Appointments of Independent members

Report: 4-AGM
Date: 29 May 2008
By: Chief Executive

Summary

This report invites the Authority to form a panel of members to make independent member appointments. It also recommends that the term of office for these independent members should be from 1 October 2008 to 30 June 2012.

A. Recommendation

That the Authority

1. Agrees that the final independent member appointments be made by a panel of members, for report to the Authority for confirmation in July;

2. Decides on the membership of this appointment panel; and

3. Asks the Home Secretary to agree that the term of office for these nine independent member appointments should be 1 October 2008 to 30 June 2012.

B. Supporting information

1. The current term of office of ten of the Authority’s independent members expires on 30 September. The Home Secretary makes one of these appointments and she has informed the Authority that she has appointed Toby Harris for a further term of office. The other nine positions have been advertised publicly and the closing date for applications is 4 June.

2. The appointment process has two stages. A selection panel is responsible for recommending 18 suitable candidates to the MPA (they must put forward twice the number of candidates as there are vacancies). This selection panel comprises Len Duvall and Elizabeth Howlett (MPA appointees), Kit Malthouse (Mayor’s appointee), Professor Prem Sharma (Home Secretary’s appointee) and an independent assessor drawn from a list produced by the Home Office. The aim is that this part of the process will be completed by the end of June.

3. The final selection and appointment of the nine independent members is then made “by the existing members of the Metropolitan Police Authority” (MPA Regulations 2008). This can be carried out by all (eligible) members of the Authority or by a small panel of members. Apart from the initial appointments in 2000, the MPA has taken the latter approach, with a panel of three or five members reporting its appointments to the full Authority for confirmation. The Authority is recommended to adopt this approach again and is asked to appoint the panel membership. The aim is to complete the interviews in July for report to the full Authority at the end of July.

4. In making these appointments, members are asked to bear in mind that any independent or magistrate member who has applied for re-appointment cannot sit on this panel, nor can they take part in the discussion and decision as to who should be appointed to that panel.

5. The normal term of office of an independent member is four years – any shorter term has to be approved by the Home Secretary. Previous terms have started in early July, soon after the London Assembly elections. Because of the delays in finalising the Police and Justice Act Regulations the term of the current members was extended to 30 September. The gap this time between the assembly member and independent member appointments to the MPA has created problems. It is recommended, therefore, that the Home Secretary be asked to approve a term of office for this next round of independent member appointments from 1 October 2008 to 30 June 2012.

C. Race and equality impact

In line with good recruitment practice, the Authority should, as far as is practicable, ensure that the appointment panel membership is balanced, for instance in terms of ethnicity and gender.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Simon Vile, Head of Corporate Secretariat, MPA

For more information contact:

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

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