMIC as part of its new baseline assessment of police forces. There will be a great deal of overlap and commonality between these two processes. This report briefly describes what the two assessments will involve and proposes how the Authority should respond.

2. Information about the Audit Commission’s IPA methodology is based on a recent meeting between the Audit Commission and representatives from the GLA group. As the Authority needs to start work almost immediately on the self-assessment part of the process, this report outlines the provisional position, but a fuller presentation will be made at the Authority meeting.

Audit Commission Initial Performance Assessment (IPA)

3. For the IPA the Audit Commission will adopt an approach developed from the Comprehensive Performance Assessments that are now a feature of the local authority inspection framework. The Audit Commission plans to assess the GLA and the functional bodies, looking to answer the following four questions and underlying themes:

What is the organisation trying to achieve?

1. Ambition
2. Prioritisation
3. Focus

How has the organisation set about delivering its priorities for improvement?

4. Capacity
5. Performance management

What improvements has the organisation achieved/not achieved to date?

6. Achievement in quality of service
7. Achievement of improvement
8. Investment

In light of what the organisation has learnt to date, what does it plan to do next?

9. Learning
10. Future plans

4. Each theme is given a score between one and four. The final IPA judgement will be weighted, with 50% of the weight given to ‘what improvements has the organisation achieved/not achieved to date?’ Based on the overall score, the Audit Commission will conclude that the organisation is rated:

• Weak
• Weaknesses outweigh strengths
• Strengths outweigh weaknesses
• Strong

5. The starting point of the IPA will be a self-assessment by the Authority. This is meant to: set the general context within which the organisation operates; address the four questions and ten themes set out above; and summarise the action the organisation intends to take over the next three years around its key priorities. This self-assessment must be completed by the end of July.

6. Subject to final negotiations with the GLA, the Audit Commission propose to carry out their work in two phases:

• Phase one: mid-June to end July: preparatory document review and corporate assessment work – mainly off-site data gathering, though some on-site observation of meetings etc and some focus group work.
• Phase two: September: on-site assessment work – including interviews and group discussions with Authority members, senior officers and managers. The on-site work will last one week for each organisation.

7. The draft report will be produced during October and early November and sent to the Authority for comment in the latter part of November and published in December.

8. In relation to the MPA it should be noted that the assessment will relate to the Authority’s performance and not that of the Metropolitan Police Service. The Audit Commission will also need to adapt their approach to recognise that, unlike local authorities, the MPA is a strategic body and not a direct service provider itself.

HMIC baseline assessment

9. HMIC is revising its inspection methodology to reflect changing demands and circumstances, such as the changes being brought about by the police reform programme; the three-year cycle of Police Strategic Plans and Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnership strategies; and the recognition that the Comprehensive Performance Assessment approach adopted for local authorities is favoured by the Government and there is some logic in applying elements of it to policing. Comparisons and rankings, though contentious, are now part of regulatory and performance monitoring regimes, including the new Police Performance Assessment Framework.

10. HMIC is therefore moving to a process whereby a ‘baseline assessment’ of a force generates a three-year inspection programme. In effect, the baseline assessment is a position statement – highlighted weaknesses will be further inspected and where forces are doing well they will be left to get on with their business. The core elements of the baseline assessments will be:

• Operational performance
• Leadership and corporate governance
• Partnership and community engagement

11. Baseline assessments are to be piloted in four forces this Spring, with the intention of applying this approach to all forces in the Autumn. Provisional results will be reported in February 2004 and formal results in April 2004.

12. There are clear overlaps between the police and the role of police authorities in the core elements set out in paragraph 10 above. For instance, an assessment of corporate governance will inevitably include an implicit assessment of the police authority. Therefore, as part of the pilot, some police authorities have agreed to consider the added value the HMI could bring to assessing the authority in its role in these three areas.

Association of Police Authorities self-assessment and improvement framework

13. The APA has been working with police authorities for some time now to develop a process that authorities could use to assess their performance within three key areas that would constitute a ‘model authority’:

• Leadership and strategic planning
• Performance monitoring
• Community engagement

14. There is clear crossover between this and HMIC’s new inspection methodology. Dependent on the outcome of HMIC’s pilot work, the APA suggest that police authorities may wish to carry out a self-assessment using the APA framework and present this to HMIC to identify their role within the areas of work the HMI are inspecting the force on.

Proposed approach for the MPA

15. The MPA is in a different position from other police authorities because of the imminent Audit Commission Initial Performance Assessment. If it goes ahead, the IPA will be an intensive experience. To then undergo a similar self-assessment process later in the year using the APA framework is considered to be needless duplication and a waste of limited resources. Also, for purposes of comparison of performance, the APA / HMIC reviews are potentially more beneficial as they will enable the MPA to assess itself with, more or less, similar organisations.

16. It is proposed, therefore, to seek agreement with the Audit Commission and HMIC that the Authority will complete the APA self-assessment process to the Audit Commission’s deadline (end of July). The Audit Commission will be asked to identify any gaps between the outcome of the APA self-assessment and their requirements, so that these can be addressed.

17. The Authority will need to be very focused to meet this deadline and to respond to the Audit Commission’s subsequent demands. An officer team will be formed to do this, reporting to the Deputy Clerk. It would, however, be very helpful to have a small, informal, members’ steering group to oversee the process, provide guidance to the officers and provide member input. It is suggested that this be three or four strong – ideally with one or more Members with experience of Comprehensive Performance Assessments from their local authority membership.

C. Equality and diversity implications

Equality and diversity issues will be embedded throughout the IPA process, as an assessment of the Authority will necessarily include the extent to which, for instance, it engages with all of London’s communities. It will also be important to ensure that, for instance, focus groups or interviewees are representative of the Authority’s workforce and membership.

D. Financial implications

None specific at this stage.

E. Background papers

• Audit Commission guidance on the Initial Performance Assessment of the GLA Group
• Briefing note on HMIC’s revised inspection methodology
• APA proposed self-assessment and improvement framework

F. Contact details

Report author: Simon Vile, MPA.

For more information contact:

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

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