Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 22 November 2007 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Len Duvall (Chair)
• Reshard Auladin (Deputy Chair)
• Cindy Butts (Deputy Chair)
• Tony Arbour
• Jennette Arnold
• Richard Barnes
• Faith Boardman
• Dee Doocey
• Toby Harris
• Kirsten Hearn
•  Peter Herbert
• Damian Hockney
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Jenny Jones
• Joanne McCartney
• Karim Murji
• Bob Neill
• Aneeta Prem
• Richard Sumray
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• Simon Vile (Head of Corporate Secretariat)

MPS officers

• Sir Ian Blair (Commissioner)
• Paul Stephenson (Deputy Commissioner)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Strategic Finance)
• Stephen Rimmer (Director of Strategy, Modernisation & Performance)
• John Yates (Assistant Commissioner)
• Chris Allison (Deputy Assistant Commissioner)

59. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Nicky Gavron, John Roberts and Graham Tope.

60. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

61. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 25 October 2007 be confirmed and signed as correct record.

62. Minutes of committees

(Agenda item 4)

The minutes of the following committees were received for information:

• Planning, Performance and review Committee, 11 October
• Finance Committee, 18 October
  
  RESOLVED – That the minutes of Committees be received and noted.

63. ROBUSTNESS OF THE ESTIMATES AND ADEQUACY OF THE RESERVES

(Agenda item 6)

The Authority considered a report giving information on the robustness of the estimates and the adequacy of the reserves. This report had been considered by the joint meeting of the Planning, Performance & Review and Finance Committees on 19 November.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and the Treasurer’s advice taken into account in considering and approving the budget submission (Corporate Business Plan).

64. 2008-2011 DRAFT BUDGET SUBMISSION (CORPORATE BUSINESS PLAN)

(Agenda item 7)

The Authority considered the MPA/MPS draft business plan and budget submission for 2008-2011, for submission to the Greater London Authority on 27 November. This had previously been considered at the joint meeting of the Planning, Performance & Review and Finance Committees on 19 November.

The Authority also considered a supplementary report setting out the proposed response to the Mayor’s consultation on his 2008/09 draft component budget for the MPA.

The Authority also considered a supplementary report seeking in principle approval for proposals which represented an increase to the MPA’s budget to reinforce capacity to support members in achieving the aims of the Corporate Strategy. Members were informed that these proposals required further development and had been put forward to ensure that provision was included in the budget submission so that funding was available should members approve them in due course. Therefore members noted the proposals, for inclusion in the budget submission, without indicating at this stage whether they were supported or not.

Rachel Whittaker welcomed the fact that police officer and police staff numbers were detailed in the business plan. She asked whether the figures quoted were averages during the year or estimates for beginning or end of year – this should be made explicit in the plan.

Members welcomed the continued progress in integrating the planning and budget development processes, whilst recognising that there were still issues to resolve. It was considered to be important that the MPA should press to be represented on Local Strategic Partnerships to ensure that local targets were set in a manner consistent with the strategic process. Stephen Rimmer agreed that more clarity was needed about the relationship between ‘top down’ and ‘bottom up’ planning processes – guidance was due to be produced shortly.

Members of the Authority and the Commissioner noted that Stephen Rimmer was due to return to the Home Office to a new position shortly. All expressed their appreciation for the contribution he had made to the work of the MPS and the MPA, particularly in relation to the Met Modernisation Programme and the improved alignment of planning and finance.

RESOLVED –

1. That the corporate business plan and budget be submitted to the Greater London Authority;
2. That the Prudential Indicators set out in Annex 4 of Appendix 2 of the report be approved;
3. That the MPS-wide objectives set out in section one of the Business Plan be agreed;
4. That the draft response to the Mayor’s consultation on the draft component MPA budget be approved; and
5. That the MPA resourcing proposals contained in the supplementary report be noted for inclusion in the budget submission, but not approved. They should be developed further and reported back to the Authority in due course for decision.

65. MPS TASER TRIAL – UPDATE REPORT

(Agenda item 8)

he Authority considered a report providing further details of the ACPO Conflict Management Taser Trial and seeking approval for the MPS’s participation in this trial.

Some members remained opposed to the pilot. However, on balance, members were minded to agree to the pilot subject to the oversight and evaluation process set out below, not least because this would ensure that the pilot took account of London policing issues. In doing so a number of concerns remained about the extension of Taser in this way, including:

• Whether the training will be sufficiently thorough particularly in relation to special population groups and negotiation skills
• At the need to develop a community engagement/media and communications strategy to explain the pilot to Londoners and the media and the related concern that the use of Taser will affect community confidence in the police
• The need to understand why there was disproportionality in the use of Taser
• About the operating procedures that would be applied, the concern being that some officers might resort too quickly to using Taser
• The effect of Taser on people with certain medical conditions and on young or small people (given that medical evidence suggests size has a bearing on the danger of damage from Taser)
• The need for filming of (some) Taser ‘encounters’ as a safeguard
• Further information was needed on the protocols applied to the various non-lethal options, such as Taser, batons and CS spray

The Authority agreed to the MPS participation in the Taser pilot but only on the basis that the MPA must be involved in monitoring and evaluating the pilot. To this end it was agreed to set up a member group, chaired by Cindy Butts to carry out this oversight role, with the support of MPA officers and regular reports from the MPS. An initial meeting of the group should be convened as soon as possible to decide how it would carry out its role, including its terms of reference and the development of an evaluation framework. The Chair also said that the MPS should, as a matter of urgency, develop a communications/media/community engagement plan – he wanted to be consulted on that plan before it was published.

Members also made it clear that there had to be sufficient time at the end of the pilot for evaluation before any decisions were taken. Agreement to participation in a pilot did not imply approval to subsequent roll-out more widely on a permanent basis.

RESOLVED – That approval be given to the participation of the MPS in the ACPO Taser trial, using specially trained officers from the Territorial Support Group, subject to the MPA involvement in monitoring and evaluation as set out above.

66. MPS CORPORATE CHARGE CARD

(Agenda item 9)

The Authority received a report about the use of American Express cards for corporate purposes within the MPS and issues around the monitoring and reconciliation of accounts where expenditure has taken place.

The Commissioner reported the Deputy Commissioner was reviewing the MPS’s corporate centre and he had asked him also to look at corporate governance issues. A number of system and process weaknesses had been identified in relation to corporate charge cards, in particular around the timely reconciliation of debt to account and in ensuring intrusive oversight of the use of charge cards. AC Yates reported that on the best information available to him he was confident that only a small number of officers were involved and that most of the spend would be reconciled. A tendering process was underway for a new contract as from April 2008 which would result in a more ‘user friendly’ card.

The Chair expressed the Authority’s great concern and disappointment that this situation had come about. It was completely unacceptable and it was vital that members could have confidence in the way that charge cards were used and in the processes to monitor and account for use. Given that Internal Audit had raised concerns about this some time ago he proposed that failure to respond to and comply with Internal Audit or Health & Safety recommendations should fall within the disciplinary framework.

Other members echoed disappointment at the lack of action since this issue was first identified by Internal Audit and at the lack of controls both to oversee the use of charge cards and to ensure that those issued with them still actually needed them in relation to their work. It was also commented that the guidance to charge card users was to long and insufficiently explicit.

The Deputy Commissioner responded that the MPS accepted these criticisms as justified and would report back to the Authority in the near future on all actions being taken to correct the situation.

RESOLVED –

1. That the systems improvements implemented since 2005/06 be noted;
2. That the proposed actions to complete a full reconciliation of AMEX accounts and to take appropriate management action be endorsed;
3. That the proposed actions to review the current usage of corporate credit cards and to ensure balance reconciliations are kept up to date be endorsed; and
4. That regular update reports be submitted to the Corporate Governance Committee until the matter is satisfactorily resolved, with briefings to the wider membership at appropriate times.

67. APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT MEMBERS OF THE MPA

(Agenda item 10)

The Authority considered a report inviting the Authority to consider moving to a phased process for the appointment of Independent Members.

The proposal was that every two years up to half the Independent membership be appointed (for terms of four years), with the aim of smoothing out the member turnover to achieve continuity. However, to arrive at this position it would be necessary in 2008 to appoint some members for a two- year term only, up to 2010. Whilst members did not rule out the proposal they considered that further clarification of its implications was required. In particular they did not consider that it would feasible, as part of the transition, to offer two year terms to new appointments to the MPA as this would not be attractive to them.

RESOLVED – That further consideration be given to

1. the proposal to move to a two-yearly appointment process; and
2. the MPA appointments to the Selection Panel

68. REPORT INTO OPERATION RIBBLE – ‘CASH FOR HONOURS’ INQUIRY

(Agenda item 12)

The Authority considered a report on the police investigation into alleged breaches of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.

In receiving the report, members placed on record their appreciation of the professionalism, integrity and dedication showed by AC Yates and his team. The report showed the thoroughness with which this investigation had been carried out. Members emphasised that the police are right to investigate such matters irrespective of who is involved. This also demonstrated the importance of separating the police service from political processes.

AC Yates confirmed that although cases were never closed this matter was effectively dormant unless significant new information was forthcoming. There would be a full debrief to share the learning from this investigation.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

The following items on the agenda were deferred to a future meeting:

• Commissioner’s Update
• C3i/Airwave update

The meeting ended at 4 p.m.

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