Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 27 March 2008 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Len Duvall (Chair) (item 1-11)
• Reshard Auladin (Deputy Chair)
• Cindy Butts (Deputy Chair, in the Chair items 12-15)
• Tony Arbour
• Jennette Arnold
• Richard Barnes
• Faith Boardman, Dee Doocey, Toby Harris, Peter Herbert, Jenny Jones, Joanne McCartney (from item 6)
• Karim Murji
• Bob Neill
• Aneeta Prem
• John Roberts
• Richard Sumray
• Graham Tope
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• Nick Baker (Head of Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Sir Ian Blair (Commissioner)
• Paul Stephenson (Deputy Commissioner)
• Martin Tiplady (Director of Human Resources)
• Richard Riley (Director, Strategy and Modernisation)
• Simon Hart (Acting Director of Finance Services)

111. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Kirsten Hearn, Nicky Gavron and Elizabeth Howlett. Joanne McCartney apologised for lateness.

112. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

113. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Members considered the minutes (Part 1) of the Authority meeting held on 28 February 2008.

In relation to Minute 100 ‘Policing of London Airports’, the Chair confirmed that both he and officers were continuing discussions with the London City Airport regarding the cost of policing the airport.

RESOLVED – That the minutes (Part 1) of the Authority meeting held on 28 February 2008 be agreed and be signed as a correct record.

114. Minutes of committees

(Agenda item 4)

The minutes of the following committees were received for information:

• Finance Committee – 24 January 2008
• Co-ordination and Policing Committee – 7 February 2008
• Planning, Performance and Review Committee – 14 February 2008

RESOLVED – That the minutes of Committees be received and noted.

115. Chair's update

(Agenda item 5)

The Chair confirmed that he had received written notification from Damian Hockney that he was resigning from the Authority with immediate effect. The Chair and members asked that their thanks to Damian be noted and the Chair agreed to write to him thanking him for his contribution to the work of the Authority. Until a replacement appointment was made it Cindy Butts would cover Damain Hockney’s borough link role for Kensington and Chelsea.

The Chair informed members that following recent interviews the Authority had appointed nine new commanders to the MPS: Craig Denholm (Surrey Police), Richard Morris (Surrey Police), Maxine de Brunner, Ali Dizaei, Simon O’Brien, Simon Pountain, Jerry Savill, Peter Spindler and Moir Stewart (all MPS). The Chair added that posting arrangements were yet to be confirmed.

Members congratulated Collette Paul on her appointment as Assistant Chief Constable for South Wales.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting and the MPS, Bob Quick who had recently been appointed Assistant Commissioner Special Operations.

Some members expressed disappointment at a recent article that had appeared in ‘Jane’s Review’, in which the Mayor had made a number of incorrect and misleading comments relating to the function and role of the MPA. The Chair agreed with some of the comments made by members and agreed to write to the Mayor raising these concerns.

The Chair and members wished to record their congratulations to John Roberts on wining the Lord Scarman Award, a civic award presented for services to the community in Lambeth.

116. Policing London business plan and budget 2008-2011

(Agenda item 6)

This report had been circulated to members with less than five clear working days’ notice, however Chair agreed to receive it as an urgent item under the provisions of section 100B (4b) of the Local Government Act 1972, as there was a need to reflect on the implications of the Mayor's final budget announcement, the latest information on Government grants and members' comments following the February Authority meeting on the business plan and budget before final approval by the Authority to meet the statutory publication date of 31 March 2008.

At the Authority meeting in November 2007, the draft Policing London Business Plan and Budget 2008-11 was agreed and submitted to the Mayor. The Mayor approved the final budget 2008-09 proposals in February 2008.

Following Government announcements on the general policing grant and some specific grants, the Authority was now asked to approve the 2008-11 Policing London Business Plan and Budget (capital and revenue) for publication by 31 March 2008 as required by statute.

Following introductions to the report from the MPA Treasurer and the MPS Director of Strategy and before inviting members to comment, the Chair requested that members’ thanks to MPS and MPA staff for their work in this process be recorded. Whilst acknowledging the time restraints and complex nature of preparing the business plan and budget, Members, asked that the final document should include details of links with the work of local area agreements (LAA). Members felt that this would ensure that there was joined up working and the Chair added that there was a need at a local level for a clear understanding of what the MPA/MPS would be expecting as part of the future planning process. Members also requested that in future the process should include in the final document the equality impact assessment. The Chair suggested that the MPS should meet with members to ensure that these issues were picked up in the future. The MPS Director of Strategy said some detail would be included in the final statement in relation to the links with LAAs and include this in the future process.

Members also sought confirmation as to the when new recruits were counted as being ‘on borough’ and were told that they were counted during their training though not assumed as fully operational following until of training.

RESOLVED – That Subject to the inclusion of comments made by members:

1. 2008-11 Policing London Business Plan and budget (capital and revenue) be approved for publication by 31 March 2008 as required by statute;

2. the Corporate Plan 2008/11: Executive Summary be as given at Appendix 2 to the report be agreed; and

3. the prudential indicators as set out in Appendix 5 be agreed.

117. Integrated hate crime strategy

(Agenda item 7)

This report had been circulated to members with less than five clear working days’ notice, however Chair agreed to receive it as an urgent item under the provisions of section 100B (4b) of the Local Government Act 1972 as he accepted that this is a complex subject area, which had involved consultation with a diverse range of stakeholders and that a great deal of deliberation and thought was had been invested in the development of the final report.

Members received a report that gave an overview of the current integrated MPS strategic and tactical approach to hate crime, including the processes of Equality Impact Assessment and Community Impact Assessment. In doing so, the report aimed to demonstrate how the MPS action to tackle hate crime was positioned explicitly within the MPS Serious Violence Strategy and within the MPS Equality Scheme.

The report informed members that MPS Programme Board monitors hate crime performance, including public confidence. It is also measured within the TP performance regime from the borough operational command unit (BOCU) level to corporate level and through monitoring community tensions in respect of hate crime. The report provided details of systems and processes for tactical delivery of hate crime performance in daily MPS business and partnerships and gave examples of training, cross business groups work and operational delivery.

Members in receiving the report acknowledged the work in relation to hate crime being undertaken by the MPS. However, some members felt that there was a need for a greater clarity of how the strategies outlined in the report were integrated and in particular how they were linked to the MPS’ Serious Violence Strategy. Members felt that this would have helped better inform the development of the MPA Race Hate Crime Forum.

In considering the report, members raised a number of other concerns including; the need to develop work on ‘compound discrimination’ and dishonour and forced marriage issues. The Chair added that whilst it was important for the MPS to work and develop strategies with partners, sight should not be lost that the MPS would lead in providing a first class services to victims of crime.

Some members felt that hate crime would benefit from a mini scrutiny.

RESOLVED –That

1. the report be received; and

2. further work be undertaken in linkage of the strategies outlined in the report with the MPS’ Serious Violence strategy

118. Developing Race Hate Crime Forum

(Agenda item 8)

This report had been circulated to members with less than five clear working days’ notice, however Chair agreed to receive it as an urgent item under the provisions of section 100B (4b) of the Local Government Act 1972, as there was a need to allow officers adequate time to prepare options that can be subsequently consulted on.

A report was received that proposed the development of a London Hate Crime Forum, building on the successes of both the Race Hate Crime Forum and MPA Domestic Violence Board.

In receiving the report, members requested that their thanks be noted to Peter Herbert and MPA staff for their work on the Race Hate Crime Forum.

Members broadly welcomed the proposals outlined in the report and made a number of comments, which included:

• The need for a MPA London Hate Crime Forum to be properly resourced in order to meet its proposed wider remit.
• A clear understanding that the Forum would be a MPA forum, managed and reporting back to the MPA.
• The Forum needed to work along side the MPS’ Serious Violence Strategy.
• The need for the Forum to have the flexibility to engage with a wide range of partners.
• The need to see a clear model of the proposed Forum, further details regarding how the terms of reference are to work and further details on the role and membership of sub groups of the Forum.
• The need for more engagement by MPA members on the Forum.

The Chief Executive in noting the comments by members added that adequate resources were in place to support the work of the Forum but that there was a need to also look at existing resources and how these can be developed to support a Forum with a wider remit. She supported the need for the MPA to have ownership of the Forum and added that in addition to more MPA member involvement there was a need for MPS to be invited to make a contribution to meetings, similar to current arrangements of the Domestic Violence Board.

The Chair added that following members’ comments there was a need for further work to be undertaken. He proposed that as part of the consultation process outlined in paragraph 11 of the report, the model for the Forum, should be developed and informally shared with members for views and comments on it development. Once the new Forum had been established and been in operation for six months (February/March 2009) a review report should be presented to the Co-ordination and Policing Committee.

RESOLVED – That

1. a draft model for a Hate Crime Forum be developed and circulated for comments to members;

2. the timetable for establishing the new Forum outlined in the report be agreed;

3. the proposals to consult on the model terms of reference be agreed; and

4. once the new Forum is established and within six months a review report be presented to the Co-ordination and Policing Committee.

119. Local Code of Corporate Governance

(Agenda item 9)

 report was received that informed members of developments of a Local Code of Conduct. It was noted that this matter had also been considered in detail by the Corporate Governance Committee at it meeting on 14 March 2008, where it was recommended to the full Authority for approval.

RESOLVED – That the Local Code of Corporate Governance be approved.

120. Calendar of committee meetings 2008/09

(Agenda item 10)

Members were asked to approve the MPA calendar of meetings for its formal meeting for September 2008 to July 2009.

Arising from consideration of the calendar, it was agreed that members receive written details of the effects of the Metropolitan Police Authority Regulations 2008.

RESOLVED – That the calendar of meetings as outlined at Appendix 1 to the report be agreed.

121. Commissioner's update

(Agenda item 11)

Performance issues and operational and non-operational news

Members received the performance information for April 2007 to February 2008 compared with April 2006 to February 2007. In presenting the figures, the Commissioner highlighted the continuing decrease in reported crime. He noted the decreases in robbery, which was at its lowest since 2000/01, robbery among young people and gun enabled crime.

In relation to some members’ concerns about the increase in road fatalities, including issues of disproportionality, the Commissioner agreed to meet with members to discuss this further.

Members received the operational and non-operational news.

Other matters

Olympic Torch relay

The Commissioner informed the Authority that the risk levels had been raised for this event following demonstrations in Greece relating to the political situation in Tibet. He agreed with members that there was a right for peaceful demonstration, acknowledged the sensitivities around this event and added that the event had to be policed effectively. The Commissioner agreed to provide members with the cost of policing this event.

Murders in Hackney

The Commissioner agreed to look at community engagement issues following recent murders in the borough.

New bus routes

Members asked the Commissioner if the MPS were consulted on new bus routes and if so, if the MPS required TfL to ensure that buses on those routes had adequate security. The Commissioner agreed to seek advice on this matter and inform members in due course.

Terminal 5 Heathrow

Members raised concerns about the security arrangements at the new terminal 5 at Heathrow airport and asked if the MPS had been consulted on security arrangements. The Commissioner stated that he needed to seek advice on this issue.

BNP leaflets

The Commissioner confirmed that, having sought advice from the Crown Prosecution Service, the publication of recent BNP election leaflets were considered not to be a criminal offence. However, he would seek advice on any breach of election legislation.

122. Proceeds of Crime

(Agenda item 12)

Member received a report that informed members how the asset recovery process was operated and how funds recovered could be returned to those communities affected by crime.

In receiving the report, members remained unhappy with the percentage of POCA monies that were returned to London and for the Home Office to be transparent on the funds they receive. Members encouraged the MPS to continue to lobby the Home Office on both of these points.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

123. Urgent action taken by the Chief Executive

(Agenda item 13)

Members received details, for information, of action taken under delegated authority on the grounds of urgency, in accordance with Standing Orders 6.1.

RESOLVED – That the members receive the report.

124 Exclusion of the press and public

(Agenda item 13)

A resolution was put to exclude the press and public from the meeting during remaining items on the agenda as they were likely to disclose exempt information as described in Schedule 12(a) of the Local Government Act 1972, paragraphs 3 and 5.

RESOLVED - That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the remaining items on the agenda

Part 2

125. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Members considered the minutes (Part 2) of the Authority meeting held on 28 February 2008.

RESOLVED – That the minutes (Part 2) of the Authority meeting held on 28 February 2008 be agreed and be signed as a correct record.

The meeting closed at 12.12 pm

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