The MPS Promise to Citizens

Report: 7
Date: 13 November 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This paper describes progress in relation to the Government Green Paper ‘Policing Pledge’, the launch of the Metropolitan Police single contact number and proposed arrangements for a ‘Promise to Citizens’ document, linked to the Pledge.

A. Recommendation

That members note the developments described in this report and receive regular updates on future progress.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The Metropolitan Police Service ‘Promise to Citizens’ sets out the levels of service that the MPS will provide to people living, working in and visiting London. The content of the document was developed through research into MPS performance in the Citizen Focus domain of the Assessment of Police and Community Safety complimented by the framework provided by the existing Quality of Service Commitment as well direct contact with service users.

2. The introduction of the Promise directly supports the corporate Citizen Focus priority of making services more accessible and improving people’s experience of their contact with the MPS, especially victims and witnesses. The Promise will do this by describing core standards of service people can expect when contacting the MPS. The Promise will also introduce of new services such as a single, memorable, non-emergency contact telephone number.

3. The MPS is committed to supporting both victims and witnesses throughout an investigation, this is also supports a Mayoral priority for policing which is to ensure that victims are dealt with to the highest standards. A significant section of the Promise explains how the MPS will investigate crime and provide that support, re-enforcing the MPS commitment to ensuring compliance with the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime, particularly the provision of regular updates.

4. A citizen focus strategy board, chaired by DAC Hitchcock and a programme board chaired by Commander Bray now oversee ongoing work to develop and implement the MPS Promise. The MPA has representation on both Boards at member and officer level respectively.

5. The MPS Promise to Citizens will be a significant and outward facing document. It marks the beginning of a process in which core services are defined and developed in partnership with people who both use and rely on those services. It is essential that the Promise not only had the support of the public but that it was developed through meaningful engagement with them. To achieve this level of public involvement the MPS embarked on a consultation exercise through each of its 630 Safer Neighbourhood Teams. The MPS received some 2,500 responses from groups and individuals of which an overwhelming majority (94%) supported the Promise and felt that it met their needs as service users.

6. There are a number of benefits for the public resulting from the publication of the Promise, these include,

• A description of how services are delivered and what they should expect when using those services
• A new customer service unit to resolve service complaints
• A new memorable number to contact the MPS for all non emergency services
• Where a call is an emergency or a priority, a commitment to attend within specific timeframes
• Where a call is not an emergency, the opportunity to make an appointment at a time and place convenient to them
• Information about how the MPS with protect communities and how they can get involved

7. The MPS Promise is a public facing document that for the first time brings together MPS core standards for a range of services that Londoner’s have said are important to them. However the most significant aspect of the Promise is the change in policing style that is required to deliver it. This will require a change in approach that manifestly puts the needs of the customer at the centre of service design and delivery. The MPS Promise is not a stand alone document but it sits within a much broader Citizen Focus Policing Programme in which issues of training and development and communication feature.

8. The MPS Promise comprises six sections as follows:

• Our ‘quality of service’ principles - Describing the way in which our staff will conduct themselves during any interaction
• How to contact us - Explaining how to contact the MPS and detailing our standards when answering the telephone and attending calls.
• Working with victims and witnesses to investigate Crime - Describing what the MPS will do when investing crime and how it will support victims and witnesses. This section also provides specific undertakings to victims of specific crimes, for example assault, burglary, domestic violence and hate crime.
• Keeping you safe - This section describes the work of safer neighbourhood teams and explains how local people can get involved to set local priorities
• Keeping our promise – Informs people how they can make comments about the service they have received and how to complain if they have a grievance about any aspect of the service they have received
• Working with you - Explains how the MPS provides opportunities for people to give their views about policing in London and what they can do to help.

The latest version of the citizens’ promise document is at Appendix 1.

9. There are numerical targets identified in the Promise document, for example in relation to answering the telephone, attending calls and providing updates. All of these targets feature in the performance management regimes of the MPS unit that owns the service (for example CCC monitors the speed with which telephone calls are answered). However to enable the MPS to monitor the delivery of all of the commitments within the promise in one place, a Citizens Promise scorecard has been developed and this will form part of the TP performance framework.

10. The introduction of National Call Handling Standards (NCHS) and, in particular, call grading and definitions, is seen as a prerequisite for improving performance against twelve and sixty minute call targets, as well as an effective and auditable means of operating a scheduled appointment system for non-urgent calls. The introduction of NCHS call grading and definitions will require some system changes, for example updating definitions on the computer aided despatch system, and briefings for staff in CCC and on Boroughs. A programme has been established to introduce the grades and definitions.

11. As a precursor to the publication of the Promise, a new MPS contact number (MCN) 0300 123 1212 is now functioning, this number makes it easier for people to contact the MPS and gives greater access to services A public launch of the MPS contact number took place on 14 October 2008, alongside a London-wide media and publicity campaign. A manageable level of additional demand has been catered for, including any misdirected calls from other police forces. After two weeks of operation there is evidence that non emergency demand is being transferred to the 0300 number. For example on 28 October 2008, over one third of all non emergency calls were made using the 0300 number with no overall rise in demand.

12. As part of an increasing customer focus, an interim ‘customer service unit’ commenced operation on 6 October 2008, to respond to concerns and comments about perceived service failure. This unit monitors comments received via the ‘your views count’ section of the MPS Internet site as well as feedback obtained from other sources. When the Promise to Citizens’ is published the customer service unit will take telephone calls from the public and deal compliance issues and service failure.

13. The consultation process has indicated that members of the public believe the Promises document meet their needs through our explanations of accessibility to services, information regarding service provision and keeping them informed about their particular case. There is a process of accountability through the ‘your voice counts’ process that further mitigates any reputational risk and permits a degree of service recovery if necessary.

14. The MPS Strategic Research and Survey Unit has undertaken research into the areas of both user satisfaction and public confidence in policing. This is a developing piece of work but there are quite clearly identified links between a quality of service provision and a resultant increase in feelings of public confidence. An important element of the Promises document is to both standardise and improve levels of a quality service delivery that will migrate across into high levels of satisfaction and thus public confidence.

15. The principal areas of organisational impact resulting from the implementation of the Promise will be in the way in which the MPS responds to calls from the public. When the NCHS grades and definitions are fully implemented, the number of calls requiring attendance within 12 minutes is likely to reduce significantly, as will those requiring attendance within one hour. There will be a significant increase in calls that are managed through an appointment system.

16. The effective management of appointments requires new systems and practices by CCC and BOCUs alike. There will be a new relationship between call handlers at CCC, who are likely to be responsible for negotiating the appointment with the caller, and staff within Integrated Borough Operations (IBOs) who will manage the subsequent attendance by operational staff.

17. This combination of a speedy (and safe) response in urgent cases, and the scheduling of appointments, which are then monitored and kept, requires a step change in approach both within boroughs and at CCC. It will also lead to a different approach to demand management in which available resource is profiled more closely to the demand while better meeting the needs of the customer. BOCU’s may well have to alter the way they resource and deploy response teams, as well as focusing more on the quality and outcome of each call.

The National Policing Pledge and the ACPO position

18. The Home Office Green Paper ‘From the Neighbourhood to the National etc’ describes a Policing Pledge for England and Wales. The Pledge describes 12 national standards for policing from first contact through to follow up and will also give the public a way to hold neighbourhood policing teams to account for tackling their local priorities (A copy of the Pledge is attached at Appendix 2).

19. The production of the Promise has taken place in the knowledge that the Pledge was being developed and care was taken to ensure that, as far as possible, the Promise met the requirements of the Pledge.

20. In the event there are a number of areas of the Pledge that the MPS and other forces are unable to meet either in part or in full at this time. These national concerns have been collated by ACPO and highlighted in its response to the Green Paper.

21. In addition to providing feedback to the Home Office, ACPO has developed an alternative pledge and this was discussed at ACPO Cabinet held on 9 October 2008. It was agreed that ACPO would indeed present such a pledge but that further amendments were required. The MPS will be working with ACPO and the Home Office to work out how best to implement both the Promise and the Pledge to ensure that the public do not receive confusing messages about what standard of service they can expect.

22. Government aim to have a form of the Policing Pledge in operation across the country by the end of December 2008 and this is broadly in-line with the MPS plan to introduce the Promises document for London April 2009. There exists a degree of concern at the Home Office that individual forces should not publish bespoke documents regarding provision of service levels as confusion may arise. These potential tensions are being discussed at the highest levels.

23. Attached at Appendix 3 is a comparison of the proposed service levels within the MPS Promises document and those presented in the Green Paper for national compliance.

C. Race and equality impact

1. An Equality Impact Assessment has been prepared by the Citizen Focus Policing Programme in relation to the MPS Promise to Citizens. The assessment indicates that there are differential satisfaction rates between white and black and minority ethnic service users (see paragraph 2 below) and that some service users experience difficulty in accessing services through traditional routes. For this reason the MPS Promise describes such things as; how to access services through the internet, how operators in our call centres have access to translation services and how callers who are deaf or have hearing difficulties can use a textphone. In developing the Promise, the MPS has received advice from the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate, the Plain English Campaign and the Royal National Institute for the Deaf.

2. The MPS has identified a performance gap in respect of the comparative satisfaction of black and minority ethnic victims of crime, which is lower than that of white victims. Research undertaken by the MPS indicates that the satisfaction of BME victims is improved primarily through consistent delivery of quality policing services. The initiatives described in this paper and elsewhere, for example in the citizen focus policing programme plan, are all designed to improve external service delivery and improve the satisfaction of all service users.

D. Financial implications

1. The cost of delivering the Promise to Citizens falls in three areas;

1.1 The MPS Contact number – The introduction of the MCN required a change to the IT hardware at a cost of £15k. There has been a cost to vary an existing DoI contract of £125k per year for three years, following which a new contract that includes the number will be negotiated. The funding has been provided from within DoI budgets heads. There will be an element of staffing costs and overtime within CCC, which will be in place to ensure that any consequent call increases are matched with additional staff availability in the first instance.

1.2 The implementation of the NCHS call grades and definitions – The implementation costs are yet to be fully identified but will include an element for changes to process and staff training. The programme delivery plan is being developed within the Central Communications Command. IT changes are expected to be minimal but NCHS is best implemented in parallel with the introduction of the new CAD user interface in April 2009.

1.3 The marketing of the contact number and the Promises – Marketing costs of £280k have been identified and these will be met through existing funds for the Citizen Focus Policing Programme.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Chief Superintendent Ian Harrison, MPS

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1

The Metropolitan Police Service - Our promise to citizens (draft)

Appendix 2

Policing Pledge for England and Wales

The Police Service in England and Wales will:

1. Work to keep you and your neighbourhoods safe from harm.

2. Always treat you fairly, with dignity and respect, ensuring that you have fair access to our services at all times.

3. Publicise the details of your dedicated Neighbourhood Police Team for your neighbourhood.

4. Ensure that 80% of your Neighbourhood Police Team’s time on duty is spent on your patch, and that there are visible patrols in your area at times and places where they are needed. Neighbourhood policing team staff turnover will be minimised.

5. Return calls and respond to e-mail enquiries about local issues directed to neighbourhood police teams within 24 hours.

6. Aim to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds and non-emergency calls within 30 seconds, and tell you how your call will be handled.

7. Respond immediately to emergencies – getting to you within 15 minutes and much sooner if possible.

8. Aim to respond quickly to other priority and vulnerable cases, or those agreed with you that relate to neighbourhood policing issues, getting to you within 60 minutes.

9. For all other non-emergency calls, give you a timescale within which someone will attend if appropriate, making an appointment at a time agreed with and convenient to you, and within 48 hours.

10. Meet with you at least monthly to agree priorities and update you about crime and policing issues in your area, including: crime maps; information on specific crimes and what happened to those arrested; details of what action we and our partners are taking to make your neighbourhood safer; and data on how your local force is performing.

11. Acknowledge any dissatisfaction about the service you have received within 24 hours; tell you how it will be handled, give you an opportunity to talk in person to someone about your concerns and tell you what will be done about it.

12. If you have been a victim of crime, keep you informed monthly of progress on your case for as long as you find this useful.

APPENDIX 3

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