Minutes

Minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee of the Metropolitan Police Authority held on 5 March 2009 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Reshard Auladin (Chairman)
• Chris Boothman
• James Cleverly (item 11- ?)
• Toby Harris (Vice Chair)
• Jenny Jones
• Joanne McCartney
• Caroline Pidgeon

Also in attendance: Valerie Brasse

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• Ruth Hastings Iqball (Committee Officer)

MPS officers

• John Bunn (CT Advisor, SO)
• Tim Godwin (A/Dep Commissioner)
• Rod Jarman (A/DAC, TP)
• Anne McMeel (Director, Resources)
• Paul Minton (Cdr, Organisational Capability and Criminal Justice Reform)
• Gerwyn Williams (Head of Strategic Analysis)

75. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Jennette Arnold, Cindy Butts, Neil Johnson, Kit Malthouse and Steve O’Connell.

76. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were made

77. Minutes: Strategic and Operational Policing Committee – 8 January 2009 and 5 February (part 1)

(Agenda item 3)

The Committee considered the revised minutes of the meeting (part 1) held on 8 January 2009 (Part 1) and the minutes of the meeting held on 5 February 2009. A member stated that the last sentence of item 10 of the January minutes should read ‘As Chair of the London Assembly ‘Time for Action’ Panel, Joanne McCartney stated that …” not “...GLA ‘Time for Action’ Panel…” With this amendment part 1 of the minutes were agreed.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee (Part 1) held on 8 January 2008 and 5 February be agreed subject to the change above.

78. Minutes of Sub-committees (part 1) Professional Standards Cases Sub-committee – 19 January 2009

(Agenda item 4)

The minutes of the sub Committee were considered.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Professional Standards Cases Sub Committee 19 January 2009 was noted.

79. Follow up report re the Peter Woodhams investigation

(Agenda item 5)

Representatives of Mr Peter Woodhams had indicated that they would like to attend for this item. As they were not present, with the agreement of the Chair, the item was deferred until an occasion when they would be present.

Resolved – That the item be deferred.

80. Urgent actions (if any) and urgent operational issues - oral report

(Agenda item 6)

No requests for urgent action of were received and there were no urgent operational reports.

81. Headline performance report - 12 months to December 2008

(Agenda item 7)

A report was received providing an overview of MPS performance for the rolling year to December 2008 with respect to the critical high-level indicators and further information on performance with respect to other policing plan indicators.

Members noted that “Dedicated Victim Focus PCSOs continue to improve compliance with the requirements of the Victim Code of Practice, which has led to improvements in the ‘Keeping You Informed’ satisfaction measure” and asked how PCSO compliance was measured. The report stated that a full update on the satisfaction gap was being prepared for the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee (SOPC) in April. Members asked if it would contain borough figures, they were told that numbers were very small at this level.

The report noted that Operation Spotlight had been running since 17 November 2008 and aimed to reduce residential burglaries, increase sanction detections and improve satisfaction of burglary victims. Members asked for more detail and if the Operation it was being used to manipulate crime data. They were told that the Operation concentrated on accelerating existing processes without significant resource implications, for instance dealing with outstanding warrants. Figures were certainly not manipulated.

It was noted that 22% of officers were female in the last 12 months, and that in September 2008 the MPS ranked 39 out of 43 nationally in numbers of female police officers. Members were told the number of female officers was increasing and that a briefing note for members would be produced providing more information on this subject.

Appendix 2 of the report provided the percentage of staff trained and refresher trained to level 2 and noted “Course attendance is voluntary and Public Order training school advise that there has been poor uptake of training. BOCU performance varies and there may be insufficient incentives for those without local public order demands.” Members were concerned by this comment. The A/Deputy Commissioner stated that courses had perhaps been missed due to recent public order commitments; however he undertook to provide a briefing note to members providing further details.

Resolved – That

1. the latest performance against the Policing Plan be noted; and
2. briefing notes be provided on the numbers of female officers in comparison with other forces and the take up of level 2 training.

82. MPA Crime Data Recording Scrutiny update

(Agenda item 8)

Members received a report providing an update on progress towards the 11 recommendations contained within the MPA Crime Data Recording Scrutiny. In addition to the existing recommendations, the Commander, Organisational Capability and Criminal Justice Reform requested that recommendation 8 also be signed off. This was agreed.

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted;
2. support be given to continued work on the implementation and embedding of recommendations of the MPA Crime Data Recording Scrutiny; and
3. recommendations 8, 9 and 10 be signed of as complete.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

83. Results from the public consultation to inform the Policing London Business Plan 2010/11

(Agenda item 9)

This report outlined the process and key findings from the public consultation on policing priorities conducted by the MPA to inform the Policing London Plan 2010/11. The report provided a list of all areas prioritised by respondents to the consultation and further analysis of the top five areas prioritised. Analysis of all consultation responses and demographics details of respondents was available in the full consultation analysis report on the MPA website. The Chief Executive stated that this work was an important building block for the Policing London Plan 2010/11.

Resolved – That the report be noted and the results of the consultation be considered when deciding on the policing priorities for the 2010/11 Policing London Business Plan.

84. Specialist Operations management information

(Agenda item 10)

The Committee received a report giving a summary of Specialist Operations (SO) Command performance against its objectives from June 2008 to January 2009. It also contained an explanation of how the MPS was responding to CONTEST, detailing its component parts and explaining how SO fulfilled the requirements of those component parts including those strands where other business groups took the lead.

Members asked for more information about the number of recorded tasks carried out by borough based Counter Terrorism Intelligence Officers (CTIOs) and for further information about the prank calls mentioned in paragraph 17. They were informed the numbers were tasks not contacts with the public and all calls were assessed, news items often prompting such calls.

Resolved – That the report be received.

85. Specialist Operations management information supplementary report

(Agenda item 11)

This supplementary report to agenda item 10 provided details on a number of developments within Police Counter Terrorism and developing Police Authority governance. The Chair stated that he had expected a report on the proposed provision of business support services to the ACPO TAM business area by the MPS. The Director of Resources stated that a report would be going to the Finance and Resources Committee, but that it was unlikely to be ready for the April meeting. In the interim the provision of services would be piloted. The Chair requested that the report include the risks involved.

The Director of Resources also reported that ACPO TAM had also requested that the MPS provide its IT services. Legal advice was being sought. Toby Harris, Chair of the Counter Terrorism and Protective Services Sub Committee, added that the provision of business services had been approved in principle by the Sub Committee.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

86. PCSO powers

(Agenda item 12)

The Committee received a report detailing how the core principles for Police Community Support Officers (PCSO), as set out in the Green Paper ‘From Neighbourhood to the National: Policing our communities together’, had impacted on PCSOs in the MPS and identified key issues relating to any changes to PCSO powers and any cost implications. The A/Dep Commissioner, TP, noted that the MPS’s response to questions raised by the Treasurer had been circulated to members.

Members asked how the MPS ensured that PCSOs could utilise their powers confidently. The A/Dep Commissioner, TP, described the training and follow up training given. He also outlined the number of roles and tasks available to PCSOs. Members asked about the public confidence felt in police and police officers. They were told that the figures for PCSOs and officers were very close and that public perception for both was very much driven by what had appeared in the press, although PCSO interaction with the public was a big driver for confidence.

The Chair asked if work was being completed in regard to career progression, members were informed there were no plans to give PCSOs a supervisory role, but there was variety of role they could perform during their careers. In addition, being a PCSO was the main route to becoming a police officer. The Chair asked how the job satisfaction of PCSOs was captured. The committee was told that there were regular meetings with the PCS union and that a HR /TP working group was taking forward issues raised.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

87. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 13)

A resolution was put to exclude the press and public from the meeting during remaining items on the agenda as they were likely to disclose exempt information as described in Schedule 12(a) of the Local Government Act 1972, paragraph 3.

Resolved - That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of the remaining items on the agenda.

88. Urgent actions and authorisation for funding of legal representation and authorisation of requests for settlement of civil claims (if any)

(Agenda item 14)

No urgent actions and requests for authorisation of funding were received.

89. Minutes: Strategic and Operational Policing Committee – 8 January 2009 and 5 February (part 2)

(Agenda item 15)

Resolved – That the minutes of the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee (Part 2) held on 8 January be agreed.

90. Minutes of Sub-committees (part 2) Professional Standards Cases Sub-committee – 19 January 2009

(Agenda item 16)

Resolved – That the minutes of the Professional Standards Cases Sub Committee (Part 2) on 19 January 2009 were noted.

The meeting ended at 3.25 p.m.

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