Appointment of independent members of the MPA

Report: 10
Date: 22 November
By: the Chief Executive

Summary

Currently the MPA’s Independent membership is recruited and appointed every four years, with the next term starting in July 2008. This report invites members to consider whether the MPA should move to a process of appointing half the Independent membership every two years to ensure greater continuity in MPA membership. It also seeks the appointment of two members to sit on the Selection panel which will be the first stage of the recruitment process.

A. Recommendation

That:
1. The Authority indicates whether it wishes to move to a process of appointing half its Independent membership every two years or whether it wishes to retain the current process of recruiting the whole Independent membership every four years. Any change will require the approval of the Home Secretary.

2. Two members are appointed to sit on the Selection Panel that is the first stage of the selection and appointment process.

B. Supporting information

1. The Police & Justice Act 2006 has changed the composition of and appointment process for police authority membership:

• Magistrate members cease to exist as a separate category. The MPA membership will comprise:

• 12 London Assembly members
• 11 Independent members, one of whom will be appointed by the Home Secretary and at least one of whom must be a magistrate

• The appointment process will be streamlined with the new process introduced by regulation backed up by guidance

2. The terms of office of the current Independent and Magistrate members expire in early July 2008, with the exception of one member appointed as the result of a casual vacancy until March 2011. Of the eleven Independent and Magistrate members five will have served two terms (eight years) and one will have served 1½ terms (six years – as a result of a casual vacancy in 2002).

Member terms of office

3. It is likely that when they are published the Regulations will state that Independent members may only serve a third consecutive term in exceptional circumstances. However, there is also an indication that the Home Secretary may decide that previous service as a Magistrate member would not count towards the two terms of an Independent member.

4. In any event, it is likely (particularly when coupled with changes to the Assembly Member representation on the MPA after the elections in May 2008) that there will be some quite significant changes to the membership. The issue for the MPA is how to achieve continuity coupled with change. Members are invited to consider whether there are advantages in moving to a process of appointing half the Independent membership every two years (for four year terms) so that fewer members are standing down at any one time and the process of succession planning can be better managed.

5. This would mean that every two years the MPA would appoint to five Independent member positions for four-year terms (leaving aside the Independent member appointed by the Home Secretary). However to get to this position, in next year’s appointments the MPA would have to appoint five members for a period of two years only (subject to Home Secretary’s approval). This might be appropriate for members who have already served two terms, as the Nolan principle is that appointments should not be for more than ten years. However it is equally likely that some new appointees would be appointed for a period of two years only, which may or may not be of concern for them.

6. Members are asked to consider whether they wish to move to a process of appointments every two years.

Selection process

7. The current selection process has three stages:

1. a selection panel interviews to produce a long list of candidates (four times the number of places to be filled)
2. the Home Secretary produces a shortlist (twice the number of places to be filled)
3. an appointment panel of MPA members makes the final appointments for recommendation to the full Authority

8. The Police and Justice Act provisions are intended to streamline this process and by regulation the process is likely to be reduced to two stages:

1. a selection panel which for the MPA may consist of two MPA members, a person appointed by the Mayor, a person appointed by the Home Secretary and another person with OCPA or similar accreditation
2. an appointment panel consisting of MPA members

9. The Home Office has not yet finalised the Regulations and the continued failure to do so is causing problems for all police authorities. Assuming that a two-stage process is actually introduced, the MPA will need to start the public advertisement process in early January, in order to complete the process with recommendations to the full Authority in April on appointments.

10. It would be helpful, therefore, if the Authority could appoint two members to sit on the selection panel which will be responsible for the initial interviews to produce a short list of candidates, so that they can be consulted on the intended recruitment process. These members can be Assembly Members on the MPA or Independent/Magistrate members who do not intend to apply for a further term. It is appreciated that, given the Home Office’s delay in clarifying the position in relation to third terms, some members in the latter category may not yet be in a position to decide whether they wish to apply for a further term.

C. Race and equality impact

There does not appear to be any significant equality or diversity implications in moving to a process of appointing half the Independent membership every two years, nor in the move to a two-stage selection process. Achieving an MPA membership which is as representative as possible of London’s communities remains central to the recruitment process.

D. Financial implications

The Independent member recruitment process costs in the order of £50,000. Recruiting every two years will therefore incur an additional £50,000 or so costs over a four year period.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report authors: Simon Vile, Head of Corporate Secretariat, MPA

For information contact:

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

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