HMIC ‘Going Local’ inspection of Westminster BOCU

Report: 7
Date: 3 December 2009
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report updates the progress made by Westminster BOCU to address and implement the recommendations made by HMIC following the inspection of the borough in January 2009.

A. Recommendation

That Members

1. note the response to the HMIC inspection in January 2009, the Executive Summary of which is set out in Appendix 1; and
2. agree to receive an update report following the HMIC formal visit in spring 2010.

B. Supporting information

1. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) conducted an inspection of Westminster BOCU in January 2009 and the report made six recommendations. These relate to borough restructuring; performance management; intelligence and proactivity; sanction detection (SD) improvement; compliance and professional standards; and increasing capacity through resource leverage. The recommendations are detailed in Appendix 1, which includes an executive summary of the HMIC report. HMIC will return to Westminster in March 2010 to review progress against the recommendations and examine performance. There is an expectation that the BOCU will improve its quartile position on a variety of crime types, relative to the other three boroughs in its most similar BCU group, namely Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Islington BOCUs.

2. The Borough’s response to the inspection was to immediately draw up an improvement plan, monitored by the BOCU Inspection and Review team, which is reviewed regularly by the Senior Management Team (SMT) at scheduled monthly meetings. Each recommendation has an SMT lead and links in with the new command arrangements on the BOCU. There are additionally implementation managers appointed for each area of activity, accountable to the strategic lead. The HMIC lead Inspector visited Westminster on 13 October 2009, at the request of the borough commander, to be apprised of the progress of the action plan and to confirm that the BOCU is travelling in the right direction.

3. Since the HMIC inspection in January 2009 Westminster BOCU has made a number of structural changes, but has primarily concentrated on improving performance. In relation to the 'Notional Contract' drawn up by HMIC requiring Westminster to improve its quartile position for both Serious Acquisitive Crime (SAC) and Most Serious Violence (MSV), most recent data from IQUANTA (Sept-09) shows signs of improvement from that of last year. SAC SD are shown as ‘In line with peers, and clearly improving’, whilst crime reduction for SAC shows "In line with peers and improving’. Most Serious Violence (MSV) SD achievements show whilst we are still worse than our peers, there are ‘clear signs of improvement’. Work is ongoing to further improve performance in this area.

4. The borough vision and direction of travel have been documented and widely circulated. On 5 October 2009 the borough changed to a two division North/South model, intended to realign operational resources to meet demand. This stops short of the fully functional model recommended by HMIC, but is subject of a documented rationale. This rationale, which is supported by Westminster City Council and other partners, has already been made clear to the HMIC inspection team who support the stance taken. The structure of the proactive policing teams has also been rationalised to further match policing resources to demand and to provide a considerable yet flexible policing resource across the borough.

5. A considerable effort has gone into improving communication across the borough, both internal and outward facing. Additionally a new formal Performance Management Framework has been produced and implemented. This is embedding into routine business and is reviewed and compliance monitored at the monthly senior management meetings. The current borough commander, who has been in post since the inspection, has taken a personal lead in this area.

6. The intelligence and tasking structures on the borough have been reviewed and considerable changes made as a result. The key intelligence meetings have been revamped and this has been reviewed and approved by the Territorial Policing Performance Unit on behalf of T/AC Territorial Policing. This is still work in progress and a number of training issues have been identified and bespoke training packages produced in response.

7. Westminster has introduced a borough detections group under the leadership of the Detective Superintendent. This group routinely monitors sanction detection performance and the progress on the SD Action Plan. Indeed all of the key performance areas now have a nominated SMT lead, responsible for both developing and implementing the respective delivery plans.

8. Following the Taylor report a new borough Professional Standards Unit has been created. A number of policies reinforcing the professional standards expected of staff around routine patrol, parades and appearance have been reviewed and re-launched. Additionally a training programme, ‘Managing and Rewarding your Staff’, is being developed to support and develop supervisors. The centralisation of borough duties has provided the opportunity to produce additional management information to promote better supervision.

9. Changes to Finance and Human Resources structures across the organisation are having an impact on Westminster and its business processes. The borough is still in the transitional stage of this change and the new structures have yet to be implemented fully. The Finance Manager has consulted with the HMIC national lead on resource leverage for guidance in complying with the HMIC recommendation to produce a resource leverage plan, as there is not known to be another BOCU level plan in the country.

10. The improvement plan is being implemented utilising borough resources, although additional support has been provided by the MPS Inspectorate and the TP Performance Unit.

C. Race and equality impact

1. The report identifies particular strengths in relation to race and diversity and fairness and equality of treatment. There is one Area for Improvement on updating the Westminster diversity strategy; a delivery plan will be completed once the conclusions of the Race and Faith inquiry are known and incorporated into policy.

2. Continued focus on sanction detections and race, hate and faith crime is expected to increase performance in these areas.

D. Financial implications

An initial assessment is that any costs specifically incurred in responding to the HMIC report are limited in scope and can be consumed within existing Westminster budget lines. The efficiencies referred to in the report at paragraph 1.9 of the Executive Summary (see Appendix 1) are both cashable (£500,000 achieved as part of the management restructure), and non-cashable efficiencies are now being achieved. These will be used mainly to free up staff to meet the presence agenda and to address the performance challenges identified in the HMIC report.

E. Legal implications

1. This is an information update report. Therefore, there are no direct legal implications arising from the recommendations.

2. The statutory duties of HMIC are described in the Police Act 1996, and it aims to promote the efficiency and effectiveness of police services through inspection and its other functions.

3. This report demonstrates steps that are being undertaken to achieve continuous improvement to ensure policing services are being delivered efficiently and effectively and result in increased public confidence in the way policing services are delivered.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report author: Commander Simon Bray, Westminster BOCU, MPS

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1

HMIC Inspection of Westminster BCU - Executive Summary and recommendations

(January 2009)

Executive summary

1.1 With over 2,500 staff, Westminster is the largest BCU in the MPS and is situated at the heart of the capital. It comprises some of the nation’s most iconic sites such as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey and the BCU has responsibility for the external security of a number of royal residences, embassies and consulates. Westminster also contains most of the West End’s theatres and cinemas as well as the famous shopping areas of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street. It hosts 40% of London’s hotels and guesthouses and its community is richly diverse with a residential population of 236,000 people that spans 182 nationalities with 120 different first speaking languages. The borough attracts approximately 750,000 visitors a day and routinely hosts public marches, demonstrations and ceremonial events.

1.2 To reflect its complexity, scale and challenge, the BCU is uniquely led by an officer of ACPO [1] rank – a Commander who is supported by a Senior Management Team (SMT) that comprises an establishment of two chief superintendents, a business manager and six superintendents. The Borough Commander joined Westminster in April 2007 having transferred from previous roles as Head of the MPS Diversity Directorate and as Head of the MPS Violent Crime Directorate.

1.3 Delivering effective crime reduction performance [2] in Westminster over the past 12-18 months has been challenging. Since April 2008, overall crime has fallen by -2.5% and Domestic Burglary has remained broadly static (+0.1%). However, Robbery has risen by +6%, Vehicle crime by +12% and RRAC [3] by +4.7%. Relative to its family group, crimes rates per 1000/Population in Westminster are in the bottom quartile [4] for TNO, Robbery, MSV [5], Other Wounding and RRAC. It is in the second quartile for Vehicle Crime, Domestic Burglary and SAC [6]. Some would argue that these rates are influenced by an influx of approximately 750,000 visitors a day which serves to inflate its potential pool of offenders and victims from its recorded residential population used in these calculations although other London boroughs could make a similar claim. Against its local indicators, gun crime has been reduced by -65.6% and knife crime by -13.2% over the same period [7].

1.4 Detection rates over the same period are largely unaffected by Westminster’s visiting populous as the MPS method of resource allocation reflects demand and its workloads are therefore more consistent with other boroughs. The detection rate for TNO has improved by +2.11 percentage points (pp) and Domestic Burglary remains unchanged (+0.09pp). However, detection rates have declined for Robbery (-3.96pp), Vehicle Crime (-0.78pp), SAC (-1.32pp), MSV (-2.26pp), Other Wounding (-1.16pp) and RRAC by (-2.73pp). Westminster’s positioning within its family group for detection rates is of greatest concern with all but two crime categories (MSV and RRAC) being in the bottom quartile. User satisfaction rates for October 2007 to September 2008 compared to the same period in 2006-2007 have improved marginally (+1.4%) over the last year.

1.5 The borough is in the midst of a comprehensive programme of restructuring, moving from five territorial sub-commands (OCUs) to a functional model of command. The programme was initiated with the aim of improving effectiveness and reducing costs and has been implemented incrementally since January 2008. At the time of inspection, the borough had progressed approximately 70% of the restructuring changes with an interim move to three territorial OCUs, albeit it is acknowledged that the desired changes to the policing culture will take some years to fully embed.

1.6 As with most significant organisational changes, the BCU restructuring programme may have impacted upon performance. However, the degree of its impact can be limited by effective programme management and in this regard; there is significant scope for improvement. Whilst staff and accommodation changes were managed well, changes to key processes (such as intelligence, crime and custody management) were not mapped and agreed prior to and implemented as part of the physical moves. In short, the programme risk has not been effectively managed. This has led to some confusion over many procedures and has consumed considerable management time in the subsequent work to consult, redefine and publish these key processes. Indeed, HMIC found evidence that many of the key processes for NIM [8] and sanction detection improvement were either absent or ineffective, impacting significantly upon overall BCU performance.

1.7 Other aspects of BCU generic business are not wholly dependant upon the change process and should therefore be in place and effective before, during and after the restructuring process. This includes the need for an effective performance management framework and the need for high professional standards. The HMIC inspection found that performance management within the BCU was applied differently across the borough; common and simple performance indicators linked to priorities and PDRs [9] had not been agreed for each section of the workforce and it did not effectively reach down into every team. Concerns regarding the professional standards of staff relate to the need to improve staff compliance with policy and direction, the way in which staff subject to discipline and/or recuperating from sickness are managed and the need to improve the morale and integration of PCSOs engaged on security patrols.

1.8 These challenges need to be addressed through strong leadership and clarity of purpose from the BCU Commander with the full and unified support of the SMT. Such support was not always evident during the inspection with instances of disparate approaches being adopted by superintendents (e.g.; performance management, custody officer training and staff discipline). This disunity has served to further frustrate the progress of change and has lead to confusion amongst some staff as to the direction taken by the BCU on a given function.

1.9 Notwithstanding these issues and to its credit, the BCU has identified approximately £500,000 in savings from the restructuring programme and many more efficiencies are now possible from the streamlining of key processes and in the efficient deployment of staff. These opportunities need to be seized within a coordinated approach to maximise the leverage of resources, including the creation of key outcome measures to help assess progress. Many will flow from the restructuring process and some will emerge from other diagnostic work arising from this report alongside the BCU’s internal planning and inspection processes. All need to be identified and implemented with the resultant dividend in resources effectively deployed.

1.10 The BCU enjoys strong support and investment from Westminster City Council in its community safety activity and it can rightly be proud of some highly innovative and effective problem-solving work undertaken with partners and communities alike. Neighbourhood policing in Westminster is an emerging strength and HMIC encountered evidence of strong partnerships as reflected in CivicWatch and the Safer Westminster Partnership.

1.11 It is clear from the issues detailed above and herein that considerable work remains to be done and the SMT has both the expertise and capacity necessary to implement these changes. It must now set about progressing these as part of a structured and coordinated change plan, implemented in a controlled way that minimises risk and which maximises community safety and public confidence within the wider Borough of Westminster.

Recommendations and good practice

1.12 The inspection team has made the following recommendations that should contribute to the drive for continuous improvement displayed by the BCU. There are also various suggestions that the SMT may wish to consider contained within the ‘What We Found’ section of the report (in bold type), mainly from data gathered by the inspection team or from BCU staff participating in focus groups or interviews.

Recommendation (1): Borough Restructuring

To improve the programme management arrangements that supports the borough’s ongoing implementation of its restructuring proposals and specifically to:

•  Communicate more widely the vision, strategy and its rationale;
•  Move swiftly into the next phase of restructuring in a controlled way so as to minimise the time spent in the process of transition;
•  Exercise effective programme management that includes changes to key business processes and publication of the consequentially revised policies and SOPs;
•  Maximise staff inclusion and engagement in the process of change;
•  Actively use and maintain a risk register for the programme.

Recommendation (2): Performance Management Framework

To introduce a performance management framework for the borough that ensures a coherent, consistent and proportionate approach to performance management at every level. This includes the following:

• The construction of clear borough priorities for 2009/10 that reflect the MPS priorities and which are complimentary to the CSS (LAA) priorities;
•  For each priority to have an explicit SMT lead with a delivery plan;
•  A structured framework of performance meetings at every level;
•  Consistent and coherent performance measures/targets for teams;
•  Clear links with PDR objectives.

Recommendation (3): Intelligence and Proactively

To improve the way in which the National Intelligence Model (NIM) is applied on the borough so as to create an intelligence culture that maximises proactive opportunity and specifically to:

•  Improve awareness and understanding of the criteria for using CrimInt Plus;
•  Maximise receipt of quality intelligence;
•  Develop the DIM, DMM and BTTCG processes;
• Enhancing the scope and effectiveness of the PPO scheme;
•  Improve the range and use of proactive tasking and operations.

Recommendation (4): Sanction Detection Improvement

To improve sanction detection performance against APACS priorities with a coordinated approach across the borough that includes:

• An SMT lead who is accountable for sanction detection improvement;
• The creation of a sanction detection improvement plan;
• Construction of clear policies/SOPs for each type of sanction detection;
• Maximising crime housekeeping arrangements so that all valid detections can be attributed to the borough;
• Ensuring compliance with minimum standards for primary investigations;
•  Training and development for key staff on sanction detections.

Recommendation (5): Compliance and Professional Standards

To improve the levels of compliance with policy/instruction and the professional standards within the borough. This should enhance effectiveness and provide a professional image of policing services delivered within the borough. Specifically, this is to include:

• The reiteration of the expected standards of behaviour by staff;
• Guidance and development for sergeants and inspectors;
• Challenge unacceptable behaviour in a proportionate way;
•  Support from SMT when supervisors instigate appropriate challenges;
•  The use of data to monitor the levels of compliance.

Recommendation (6): Increasing Capacity through Resource Leverage (VFM)

To maximise borough capacity, productivity and efficiency through a coordinated approach to resource leverage that includes the following:

•  The construction of an overall resource leverage plan with an SMT lead;
• Use of systems and processes to quantify and re-cycle savings;
• The identification and pursuit of borough level activity against the five domains of resource leverage activity (see HMIC Report on RL in the MPS);
•  Increased transparency of borough staff and establishments through core IT systems (e.g.; MetHR, CARMS, MetDuties) and their products;
•  The creation of a single outcome-based measure to track progress.

1.13 The inspection team also acknowledges the following areas of good practice:

• The Key Encounters Weekend at Westminster (Para. 6.4);
• Work on Developing Citizen Focus (Para. 6.6);
• The Volunteer Cadet Corps (Para

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