Policy on authorising air travel

Report: 8
Date: 1 March 2010
By: Director of Human Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report sets out the current MPS policy on authorisation of travel by air and the scrutiny applied before authority is granted. This includes the need to travel, the potential costs and a risk assessment.

Details of expenditure over the last three years broken down into the class of travel is provided within this report. 

A. Recommendations

Members are invited to note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

1. Whilst policing in London has developed an increasing international dimension, in the interests of accountability it is essential that requests for any overseas travel is scrutinised to ensure it is necessary, justifiable, and represents best value to the people of London. In addition any travel undertaken is conducted as safely as possible.

2. For over six years, an Overseas Travel Policy has been in existence and is overseen by the Specialist Crime Policy Forum. This requires that applications seeking authority to travel overseas must be authorised by an ACPO officer of at least Commander rank or equivalent member of senior police staff (UK air travel must be authorised by an OCU Commander or the Head of Branch or Department). Management Board travel is authorised by The Deputy Commissioner.

3. Officers seeking authority to travel overseas must present a robust business case; the case must detail the following:

•  The objective of the journey and the means by which the objective(s) will be achieved.
•  Whether any responsible agency (e.g. SOCA, HMRC , CPS) has been consulted and a record of any advice given.
•  The reason why a personal visit is absolutely necessary and why it cannot be achieved by any other means.
•  Any significant risks and a description of those risks to be outlined and any measures taken to minimise them.
•  An estimate of costs that will be incurred and if they can be recovered from a third party.

4. As part of the costing process, the authorising officer determines the class of travel to be used according to specific circumstances of the request. They will also determine the type of ticket to purchase, and advice is given that non-flexible fares are usually significantly cheaper than flexible ones. There is an expectation MPS personnel will travel by the most economical means possible that is compatible with the requirements of the deployment.

5. The following factors are taken into consideration: duration of flight, arrival and departure conditions at foreign airports, the work that travellers will be expected to undertake on arrival, the likelihood of a need to change the itinerary and the safety and welfare of personnel when deciding on the class of travel to be used and the type of ticket to be purchased.

6. In November 2009, the MPS Management Board authorised changes to the Overseas Travel Policy that added detail to the authorising of business class air travel. Business class travel can only now be considered for flights in excess of 6 hours duration except where specific protection duties apply. In addition, all trips within the UK and Europe should be in economy class.

7. Officers are not permitted to make their own travel arrangements and the MPS Travel Services Section is responsible for arranging all UK air and rail travel and all overseas travel. It is the role of the Travel Services Section is to ensure that the flights and UK rail travel booked offers true value for money yet meets the officer’s requirements.

8. Since August 2009, the MPS has gained access to the Office of Government and Commerce (OGC) - Buying Solutions government negotiated airfare programme. This programme has thirty of the world’s leading airlines involved including: British Airways, British Midland, and Virgin Atlantic amongst others. These airlines have offered all government departments large discounts on a range of worldwide business, premium economy and economy class fares. Where no government fares are available, the MPS are able to utilise the discounted fares supplied by airlines to our contracted travel business agent , Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Neither of these discounted fares are available to the general public.

9. As a result of these discounted fares, the MPS saved £933,000 for the period August - December 2009 against the normal airline published fares.

10. Since January 2008, MPS Travel Services has introduced a service that allows all MPS officers to book UK rail travel as an incentive to reduce UK air travel and reduce CO2 emissions. To date, 6747 train journeys have been booked with an average ticket price of £71. These bookings take into account the 70-mile free UK rail travel arrangement agreed through ATOC for all police officers.

C. Race and equality impact

1. There are no race and equality issues arising from the contents of this report; all travel booked is based on the needs of the operational circumstances and are applied to all ranks of officers travelling.

D. Financial implications

1. Spend analysis over the last three years classified into the class of travel booked is as follows:

2. Specialist Operations (SO) protection branches account for 45%, 41% and 39% of the total travel expenditure for each of the three years quoted above. As part of their operational duties they are required to accompany their Principal on a particular flight. The type and class of ticket purchased is determined by the principal’s office and therefore MPS is denied the opportunity to source cheaper alternatives. To put the spend in each category into perspective, then out of the total first class expenditure, 64%, 79% and 83% for each year respectively relates to SO protection officers. In addition, the total business class spend represents 48%, 51% and 60% respectively. There has been a trend in the last two years to utilise the premium economy seats on the aircraft as a viable alternative to business class.

3. In addition, 5.5% (or £795K) of the total spend over the past three years has been made on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service. This amount has been recovered in full.

4. During the same time, Carbon Offset charges have been levied against each booking and this has raised £177,163.13 (£64,412.36 for 2007/8, £67,224.22 for 2008/9 and £42,526.55 for 2009/10 to date).

5. There are no significant trends to the number of trips arranged or the class of travel authorised on any of the four different categories itemised above. As set out above, every request is subjected to extensive scrutiny before authority is given and countries visited depend entirely on why officers need to travel in the first instance.

6. Finance Services have indicated that the overall budget for overseas travel contained within the Medium Financial Term Plan for this financial year 2009/10 is £6,360,561. The budgets for 2010/11 and 2011/12 have not been confirmed, to date. This overall budget is subsequently devolved and local managers are expected to ensure that budget levels are not exceeded.

E. Legal implications

1. On the basis that value for money is achieved by buying the flights under a compliant OGC agreement, there are no legal implications arising from the contents of this report.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report authors: Paul Wiltshire, Head of Travel Services, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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