Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 26 June 2008 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Len Duvall (in the Chair item 1-11)
• Reshard Auladin (Deputy Chair) (in the Chair items 11 &12)
• Richard Barnes
• Cindy Butts (Deputy Chair)
• Faith Boardman
• Victoria Borwick
• James Cleverly
• Dee Doocey
• Toby Harris
• Kirsten Hearn
• Jenny Jones
• Kit Malthouse (First Deputy Chair)
• Karim Murji
• Steve O’Connell
• Caroline Pidgeon
• John Roberts
• Richard Sumray
• Richard Tracey
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

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

MPS officers

• Sir Ian Blair (Commissioner)
• John Yates (Assistant Commissioner)
• Rose Fitzpatrick (Deputy Assistant Commissioner)
• Anne McMeel (Director of Resources)

20. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Peter Herbert, Aneeta Prem, (who was attending the ACPO/APA Conference in Liverpool) and Navin Shah.

21. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations were made.

22. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Members considered the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 29 May 2008.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Authority meeting held on 29 May 2008 be agreed and be signed as a correct record.

23. Chair's update

(Agenda item 4)

The Chair confirmed that he was attending an employment tribunal brought by Commander Shabir Hussain against the Commissioner; the MPA and MPS and himself. Whist he would be refuting the claims being made at the tribunal, at this stage he was not in a position to make any further comment.

The Chair, responding to a number of press and media articles intimating that Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur was considering a race discrimination employment case against the Commissioner and MPS, invited the Commissioner to comment.

The Commissioner confirmed that he was aware that AC Ghaffur had some concerns over recent decisions about his role, particularly those relating to the Olympics, however, he had not received any notification from AC Ghaffur that he was considering such action and that, to his knowledge, AC Ghaffur had not commented publicly on the matter. The Commissioner added that he had a long and strong record on championing diversity and that he would continue to hold this position. The Commissioner confirmed that he would be meeting AC Ghaffur to discuss this matter.

24. Question and petition to the Authority

(Agenda item 5)

The Authority received a question and petition from Mr Chris Coverdale.

Members were informed that whilst the petition did not conform to the requirements of Standing Orders 2.6, due to conflicting information on the Authority’s website and because the petition was on the same theme as the question, it had been agreed that the petition should be circulated to members.

The Authority, in accordance with Standing Order 2.7, received the following question from Mr Chris Coverdale.

‘The Police Oath states:

‘I solemnly and sincerely declare and affirm that I will well and truly serve the Queen in the office of constable, with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, upholding fundamental human rights and according equal respect to all people; and that I will, to the best of my power, cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent all offences against people and property; and that while I continue to hold the said office I will to the best of my skill and knowledge discharge all the duties thereof faithfully according to law.’

‘In December 2007 detailed evidence of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against peace, murder, conspiracy to murder, incitement to murder and other indictable offences was reported to the Metropolitan Police by members of the Campaign to Make Wars History. Officers from the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Unit at Scotland Yard commenced a criminal investigation into the unlawful killings of 1,000,000 Iraqi citizens by HM armed forces by command of Ministers of State, MPs and others.

It is five and half years since these crimes were first reported to the Metropolitan Police and five months since they commenced this investigation. To date no-one has been arrested, no charges have been laid against offenders, all of whom are known to the police, and nothing has been done to prevent further war crimes from taking place. As a result of this failure to keep the peace, to prevent crime and enforce war law 500 people, including 150 children, are murdered every day.

This massacre of innocent people, none of whom had done any harm to anyone, now ranks as the worst atrocity in British history. Would the Authority discover from the Commissioner why he is failing to discharge his duties to uphold and enforce the laws of war, why he has taken no action to arrest and charge any of the known offenders, why he ordered the Press Office to lie to the press about the investigation and what he will do within the month to cause the peace to be kept and preserved and prevent further offences against the Iraqi people?’

The Chief Executive l responded to Mr Coverdale’s question as follows:

“I have been informed by the Commissioner that the allegation was originally reported to Hertfordshire Constabulary, who referred it to the Metropolitan Police.

The Metropolitan Police Specialist Operations Directorate is responsible for investigating of such allegations. Initial statements were taken from Mr Coverdale about his allegation and enquiries made in relation to the Renunciation of War Treaty 1928, and Mr Coverdale’s interpretation that the Government’s decision to invade Iraq was illegal.

The information obtained during the course of these initial enquiries was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for advice. The CPS lawyer reviewed the available evidence and asked the police to obtain further material. This material consisted of a number of easily accessible, ‘open source’, documents, such as the UN resolutions relating to Iraq and a copy of the Attorney General’s legal advice to the Government.

Mr Coverdale provided further statements that were also submitted to the CPS. The reviewing lawyer then passed the evidence to a War Crimes specialist lawyer who recommended no further action on the allegation.

The MPS press lines reflected the fact that a complaint had been made to police and was being considered by officers. Whilst officers took some statements and gathered ‘open source’ material no formal investigation had in fact been started.’

Mr Coverdale added:

‘The Commissioner’s statement is not true. It is false, deceptive and misleading. When Sir Ian and the Scotland Yard press office say that no investigation is taking place they are lying.

This particular investigation started when two of my colleagues reported the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the police at Marylebone police station in December 2007.

Later that week they were contracted by DS Roberts from the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Unit at Scotland Yard who informed them that he was the investigating officer and arranged to meet them at Belgravia police station to go through the evidence.

Since then we have had five meetings lasting a total of 15 hours with the investigating officer during which we have passed over detailed evidence of more than twenty criminal offences associated with the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan and the killings of 1.2 million Iraq and Afghan people including 400,000 children.

The people we have reported for war crimes include Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Jack Straw, the Attorney General and all the others who started the wars as well as all those who have aided and abetted and are accessories to the crimes people such as Lord Stevens, Sir Ian Blair, General Michael Jackson, Judge Workman, Christopher Greenwood etc.

The criminal offences reported, all of which are offences in international law as well as against the law of England and Wales, include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, a crime against peace, murder, conspiracy to murder and a crime against peace.

Despite reporting these crimes to police across Britain on more then 200 occasions no-one has been arrested, charged or prosecuted, no-one has yet had to answer for their crimes in court and as a result of this failure to hold war criminals to account for their crimes the attacks on innocent men and women and children are continuing and at least 100 people, including 40 children are killed every day. This has be stopped. It is now the worst atrocity in British history.

The massacres of innocent men, women and children are continuing because the Metropolitan Police are failing in their basic duty to uphold and enforce the law. Not only are they failing to prevent these offences, which are worst crimes known to mankind, but they are actively preventing ordinary citizens from upholding the law and making citizens arrests of some of the offenders. In law Sir Ian Blair and other officers are accessories to the crimes.

This has been allowed to go on because the Metropolitan Police Authority is failing to carry out its duty of holding the Metropolitan Police Service to account.

If the MPA had done what it is paid to do and forced the police to uphold and enforce the laws of war, then the wars would not have taken place and the men, women and children who have been killed, including 52 Londoners and 300 British servicemen and women would still be alive today.

I want to point out that the Metropolitan Police Service has a national duty to enforce the laws of war. If war crimes take place or are reported anywhere in Britain it is the Met’s duty to investigate the crimes and, in co-operation with regional police forces and the CPS, to arrest and charge the offenders.

Because the Metropolitan Police Service has this special national duty, the Metropolitan Police Authority has a special national duty to make sure that the Met are accountable for the services it provides not only in the capital but to the nation.

I am here today because both the MPS and the MPA are failing in their respective duties to the people of Britain and something must be done to put this rights.

So I am calling on the members of the MPA to organise a special emergency meeting to discuss these issues in depth, to hear the allegations from me in greater detail, to understand the laws which are being broken, to initiate an investigation of the corruption in the Met and the MPA that is causing these failings and plan a series of actions to cause the Met police to carry out its duty to uphold and enforce the law of war.

I have a bundle of papers here which I ask you to copy to all your members so that they have detailed information on which to make some informed decisions. And finally, I ask you to suspend Sir Ian Blair and the other senior officers who are preventing the course of justice whist an independent investigation takes place.

We must stop the unlawful wars and the killing of innocent children now.

The Chair, in noting Mr Coverdale’s additional comments, referred him back to the Chief Executive’s response and added that information and advice had been obtained and passed to the CPS, who had in turn referred it to a lawyer specialising in war crimes who recommended no further action on the allegation. The Chair suggested that Mr Coverdale should purse his concerns with the CPS. Whist acknowledging Mr Coverdale had raised some interesting points, the Chair strongly refuted his remarks that the MPA and MPS were failing in there duty and unless there was further evidence, there was no need to investigate this matter further.

RESOLVED – That the Authority receive the petition and note the question from Mr Coverdale.

25. MPA youth scrutiny

(Agenda item 6 and supplementary report)

At the Authority meeting in May, members considered a report that provided the findings and recommendations of the MPA Youth Scrutiny. However, time restraints prevented them from fully considering the recommendations of the Scrutiny. The report had been re-circulated to provide members with a further opportunity for comment and discussion. In addition to the circulated report, the members received a supplementary report from the MPS, which provided an initial response to the MPA scrutiny.

Richard Sumray, who had chaired the scrutiny, informed members that it was the analysis of six months of intensive research into young people’s relationships with the MPS and their experiences as victims, witnesses and perpetrators of crime in the capital. He thanked those young people who had contributed to the finding and recommendations of the scrutiny, fellow members Cindy Butts and John Roberts and paid particular tribute to MPA and MPS officers for their contribution.

He asked that in receiving the report, members consider a range of issues arising from the Scrutiny these included:

• A success of the Scrutiny was the MPA’s interaction with young people – how can the Authority continue to involve young people in its work?
• The Scrutiny highlighted the need to work with young people to help them feel confident in reporting crimes.
• The MPS collate information on Merlin on the five strands of Every Child Matters. Once collated how is this information used by the MPS?
• Recognising the connection between abuse and neglect in early years and later offending behaviour.
• A need to consider the appropriate balance between enforcement and prevention.
• A recognition that young people who are victims of crimes can also become perpetrators of crimes.
• The need to improve young people’s faith in the criminal justice system.
• The need for the MPA/MPS to influence local authorities in regards to youth victimisation and youth offending.
• The need for work to be undertaken with the media on avoiding stigmatising young people.

Members welcomed the report and raised a number of points which included:

• The need for the scrutiny report to be shared with other organisations and partners, particularly local authority cabinet members with responsibilities for children and young people, and for there to be joined up working on taking the recommendations forward. Some members suggested that this should be co-ordinated by the GLA Deputy Mayor for Young People.
• Some members felt that some of the Scrutiny’s recommendations were unfeasible unless there was good cohesion with local authorities and other partners and that there was a need to avoid duplication of work.
• To develop at a local/ward level mechanisms for engaging with young people, particularly at CDRP level and utilising parliaments or their equivalents. It was felt that safer neighbourhoods panels might not be the appropriate method of engaging with young people
• To tackle perception that all young people are involved in crime and highlight that they are often victims of crime.
• The impact of negative encounters with the police through stop and search and the impact of operations such as Operation Blunt 2.
• Some members called for wider engagement with young people, particularly with those from the disabled and LGBT communities and for developing links with ‘champions’ for young people. Members also suggested that lessons and techniques learnt from working with other communities could be used when working with young people.
• Some members felt that there was an opportunity for the MPA to revisit its community engagement function and develop initiatives for engaging with young people. This could include looking at refreshing some of the work previous undertaken by the Authority, such as The London Debate.
• Members also stressed the importance of ensuring that young people either as victims or witness had confidence in the criminal justice system. This included the giving of evidence anonymously.

DAC Rose Fitzpatrick on behalf of the MPS also welcomed the MPA Youth Scrutiny recommendations stating that the Scrutiny had been an endorsement of the MPS’ Youth Strategy. She confirmed that the MPS were in the process of considering the scrutiny recommendations and that a full response would be presented to the Authority later in the year. However, she informed members that the MPS were already working on a number of initiatives and these included:

• Allocating extra 185 safer schools officers and ensuring that Safer Neighbourhood Team have contact with those schools, which do not have an allocated schools officer
• Placing Safer Schools Officers in Pupil Referral Units.
• Extensive training of officers in the responsibilities of Every Child Matters.
• Development of child protection training in every borough.
• Working with officers to ensure that stop and search is carried out in a courteous manner and therefore enhancing young peoples perception of the police.
• Demonstrating preventative and robust enforcement to ensure young people do not become victims of crime.
• Working and developing, with partners, diversionary programmes for young people such Kickz and developing and encourage participation in volunteer police cadets.
• Working with partners to develop support for young people in youth court environments.
• Developing work with partners, such as the health service, on early prevention.

The Chair welcomed members and the MPS initial views and comments on the Scrutiny and looked forward to receiving the MPS’s response later in the year. He supported the need for good co-ordination and avoidance of duplication, but stressed that the MPA lead on community safety issues arising from the Scrutiny. He also felt that there was some developmental work to be undertaken on joint lobbying to central government on issues raised by the Scrutiny, with other organisations such as London Councils. He also welcomed the suggestion that the Authority look to refresh previous community engagement work and how this could be used to develop work with young people.

RESOLVED – That

1. Members approved the findings and recommendations of the MPA Youth Scrutiny;

2. MPA officers, in consultation with the MPA Youth Scrutiny Panel, work with the MPS to produce an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations;

3. MPA officers, in consultation with the MPA Youth Scrutiny Panel devise appropriate communication and monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of the agreed MPS action plan; and

4. the MPS to report back at the Full Authority meeting in October on progress made on the agreed action plan.

26. Policing London Joint Annual Report 2007/08

(Agenda item 7)

Members received the ‘Policing London Joint Annual Report’ for 2007/08. The annual report, which was jointly complied by the MPA and MPS, formed part of the continuing mission of ‘working together for a safer London’ and subject to members’ comments, would be published by 30 June. The format of the annual report was dictated by the need to provide statutory information, however, an abridged version was also published.

RESOLVED – That

1. the draft joint Annual report, subject to amendments, be agreed; and

2. members note that the full Annual Report would be published including required amendments on the MPA/MPS intranet/internet.

27. MPA accounts for the year end 31 March 2008

(Agenda item 8)

Members received the draft accounts for 2007-08, which are subject to audit. The report identified key features of the accounts and outlined the structure of the statements.

The Treasurer confirmed that the draft accounts reflected the comments and views of the Corporate Governance Committee, which had scrutinised them at its meeting on 12 June 2008.

The Treasurer drew attention to two matters that still needed to be reflected in the draft accounts. First, the Finance Committee at its meeting on 19 June 2008 decided to set aside £10 million in an earmarked reserve to facilitate further modernisation of the service, together with a transfer of £7.9 million to the General Reserve. The Chair questioned whether there would be a detailed scheme for the purpose and usage of the modernisation reserve and received assurances that there would be. Second, on 30 May 2008, the Home Office issued Circular 11/2008 introducing new factors for calculating lump sums payable to police officers. The factors increase the lump sums payable to officers under the 1987 Police Pension Scheme, the impact of which is backdated to 1 October 2007. The Authority will need to pay £8 million for lump sums that relate to retirements between 1 October 2007 and 31 March 2008 (but recover costs from the Home Office) and the draft accounts will be amended to reflect these adjustments. A further liability for interest payments of £0.2 million is not considered material and the draft account will not be adjusted for this element. The Authority’s actuaries are also advising on the impact of the Financial Reporting Standard 17 liability and any consequential changes required will be made to the draft accounts. These changes would not affect the net revenue surplus

Toby Harris, Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee, added that a review would be undertaken on how National Policing Service (NPS) costs are calculated. Members would also receive an Internal Audit assessment of finals controls within the MPS.

RESOLVED - That

1. the draft statement of accounts 2007/08, following previous review and scrutiny by the Corporate Governance Committee and with the amendments identified above be approved, for onward submission to the Authority’s external auditors, and

2. the Treasurer be given delegated authority to make any minor amendments necessary to the draft accounts prior to finalisation of the audit.

28 Independent member appointment panel

(Agenda item 9)

Members were invited to form a panel to make Independent Member appointments. The Chair proposed and it was seconded that the following members form the Independent Member Panel; James Cleverly, Faith Boardman, Dee Doocey, Len Duvall, Toby Harris and Kit Malthouse.

The Chair invited members to vote on this proposal, reminding those members short-listed for the position of independent member that they could not vote. Six members voted for the proposal and six against. The Chair used his casting vote in favour of the proposal.

RESOLVED - That

1. the final independent member appointments be made by a panel of members;

2. the membership of this appointment panel be James Cleverly, Faith Boardman, Dee Doocey, Len Duvall, Toby Harris and Kit Malthouse; and

3. the panel seek confirmation for its appointment decisions at the full Authority on 24 July 2008, but that if this timescale cannot be achieved, that the panel be given delegated authority to make decisions on member appointments.

29. Commissioner's update

(Agenda item 10)

Performance issues and operational and non-operational news
The Commissioner presented performance information for the period June 2007 to May 2008 compared with June 2006 to May 2007.

In welcoming the performance figures, members noted the percentage increase in homicide and asked the Commissioner to comment on the perception that partners or family members committed a high proportion of homicides. The Commissioner stated that this was incorrect and that most homicides were not committed by partners or family members. He added that the MPS would continue working hard to reduce homicides.

In noting the reduction in most crime figures, members received the reduction in rape figures with caution the Commissioner agreed that there was issues around the underreporting of this crime and that the MPS continued to work on this matter.

Other matters

Anonymous evidence

Following the recent Law Lords judgement members joined with the Commissioner in supporting the need for legislation to be quickly implemented to allow for anonymous evidence at trials. The Chair agreed that the Authority should write to the Home Secretary supporting the need for this urgent legislation.

Members also highlighted the need for the MPA and MPS to work to restore community confidence that anonymous evidence, following any legislative change, would be treated in an appropriate manner.

Photographing/videoing of young people

At the May meeting of the Authority, members raised concerns regarding the photographing and videoing of young people who had not been involved in any crime. It was noted that the MPS had circulated to members’ a briefing note on this practice however, the MPS were now establishing a review group to look at this matter and would invited contributions from MPA members.

As part of the review, members asked that such practices take account of the Children’s Act and the MPS understand the impact such a practice an have on young people and their perception of the police.

At this point the Chair left the meeting and Reshard Auladin, Deputy Chair, took the Chair.

MPS fuel costs

Following the increase in fuel costs, members asked how the MPS were dealing with this increase and the effects on the MPS budget. They also asked if the MPS were considering any alternative methods of working from both an economic and environmental perspective.

The Director of Resources confirmed that fuel costs had increased, but added that the MPS received fuel at a reduced cost. She added that there were a number of schemes to improve sustainability, including moving the fleet to use of diesel.

‘Stop the war’ demonstration

The Commissioner, in response to members concerns about some of the policing of the ‘stop the war demonstration’ confirmed that having spoken with the lead officer and viewed footage of the event and he was content with the policing of this event. He added that it was regrettable that some of the demonstrators had dismantled barriers, specifically designed to ensure demonstrators and police were suitably apart, and that these barriers and placards had been thrown at police officers.

The Commissioner confirmed that the MPS had received no complaints about the policing of this event and that he was happy for members to view the footage of the demonstration.

30. Urgent action taken by the Chief Executive

(Agenda item 11)

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.

The meeting closed at 12:30 pm

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