Commissioner’s Report

Report: 5
Date: 28 July 2011
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report summarises recent performance in the MPS, as well as operations and initiatives designed to tackle crime and make London safer.

It is intended to update MPA members and give a high-level, strategic view of the work of the MPS. It highlights the Commissioner’s operational priorities of improving public confidence, tackling serious violence and serious youth violence, delivering value for money policing, ensuring a safe and secure Olympics and countering terrorism.

This is a report on MPS performance against the 2011/12 Key Performance Indicators and their targets as set out in the MPA/MPS Policing London Business Plan 2011-14. At the time of this report’s submission, data is only available for two months of the new 2011/12 financial year (April and May 2011) and therefore the comparisons in the main body of the report are between March to May 2011 against the same three months in 2010 (except for Confidence and Satisfaction results). Three months gives a more robust view of trends than just one month and is consistent with other MPA reports, such as that submitted to Strategic and Operational Policing Committee.

At the Full Authority meeting, the Commissioner will be able to update members on performance in June 2011.

A. Recommendations

The report be received.

B. Supporting information

1. In consultation and agreement with the MPA, the number of Key Performance Indicators has been reduced to nine for the new financial year 2001/12, including a Violence and Property portfolio target approach. This approach enables the MPS to form a view of crime in London across a large number of linked offences where the motivation is similar. The portfolios only include crimes where there is a victim, as opposed to state based crimes that are uncovered as a result of police action to enforce the law or prevent disorder - for example drug and public order offences.

2. This report provides a high-level strategic view of the work of the MPS. More detailed Borough performance information can be found in the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee performance report and the Territorial Policing thematic performance report which was presented to Strategic and Operational Policing Committee on the 14 July.

3. The next Commissioner’s Report to the Full Authority (due in September following the break in August) will revert back to our current financial year to date performance at which point 4 months data will be available.

Confidence and Satisfaction

4. The next Public Attitude Survey and User Satisfaction Survey results are not available until August. As such there is no further update on confidence and satisfaction from that outlined in last months report.

5. The new 101 contact number was launched on 11th July as part of a national programme to improve access and will give the public one easy way to get in touch with the police for calls that do not require an urgent response. Having just two phone numbers - i.e. 101 and 999 makes calling the MPS a lot easier and makes our services more accessible. Dialling 101 provides a direct link to police, where the public can get information, advice and access to their local policing teams. The 101 contact number is just one of the ways we are improving and modernising our services - a commitment demonstrated by increased levels of public confidence in the MPS.

Violent Crime

6. Violence with injury offences reduced by 8.6% (1,542 fewer offences from 17,959 to 16,417) over the 3 month period March to May 2011 versus 2010. In addition common assault also reduced by 2.9% (331 fewer offences from 11,439 to 11,108) over the same period and harassment reduced by 15.5% (1,374 fewer offences from 8,870 to 7,496).

7. Overall gun crime fell by 32.4% or 281 offences (from 868 to 587 over the 3 month period) and within this crimes where a gun was discharged fell by 16% (29 fewer offences from 181 to 152).

8. Overall knife crimes over the period March to May 2011 increased by 6.4% (226 additional offences from 3,525 to 3,751 offences) and there were no changes in the number of knife crimes where a knife was used to injure (1,109 offences in both 3 month periods).

9. There have been ten fewer victims of homicide in the three month period March to May 2011, a total of 32, compared to 42 during the same period in 2010. Within this the number of victims aged 1-19 has declined by 4 (from 8 to 4).

10. In addition to this the overall number of victims of Serious Youth Violence increased by six offences (from 2,009 to 2,015) over the comparison period.

11. Reported domestic violence offences reduced by 3.1% over the three month period (387 fewer reported offences from 12,547 to 12,160) as did racist and religious crimes, down by 20.6% (508 fewer offences from 2,467 to 1,959). In addition homophobic crimes have also decreased significantly by 19.1% (66 fewer offences from 346 to 280 offences).

12. Partnership activities in support of the Anti-Violence Strategy 2011-12 continue to progress through the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) project. Led by the London Safeguarding Children's Board and Association of London Directors of Children's Services, supported by the GLA and London Councils, the project has now produced a good practice framework for London. It brings together a number of partners and initiatives into one proposed model. This will provide a network of hubs all following a common process, adapted to fit the local context.

13. The project has been working closely with six boroughs from the initial 14 boroughs considering implementing MASH. The MPS will be working with these boroughs to establish hubs from which we can evaluate their benefits and costs, and ensure that the positive independent evaluation of the Devon MASH project is replicated in London. The MPS has secured funding for this year to cover costs to the MPS in each of these boroughs. Kings College Hospital and the South London and Maudsley Mental Health Trust have indicated an initial willingness to engage fully with this concept. There are a number of other boroughs keen to progress. The MPS has presented MASH to the MPA Communities, Equalities and People committee, and following a positive response, will be presenting a full briefing to the MPA in the near future. The proposed pilot boroughs are: Haringey, Islington, Sutton, Harrow, Lewisham, Waltham Forest and Lambeth.

Property Crimes

14. Property crime includes robbery, motor vehicle crime, burglary, shoplifting and criminal damage. The number of overall offences in the three month period March to May 2011 increased slightly by 2.5% (3,480 more offences from 137,116 to 140,596 offences) over the same period in 2010. Behind that slight increase, the component offence types are showing different trends.

• Motor vehicle crime is down 0.3% (84 fewer offences from 26,246 to 26,162), as is criminal damage down by 12% (2,827 fewer offences from 22,657 to 19,830).
• Robbery offences have increased by 8% (780 additional offences from 9,690 to 10,470). Theft from a Person, which comprises of snatches and pick pocketing, is up by 16.8% (1,444 additional offences from 8,613 to 10,057). Burglary offences are up by 8.7% (1,946 additional offences from 22,315 to 24,261).
• All other thefts, which make up 35% of the offences in the property portfolio, increased by 4.4%. These offences include shoplifting, theft of pedal cycles and motor vehicle interference and tampering.

15. Since Operation Target was launched on 8 June there have been well over 5,000 operations and 2,800 arrests. A snapshot of activity is provided below.

• Over 12 and 13 July coordinated raids on 12 addresses and a mini cab office in East London resulted in a total of 14 arrests. The arrests are made as part of Operation Connect which aims to tackle gang related criminality and is run under Operation Target. Twelve males and two females aged between 15 and 22 were arrested for Conspiracy to Supply Class A drugs. During the raids police seized a quantity of crack cocaine, cannabis and heroin as well as samurai swords, knives, cash and a stab proof vest.
• To date officers working under Operation Connect have arrested 27 of the most harmful Waltham Forest gang members. Five of these were for grievous bodily harm, two for robbery offences, one for possession of ammunition and firearms offences and the rest for alleged crimes ranging from domestic violence to shoplifting and breach of bail.
• Work by an Operation Target team at Brent focused on a known gang member. A firearms team affected an entry at the gang member’s address. An evidential search located a self loading pistol and suitable ammunition where the subject had been seen. A total of four people were arrested.
• A robbery was committed against a delivery rider in Hackney, who was confronted by a group of youths who threatened to stab him and then stole his mobile phone. Operation Target officers proactively identified and arrested two males.
• A male was arrested in Greenwich and a replica handgun was found during a search of his address. During a detailed interview the male admitted to 9 gun point robberies. He was subsequently charged with 14 firearms and robbery offences.

Road Traffic Collisions

16. There have been 52 fatalities from road traffic collisions in the 3 month period March to May 2011. In 2010 there were 27 and 43 in 2009 for the same period. The MPS is working with TfL to establish an up to date profile of collisions by severity at camera sites. That profile will inform the strategy being developed with TfL on where the new equipment will be deployed.

17. The dedicated MPS Traffic Command continues to work hard to remove dangerous drivers from the streets of London. As a result over 65,000 traffic offenders were prosecuted during 2010/11, up 17% on 2009/10 data.

Rape and Serious Sexual Offences

18. In the three months from March 2011 to May 2011 there were 135 Sanction Detections (a detection that results in a disposal outcome) which was 26 fewer than in the same period in 2010 (161 SDs), a decrease of 16.1%. It is important however to bear in mind that the monthly figures do fluctuate - in 2010/11 the monthly range was 37 to 71 (ex Dec).

19. There is a backlog of rape cases awaiting CPS advice and awaiting action plan completion prior to a CPS decision being made. This is being addressed by a temporary allocation of additional CPS lawyers in June 2011 and by improved data sharing and case tracking. /p>

20. The number of offences recorded between March 2011 to May 2011 increased by 8.8% over the previous year.

Delivering a safe and secure Olympics

21. Work has continued over the last month in preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The infrastructure build remains on track and the multi-agency security plans continue to be developed. The MPS believes that it is in a good place in relation to Olympic and Paralympic planning but is not complacent; recognising that there continues to be much work to complete.

22. The MPA Finance and Resource Committee considered a report that outlined the work of the MPA Olympic and Paralympic Sub-committee. The collaborative way in which the report was produced was symptomatic of the way in which the sub-committee and MPS have worked together over the last two and a half years. The report was well received.

23. In support of the MPS Olympic Safety and Security Strategy, the MPS has issued the London 2012 HR Operating Instructions after full consultation with the various employees’ organisations. It sets out a range of measures to mobilise enough officers and staff to police the Games. These include the rescheduling of rest days, the cancellation of all scheduled training, and limited annual leave for officers and key police staff. To compensate for that, the amount of annual leave that can be carried over from 2012/13 into 2013/14 will be increased. The instructions also give key dates to enable officers and staff to start planning for the year ahead and beyond. During the Games period (11 June to 23 September) there will be a standardised shift pattern across the whole of TP to support effective deployment in the special circumstances of the Games. The instructions also set out other measures that will apply to staff and officers with specialist skills.

24. Throughout the last month, a number of presentations have been given about planning for the Games. These have included the ACPO Conference in Harrogate, the Association of Police Authorities AGM and MPS Borough Commanders and Borough Chief Executives.

25. On 5 July, as a part of the ‘one year to go’ communication strategy, the Home Secretary joined the Commissioner and AC Allison at the new National Olympic Coordination Centre during one of the many tests and exercises that will be undertaken. This was followed by a press conference where the Home Secretary laid out the plans for cross-domain testing and exercising, and the Commissioner and AC Allison set out the current position in relation to the MPS plans for Olympic and Paralympic Games. AC Allison is also giving further interviews to the international media.

26. On 7 and 8 July, the first of the major cross-domain exercises, Blue Alpha, took place at Hendon. It was attended by over 250 people and a range of scenarios were worked through by the multi-agency group that were present. This exercise will be followed by further major exercises in September and December.

Better for Less

27. The Commissioner has previously outlined his vision of a balanced policing model with safety, confidence, and value for money at its core. Within that vision the MPS is committed to delivering excellent policing from tackling ASB and other crime in neighbourhoods through to dealing with terrorist and the most serious criminals often ‘behind the scenes’. However it is doing that within a financial climate of an expected reduction in its spending (compared to 2010/11 budget) of some £600m by 2014/15.

28. To do that the MPS is:

• Reducing its inanimate costs
• Delivering an effective business and operational model including:
  • Undertaking process improvement activity
  • Sharing services with and across the MPS
  • Exploring a range of outsourcing and joint ventures
• Only then reducing operational officers and PCSOs.

29. The Policing London Business Plan (PLPB) 2011-14 has identified significant savings that will balance the budget for 2011/12 but additional economies need to be found for 2012/12 and 2013/14. The scale of the challenge is:

30. About three quarters of the MPS’s revenue expenditure is on pay. The approved establishment, pending decisions on further savings in future years as reflected in the PLBP is:

31. Action underway to achieve savings include:

• Major change programmes are now well established and being progressed with appropriate corporate infrastructure in place to track progress and identify and manage interdependencies and risk.
• Early departure schemes have been developed and are in operation using earmarked reserves established for this purpose.
• Star chambers have been established to monitor and control staff vacancies and officer deployment.
• Financial monitoring is being amended to manage and control capital and revenue budgets more effectively with increased focus on major change programmes.
• Development of the 2012-2015 Policing London Business Plan is already underway

32. The risks to achieving the necessary savings are as follows;

• The non-delivery of major change programmes and/or double counting of savings. Budget includes some resilience to cover such costs;
• The additional pressures placed on the service both operationally and financially e.g. Royal Wedding, State Visits, increased public order/protest events, withdrawal of partnership funding;
• Enactment of the Police and Social Responsibility Bill which will result in additional in year costs for which there is no specific provision;
• Less resources than anticipated (£11m) being available to support 2010/11 and 2011/12 budget spend when the 2010/11 accounts are closed.

Public Order

33. The MPS policing operation to manage the action by the trade unions on 30 June was a success due to the prior planning, which included engagement with organisers of the marches, and the efforts of officers and staff on the ground. The two planned marches were able to proceed along their agreed routes and police resources were deployed as required to deal with spontaneous demonstrations.

34. In total 40 people were arrested, to date 18 have been charged with offences relating to public order, obstruction, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of items with intent to cause criminal damage and assault on police.

35. Key stakeholders were kept informed by regular briefings from the Strategic Briefing Cell, providing updates on the operation and the impact on London. In addition there were over 10,000 followers of the MPS Twitter feeds for the operation, demonstrating that this continues to provide an excellent way of getting direct messages out to the twitter community.

Counter Terrorism

36. The Home Secretary published a revised version of the CONTEST strategy on Tuesday 12 July 2011. The MPS have contributed to this strategy, which has broadened in scope to reflect the current counter terrorism challenges. Improvements made by the police in community engagement, both during and after CT operations, and the important role played by the police in the Prevent arena were recognised.

37. On 11 June 2011 the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) changed the threat level from International terrorism from Severe to Substantial, meaning that an attack is a strong possibility. As the Home Secretary outlined, this should not lead to any sense of complacency, a real and serious threat to the UK exists and this will require all of us to retain the utmost vigilance. The decision to change the threat level is based on the very latest intelligence, including consideration of capability, intent and timescale. The threat level is kept under constant review by JTAC, to which the MPS contribute.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. This report is concerned with overall MPS performance, but a number of equalities issues are highlighted, notably measures to encourage the reporting of domestic violence.

2. Throughout all the operational activity detailed in this report, the MPS strives to improve the quality of service provided to victims of hate crime, ensuring that a consistent and effective service is provided to London’s diverse communities; to improve performance against domestic violence, ensuring a consistent level of service across all communities and minimising disproportionality issues; to increase community trust and confidence in the police; to develop a workforce that reflects the diversity of London.

Consideration of MET Forward

3. This report fully reflects how the MPS is delivering the three key outcomes of Met Forward: fighting crime and reducing criminality, increasing confidence in policing, and providing better value for money.

Financial Implications

4. The financial challenges facing the Service are highlighted under the ‘better for less’ section of this report.

5. Reports on the progress against the current business plan and budget are submitted on a regular basis to the MPA. The provisional outturn for 2010/11 is for an underspend of £5.6m. The MPA Finance & Resource Committee on 23 June was asked to approve a transfer to Reserves of £5.6m to support the 2011/12 budget. This compares to the anticipated £11m previously reported to committee. The variation reflects the notification by the Home Office that the PCSO grant for 2010/11 would be reduced in light of the average numbers over 2010/11. The 2011-14 Business Plan anticipated funding of £6m in 2011/12 and £5m in 2012/13 from underspending in 2010/11 and there will therefore be additional budget pressures of £0.4m in 2011/12 and £5m in 2012/13, which the MPS will seek to address.

6. The provisional outturn for the 2010/11 Capital Programme is £188.2m, which is £88.1m (31.9%) below the revised budget of £276.3m. As part of the measures to bridge the revenue expenditure funding ‘gap’ in 2011/12 & 2012/13, it was agreed by the MPA that £20m of capital expenditure planned to be financed by way of revenue contributions (RCCOs) during 2010/11 would be funded by additional borrowing. The revenue savings achieved will be ‘centrally held’ pending use during 2011/12 and 2012/13.

7. The monitoring report as at period 2 (May 2011) shows the forecast revenue overspend for the 2011/12 financial year to be £25.2m which is 0.8% of budget. However this does not take into account the resilience provision of £25.1m built into the budget due to the uncertainties relating to the delivery of planned savings. In addition there are a number of other potential pressures to be managed which have not been included in this forecast. These include early departures, discretionary pension costs, change programmes and public order events. The Service’s aim remains, if possible, to retain the budget resilience provision in order to support the delivery of major change programmes in 2012/13 and beyond. Capital expenditure at the end of May 2011 is £16m which represents 8.6% of the Programme budget. Progress will be closely monitored to ensure expenditure remains within budget.

8. As a significant proportion of our costs are people related, in making our business and operational support model as lean as possible like many other organisations we are having to reduce the number of staff we have working in some areas. The MPS remains committed to avoiding compulsory redundancy as far as possible and we will continue to work closely with our staff and the trade union side in delivering this programme of change. Since November 2010 the Service has run a number of focused Early Departure Schemes and, through these schemes, 1,020 members of staff have chosen to leave the service under a voluntary early departure package.

Legal Implications

9. As this report is a summary of operational performance data, no legal implications arise.

Environmental Implications

10. This report contains no direct environmental implications.

Risk Implications

11. The risks and opportunities are reflected in the content of this report and controls are in place where appropriate.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report authors: Director of Business Strategy, Michael Debens, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback