Joint report on service review, corporate strategy and Together

Report: 8a
Date: 29 September 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

The purpose of this paper is to seek agreement to the 2006-2009 Corporate Strategy, to set out the proposals from the joint MPS/MPA Service Review currently out for consultation, and to illustrate how these are integrated and underpinned by the values contained in the Together approach.

A. Recommendation

1. To agree the content and format of the Corporate Strategy
2. To agree the broad direction of travel put forward by Service Review, subject to the ongoing formal consultation process
3. To approve a co-ordinated planning approach that integrates the strategic priorities and outcomes in the Corporate Strategy with the proposals from the joint MPS/MPA Service Review, underpinned by the values contained in Together
4. To consider how the MPA committee structure might best support development of these proposals to enable a consolidated evaluation of this co-ordinated planning, and to monitor progress against the strategic outcome

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The corporate strategy, the values, and the proposals from the Service Review have all been developed in collaboration with MPS staff and a wide range of key external stakeholders. They are based upon the widening mission and the public’s changing demands and expectations of how we deliver policing services. It is now timely to assess what they were each designed to achieve, how they have been progressed and how they are now being aligned to deliver the mission of ‘Working together for a safer London’.

2. The challenges set out by the Commissioner in February included better responsiveness to the public, meeting stretching Government targets, reducing inefficient practices and making the best use of the skills of our staff. These challenges have been recognised, and have helped to shape the priorities and strategic outcomes in the Corporate Strategy and the emerging proposals in the Service Review.

3. Following the events of 7 and 21 July unprecedented pressures were placed on staff and the organisation. As a result, the direction of travel embarked on in the development of the corporate strategy and Service Review was placed under severe examination. However, the ideas emerging from the review have proved robust and reinforced the need for delivering a new style of policing. In particular, the case for Safer Neighbourhoods and engaging communities with the police is more compelling, providing the mutual benefit of greater public reassurance and increased opportunities for valuable intelligence gathering.

4. The events of July have resulted in a significant budget overspend and are a contributory factor to the difficult budget settlement anticipated for 2006/07 which make it imperative that money and resources are directed to our core policing functions to enable us to deliver against the corporate strategy.

Corporate Strategy 2006 - 2009

5. The purpose of the strategy is to provide a clear picture of the direction and performance focus of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). It will drive improved crime performance and improve the quality of policing service provided to the citizens of London. The corporate strategy will set out our mission and values and be the basis on which we make future decisions about budget and resource allocation.

6. This is the first strategy of its kind in that it will be refreshed every year to ensure that it remains meaningful and relevant to the people of London. The Annual Policing Plan will, in turn, be part of the 1-year delivery mechanism of the 3-year corporate strategy. This approach provides the framework for describing and measuring longer-term success. The annual plan will provide more detail about how success will be achieved, and will contain budgetary decisions and investment choices.

7. The strategy has been developed following extensive public and partner consultation and takes account of both the Government’s and Mayor’s priorities for policing in London. A significant part of our success in the longer term will be the ability to achieve a reduction in crime, an increase in the number of offences brought to justice and an increase in public confidence (all measures relate to Government Public Service Agreements).

8. To achieve our mission seven strategic priorities have been identified. The seven priorities for 2006/07 are;

• Counter Terrorism, Protection & Security
• Safer Neighbourhoods
• Organised Criminal Networks
• Capital City Policing
• Citizen Focus
• Together
• Information Quality

A description of each priority area is included as part of the corporate strategy.

9. These seven priorities will enable us to achieve four strategic outcomes in the longer term. These are;

• Communities are engaged with, confident in and satisfied with our service
• Safety and security is improved and the public feel reassured
• Crime, disorder, vulnerability and harm are prevented and reduced
• More offenders are brought to justice.

These outcomes are pan-organisational and are not specific to individual business groups or directorates. It is therefore critical to adopt a joined up approach across the Service if they are to be addressed effectively. More details about how the outcomes will be achieved are contained in the Corporate Strategy at Appendix 1. How the MPS is working towards these outcomes through the emerging proposals from the Service Review is described later in the paper.

Together

10. Together is a core element of the way forward for the MPS. It sets out how the Service must work smarter across business groups as Team Met to transform the way that services are provided. The outcomes described in the corporate strategy can only be realised through a shift in organisational culture and individual behaviour. Together is the approach that the MPS is taking to underpin the changes described in this document.

11. The aim of Together is to create an organisation where people do the right thing because their values underpin their decision making, in which people work as one team, rather than within individual business groups or silos, and where staff feel valued and supported. These goals are intended to create an organisation focused on learning and cohesive partnership working.

12. The concepts behind Together have been developed with our staff and partners. The evidence has been drawn from involving more than 350 people in a debrief process (known as 10,000 volts) and consultation across the Intranet which received over 2000 responses. These have helped to develop a set of values that underpin how staff are expected to behave. Feedback so far suggests these values are seen as strongly relevant to individuals within the MPS and to policing London.

13. The values are that ‘by working together with all our citizens, all our partners, all our colleagues, we will;

• Have pride in delivering quality policing – there is no greater priority
• Build trust by listening and responding
• Respect and support each other – work as a team
• Learn from experience and find ways to be even better

We are one Team Met - we all have a duty to play our part in making London safer.’

14. The Corporate Strategy is about changing how policing in London is delivered, Together will change the culture. However, both sets of changes are dependent upon each other. The new culture will allow people to work in a more receptive environment, which will help to reinforce the new processes described in the Service Review. Putting these three components together involves an organisational development programme that will bring benefit to the MPS and the people of London. It will improve performance by enabling our staff to work to their full potential.

15. Together is now working on describing the behaviours that support our values, integrating them into processes, including rewards and sanctions. This will be progressed through development of all leaders and managers through the Leadership Academy. The aim will be to deliver development programmes where the focus will be on living the values, people skills and role specific skills. The Leadership Academy will be up and running early next year.

Service Review

16. The joint MPS / MPA Service Review had been designed to underpin the three year strategy. It had three agreed objectives:

• To make recommendations that will drive improved service and performance
• To identify ways in which the MPS can deliver its widening mission
• To identify resources to fund reform and policing the widening mission

17. These objectives have been pursued through a root and branch review of the Service and emerging findings regularly presented to independent challenge panels, MPA oversight groups and a project board with external representation. The findings reflect feedback from Management Board and MPA members, and take account of the opinions already expressed by external stakeholders as part of the ongoing formal consultation process.

18. As a result of the proposals emerging from the review it is clear that the shape of the Service will be radically different in the future. The primary point of delivery will remain the boroughs but there will be some marked changes in how the service will be delivered, for example the development of C3(i), Metcall and Integrated Borough Operations (IBOs). Boroughs will continue to work closely with their Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) but the remaining infrastructure and relationships will be modified to reflect the new way of working. It is expected that;

• The organisation will have a stronger but smaller corporate centre, responsible for strategic planning, investment and performance
• This will be supported by a lean headquarters, made up of the business groups who will set policy and processes and ensure compliance
• Services will continue to be delivered through Operational Command Units and new Shared Service Centres

19. The vision for service delivery will be transformed. The changes are closely linked to the cultural moves described in Together [much of the review findings reinforced these moves as being fundamental to improve performance and efficiency]. By linking structural and process change with a cultural change programme the new model for service delivery has potential to secure long term and lasting improvements.

20. The changes will produce tangible differences in how the service looks and feels. The MPS will move out of old style, inaccessible police stations many of which are expensive to maintain, unsuitable for modern policing requirements and often not in the most appropriate locations; to smaller, localised sites, such as shop fronts, that will facilitate improved engagement with communities and provide the base for enhanced partnership working.

21. It is intended that Safer Neighbourhood teams will be in place on every ward across London by the end of the 2006 financial year. This will create many benefits to communities and to the organisation itself, such as improved intelligence in the fight against terrorism. It will help to engage with communities and provide greater reassurance. It will be achieved by the redirection of Territorial Policing business group resources and by securing additional external funding opportunities.

22. Counter-terrorism capability will be strengthened and changed in shape to meet the challenge ahead. To achieve this there will be a realignment in resources within Specialist Operations and a significant bid to the Home Office as a consequence of the events and investigations arising from 7 and 21 July.

23. There will be a new approach to investigating crime and dealing with offenders that will meet government standards, ensure efficient use of resources and help bring offenders to justice. Coupled with improvements in areas such as patrol, Metcall and IBOs this will all help to improve the experience of citizens with their policing service. It will be achieved by a range of measures including:

• Standardised crime recording
• New custody clusters on all boroughs
• Improved custody staff arrangements such as designated detention officers and nurses
• National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS) case and custody systems
• Increased case builders and civilian investigators
• A central Territorial Policing crime management unit that will ensure standards and continuity of practice
• Improved care for victims and witnesses
• New approach to tape summary generation

24. Support services will be delivered through shared service centres. Carrying out transactional services at these service centres will provide efficiencies through economies of scale and ensure a greater consistency of practice. They will eliminate duplication of resources and improve compliance across business groups. It is intended that initially these service centres will focus on delivering finance and human resources services.

25. There will be a greater focus on performance and inspection. These activities will be corporately managed by the creation of a small Performance Directorate that will support business groups. Inspection activity will be devolved in line with the HMIC ‘Going Local’ agenda. Resources released from these initiatives will be redirected to organisational priorities.

26. Offender risks will be managed in a new and better way, vulnerable victims better protected and violent men better pursued. A Public Protection Directorate is being considered that would provide an infrastructure to enable a Public Protection Group for each borough. This gives provision for greater focus on risk management and Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). This will help to prevent and reduce harm to vulnerable individuals and communities.

27. There will be significant focus on organised criminal networks. There will be a realignment of resources within the Serious Crime business group that will enable the MPS to deal with the challenges that the changing face of serious crime presents. This will involve greater integration with the Safer Neighbourhood teams, establish closer links with communities and bring more offenders to justice.

28. There will be improvements to current intelligence structures and practice. A new force intelligence system or bureau will be developed that will ensure that operational officers are given information when and where they need it. It will reduce bureaucracy, remove unnecessary duplication and eliminate existing vulnerabilities.

29. There will be greater co-ordination of MPS covert assets, improving capability and performance. This will result in maximising the deployment and access to covert assets across the organisation.

30. Policing services will be improved through modernising the workforce, accelerating the estates strategy and delivering interoperability of data systems. The MPS is committed to maximising the skills and experience of police officers and police staff and to achieve the right mix of staff and skills to allow the effective and efficient delivery of all policing services. The IT strategy is being enhanced to increase efficiency, streamline processes and reduce multiple keying in of data. The Property Services Estates Strategy is being accelerated to provide;

• Custody clusters (see paragraph 23)
• New deployment bases (as currently being trialled in Waltham Forest) for both TP and CO
• Shop fronts for Safer Neighbourhood teams (see paragraph 20)

31. Each of the above Service Review proposals (paras 21-30) will have an assigned MPS Management Board lead who will be responsible for taking the proposal forward and ensuring that the anticipated benefits are realised. These are;

• Safer Neighbourhoods – AC Tim Godwin
• Counter terrorism capacity and capability – AC Andy Hayman
• Investigating crime and dealing with offenders – AC Tim Godwin
• Support services delivered through shared service centres – Martin Tiplady, Director of Human Resources
• Performance and inspection – DAC Richard Bryan
• Risk from offenders to be better managed, vulnerable victims better protected and violent men better pursued – Stephen Rimmer (see paragraph 45)
• Organised criminal networks – AC Tarique Ghaffur
• Integration of intelligence – AC Alan Brown
• Co-ordination of covert assets – AC Tarique Ghaffur
• Modernising policing delivery – Stephen Rimmer
• Olympics and London resilience – AC Stephen House

When London was awarded the 2012 Olympics in July it added a further dimension to the planning implications of the review proposals. There will be considerable scoping work to be undertaken in preparing the appropriate resilience for the event, including budgetary and contingency planning.

32. The development of the experience of policing for the people of London must be a core issue for the future. The Service Review research underlined the importance of this citizen focus work, which now rests within the role of DAC Rose Fitzpatrick. This work will make use of the proposal on crime investigation processes, C3i and IBO development and the work within TP on Patrol. Delivery of this must be clearly connected to the proposals described here.

33. There are steps to reduce financial overheads that are restricting the MPS’s drive for greater efficiency. For example, parts of the Service have a high ratio of managers when compared with the Met’s most similar forces and with other large external organisations. There are also disparities across the organisation in relation to the rates of allowances that are paid and the roles that receive those allowances. Overtime costs will be reduced by targeting those units and business groups that continue to incur disproportionate levels of overtime.

34. The Service Review proposals are summarised in Appendix 2 alongside the strategic outcomes from the corporate strategy to illustrate how each of the proposals is contributing significantly to the long term strategic direction of the MPS. It can be seen that each of the strategic outcomes is directly supported by at least one of the Service Review proposals.

35. There were many ideas that were suggested and considered by the Service Review that have not been taken forward. These broadly fell into three categories;

• Too bureaucratic (e.g. cross charging between business groups)
• Could be taken forward elsewhere (e.g. expanding case progression units, should be a local decision for OCU Commanders)
• Unfairly affect our staff (e.g. discontinue the agreement providing free travel for police officers)

36. Service Review provided a significant amount of information and involved the organisation in a review of how it delivers services. As well as the tangible results detailed here it also enabled business groups to look at how they were organised and to ensure their structures were right. This was the bedrock of work done to produce savings to support the mid-term financial plan and against which other planned investment bids could be reassessed. In addition, there was an appetite throughout the organisation to look at self-improvement. Whilst the scale of this review was without precedent, and should not be an annual event, there is the need to consider how the opportunities that review present can be best maintained in the future.

Budgetary position

37. The proposals outlined above in relation to the Service Review describe a broad direction of travel that the MPS wishes to follow. Some preliminary work has been carried out to cost the potential investment required to support the various proposals, and the cost benefit and efficiency savings that will result. It is intended that more detailed financial information will follow in due course if members are content with the strategic direction.

38. A report was recently submitted to the MPA Finance Committee that outlined the current financial position and the potential shortfall in the budget for 2006/07. The paper stated that a Management Board review of the position on 5 September had established that following remedial action to reduce growth bids and secure savings targets from business groups of £70 million, this shortfall had been reduced to £26 million.

39. A further review is currently being led by the Deputy Commissioner to challenge the increased commitments and overspending budgets and assess the opportunity for further savings. The outcome of this review will be presented to the joint Finance / Planning and Performance Review Committee (PPRC) on 10 October.

40. The principal areas of growth are in counter terrorism and Safer Neighbourhoods, along with the continuation of the Together work, which are three of the seven priorities for 2006-07 set out in the corporate strategy (the MPS is seeking to identify means of containing expenditure on Together within current budgetary provisions). A bid for increased funding of counter terrorist activity to offset this growth requirement is presently with the Home Office.

41. The present intention to accelerate the roll out of Safer Neighbourhood teams to all wards across London by the end of 2006/07 would mean finding an additional £32 million. This would require an increase in the precept above the 5.5% guidance given by the Mayor. The benefits of accelerating the roll out have been recognised and discussed with the Mayor who has indicated general support to the approach. Discussions are currently taking place with the GLA regarding the financial implications of the proposals and the potential impact on future years’ budgets. A current financial overview is attached at Appendix 3.

Next steps

42. From hereon there will be one coherent, overarching programme that encompasses the most significant pieces of change arising from delivering the strategic priorities, the final Service Review proposals and the existing major change programmes taking place within the organisation, such as Metcall and the transition of outsourcing.

43. The scale of these changes means that they cannot all happen next year, it will be a phased implementation that will be subject to available budgets and the degree of pump priming. It is therefore essential to develop a ‘critical path’ that gives greater clarity about the rate and sequence of change. Detailed business cases will follow that support each proposal and which will enable members to undertake a proper scrutiny of the anticipated benefits and their contribution to the strategic outcomes. The acceptance of these proposals as directions of travel and the development of business cases will require development of new IT, Estate and HR strategies.

44. The MPS will establish a high level accountability for delivering against the strategic priorities, assigning responsibility to individual members of Management Board as appropriate. A supporting performance monitoring framework will be put in place to assist this process. The link between planning and budgetary decisions will continue to be developed ensuring that delivery of the Corporate Strategy takes priority during the corporate resource allocation process. All corporate change programmes will also be reviewed in light of the direction set by the strategy. Changes in the way in which Management Board works have already been implemented to focus on Performance, Strategic Development and Investment. An illustration of the major components of the Management Board operating framework is attached at Appendix 4.

45. In October Stephen Rimmer will join the MPS on a two-year secondment from the Home Office to co-ordinate the implementation of the corporate strategy and the associated change programme that this will entail. He will manage the implementation of the recommendations from the Service Review by co-ordinating future activity, identifying wider business benefits and ensuring alignment to the corporate strategy. A short biography of Stephen Rimmer is attached at Appendix 5.

46. A consultation strategy is being developed for this co-ordinated planning programme that will bring together the ideas and feedback from staff and community groups on the ideas developed to date. This information will provide the basis for setting out on a more formal consultation process, both with the unions and staff associations, and with external stakeholders, if members are content with the strategic direction proposed. Martin Tiplady has been given responsibility for the formal consultation with staff associations regarding these pieces of work.

47. A draft budget submission for 2006/07 will be presented to the joint committees of Finance and PPRC on 10 October. This submission will provide updates on the current review led by the Deputy Commissioner, the bid to Home Office for additional counter terrorism funding and, separately, a proposal for the accelerated roll-out of Safer Neighbourhoods.

48. This committee might wish to consider the most appropriate MPA committee to oversee the consolidated evaluation of this co-ordinated planning, in light of the high level strategic outcomes being sought. An extension of the terms of reference of the C3(i) oversight group might provide the necessary forum or the formation of a separate corporate change committee.

C. Race and equality impact

Initial impact assessment work has produced positive feedback from a range of people both within and outside of the organisation. However, there are some issues that need to be considered at this point.

Much feedback has been about the ability of the MPS to deliver such a wide-ranging change programme within the timescales being discussed. In particular such pressures may result in failures to consult and involve a wide enough breadth of people to fully understand the impact of what is being proposed. This is a significant risk as the detail of the change is where disproportionate outcomes may be driven by poorly considered ideas.

These proposals will touch almost every piece of service delivery and every member of staff. The impacts being sought are positive improvements in performance by being more citizen focused. However when the aims are so high there are potential issues that need careful management. Firstly a poorly designed service may not be accessible to all members of society. Secondly the expectations for improvement may exceed what can be delivered. Thirdly the definition of Citizen may be subject to debate and care needs to ensure that we do not exclude vulnerable groups.

The proposals provide many positive improvements in how we deliver services to all members of society. The risks identified above have been entered into a risk register to ensure they are managed from the outset.

D. Financial implications

See Medium Term Financial Plan current financial overview at Appendix 3.

E. Background papers

• MPA Finance Committee paper 15 September

F. Contact details

Report author: Michael Debens, MPS Service Review Team

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 3

MTFP Finance Overview

Appendix 5

Stephen Rimmer - Biography

Stephen Rimmer joined the Home Office in 1984 and worked in a variety of administrative posts there and in the Northern Ireland Office until 1993. Having been involved in the Prison Service bid to run Strangeways Prison after the 1990 riot, he was Deputy Governor there for two years, before working in the Cabinet Office as Director of the Central Drugs Co-ordination Unit until 1998. He subsequently became Governor of first Gartree Prison in Leicestershire (an all lifer establishment) and then Wandsworth Prison (the second largest prison in the country). He became Director of Policing Policy in the Home Office in January 2002, with responsibility for all areas of police policy work other than the Standards Unit.

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