SCD mediation project

Report: 11
Date: 4 February 2010
By: Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

Following the completion of the contract in September 2009, the MPS have referred eight conflicts for resolution, two have been resolved successfully and six are ongoing. All occur in the pilot boroughs of Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark

This report gives an update on the activities and progress of mediation services in the MPS since it’s inception in September 2009.

A. Recommendation

That Members are requested to note the content of this report and appendices.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. On 17 July 2008 the MPA agreed to fund the delivery of conflict resolution services in London and an independent Community Interest Company (CIC) was set up to deliver high threat conflict resolution.

2. The Company provides a mediation service for high threat, gang-related situations, as recommended by the MPS Youth Strategy. Mediation contributes to the MPS objectives of reducing serious violence and disrupting the activities of criminal networks.

3. The initial contract was signed in March 2009 and included an 'inception phase' for the company and MPS to set up the required processes; this was completed in September 2009.

4. The activities of the company are monitored by a Stakeholder Reference Group, of which the MPS is a member, along with other key stakeholders.

Current Status

5. There were a number of variations to the contract during the inception phase; the most significant of these was to the funding profile. The total funding provided remains at £300,000 over two years, although the breakdown of mediation hours has been adapted to allow for an increase in referrals throughout the time of the contract.

6. To date, the company has 24 Conflict Engagement Specialists (mediators) trained, accredited and vetted. Each mediator has received and passed accredited training from the West Midlands Mediation Service. All mediators have also passed Counter Terrorism Checks (CTC) level of vetting. Part of the ongoing training package for mediators includes risk management techniques and awareness of information security.

7. As part of the inception phase the company were required to install a secure IT system. This has been completed and a recent International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) review identified no breaches to this system. Mediators are required to attend company offices for briefings and debriefings and it is not possible to print from the internal IT system. Methods are in place in both the company and SCD3 (Specialist Crime Prevention and Partnership) to identify information leaks should this occur.

8. In order to provide an independent assessment of the service, £6,000 of the MPA funding has been ring-fenced for evaluation, along with contributions from other funding sources. Following a tendering process by the company in December 2009, Tribal Consulting has been selected to undertake this evaluation. The evaluation will commence in February 2010 and look at the processes, outcomes and impact. Although initial plans were for the final evaluation to be published in June 2010, this may be delayed in order for Tribal to access and interview a suitable number of protagonists.

9. As well as an independent evaluation, SCD3 are monitoring the outcomes of all closed mediations through criminal intelligence and reported crime to gain a longitudinal study of the impact of conflict resolution for both the individuals and groups/gangs involved. This information also informs criminal network disruption claims, contributing to the MPS objective.

Conflict Resolution – Activity

10. The initial contract identified six pilot boroughs for the first year of service. These are Croydon, Greenwich, Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark. SCD3 have worked closely with the company and each of the boroughs to identify a single point of contact (SPOC) in each borough, responsible for submitting referrals and ongoing liaison.

11. By the end of December 2009, eight referrals have been made by the MPS, a significant reduction from the numbers expected in the first quarter (the contract allows for one referral per month, per borough, therefore a total of 18 between September and November 2009). Two cases have been successfully resolved details of which can be found in the associated Exempt paper.

12. A total of 52.5 team hours of mediation have been used, [1] with only one referral requesting further hours. Although the contract allows for a certain number of mediation hours per quarter, all unused hours at the end of each quarter roll-over to the next.

13. As agreed in the original contract and MPS Standard Operating Procedure are currently being reviewed. SCD15 (Performance Improvement Unit) are carrying out an independent review that will report to the February MPS Steering Group.

MPS Steering Group

14. An internal steering group has been established to manage the strategic direction of the use of mediation services within the MPS. This group is chaired by Commander Organised Crime and Criminal Networks and attended by representatives from Territorial Policing, Violent Crime Directorate, Specialist Crime Directorate, Procurement and DPA. The group currently meets on a monthly basis, moving to every two months after the completion of the review in February 2010. Appendix 1 gives the Terms of Reference for this group.

15. One of the roles for the steering group has been to identify and agree minimum standards for the MPS when engaging with high-threat conflict resolution. These standards will be used to inform future tendering processes. The agreed minimum standards can be found at Appendix 2.

16. In December 2009, Commander Organised Crime and Criminal Networks attended a cross-party parliamentary group to look at conflict resolution activity across the United Kingdom. This group identified various levels of mediation being carried out by different organisations. This includes peer mentoring and mediation at the lowest risk end, through to meditation of neighbourhood disputes, to the high-risk, threat to life conflict resolution carried out in London and the West Midlands Mediation Service. The meeting recognised a lack of national governance and coordination across the whole remit of mediation and conflict resolution.

17. As a result, utilising the MPS minimum standards, SCD3 are commencing work with the West Midlands Mediation Service and the Mediation Service of Northern Ireland to define the different levels of mediation and the associated minimum standards to be agreed at a national level. This will be taken forward through the ACPO violence and public protection portfolio.

Successes

18. As of December 2009, there are two conflicts that have been successfully engaged and resolved.

19. Although the aim of the company is to offer transformation as well as mediation, this is aspirational at this stage. However, the successful resolutions demonstrate the benefits of being able to offer this. In both of these cases the local borough were able to offer assistance to those protagonists wanting to change their lifestyle, and the aim of the company and SCD3 is to ensure these options are available to all who engage with the process.

Challenges

20. As mentioned in paragraph 11, there have been less referrals from boroughs than originally profiled. It is anticipated that the internal review being carried out by SCD15 will identify the reasons for this reduced rate. It does appear, however, that some of the priority boroughs, as a result of successes in tackling gang-related violence in the interim period, have had less need for gang related mediation. In order to increase referrals rates, the MPS Steering Group have agreed the following actions, to be progressed in January 2010:

• Brent to be included as a priority borough
• SCD8 (Trident and Trafalgar) to make direct referrals (via SCD3)
• SCD3 offer of assistance to priority boroughs to complete referral forms
• MIB to make recommendations for referrals through the Criminal Network Performance and Prioritisation (CNPP) meeting.

21. The process of conflict resolution relies on mediators meeting with the protagonists involved. It was envisaged that boroughs would identify appropriate Community Facilitator(s) for each referral who could assist with access. Difficulties have been experienced in reaching some of those referred. In the main, this has been resolved by the Operations Manager developing contacts in the boroughs and, in some cases, cold-calling the protagonists themselves. This is time and resource intensive and will be problematic once referral rates increase. Priority boroughs have been made aware of these issues, both through individual debriefs of the referrals and the Joint Commissioning Group (JCG), attended by all priority boroughs. SCD3 are working closely with the boroughs and the company to identify recommendations to be taken to the MPS Steering Group in February 2010.

22. As mentioned under Financial Implications, the current contract runs until June 2011. Due to the requirements of the tendering process, consideration must be given to any subsequent contract early in the next financial year (April 2010). Should the MPS wish to further engage conflict resolution services there are now a number of companies in existence that may wish to tender for the contract.

C. Race and equality impact

1. All the protagonists targeted by conflict resolution are currently BME males aged between 14 and 24. However, this is consistent with the profile for both victims and offenders of violence in the priority boroughs.

D. Financial implications

The current contract is for a total of £300,000 over 24 months. The current contract is due to end on 30 June 2011. Specific details of the arrangements can be found in the associated Exempt paper.

In order to ensure Value for Money for the MPS in future, there will be a full competitive procurement process. Suppliers are currently being identified for potential bidders, however the contract will be advertised as widely as possible. As such, the tendering process for future conflict resolution services for the MPS can take up to 18 months; therefore consideration needs to be given to this process at the beginning of the next financial year (April 2010). Procurement Services will be engaged to ensure services are tendered compliantly in accordance with the European Union and national procurement requirements.

There are no concerns with the Contract or associated finances and no request for additional resources at this time.

E. Legal implications

1. CIC was created by the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004, and implemented by The Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”), as amended. Details of the CIC regulatory regime are set out in the Act (as amended) and in the Community Interest Company Regulations 2005, as amended by the Community Interest Company (Amendment) Regulations 2009. The level of governance, members rights and duties and the statutory filing requirements, all adhere to UK and European company law and guidelines in the same way as any other UK company.

CICs are a limited liability company set up with the specific aim of providing benefit to a community. In order to gain the CIC status there are a number of obligations that a CIC has to meet and continue to meet in addition to those imposed on an ordinary company, including: the requirement to satisfy and continue to satisfy a community interest, by demonstrating that the company’s activities are being carried on for the benefit of the community it was set up to serve; to adopt certain statutory clauses in its constitution (which includes a clause to lock in the assets providing benefit to the community); and to deliver an annual community interest company report with its accounts.

4. Whilst the purpose and the use of the CIC’s assets are overseen by the Regulator, stakeholder involvement is integrated into the CIC’s governance through the CIC report. Additionally, there is nothing which prevents the CIC establishing a group of stakeholders to scrutinise the work funded and monitor its progress, nor the funding organisation dictating the conditions of funding require having independent scrutiny or advisory stakeholder representation. The report sets out how the MPS scrutinises and monitors the company’s performance, and how independent evaluation will take place in the future.

5. The MPA has a duty under s6(1) of the Police Act 1996 to secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force for its area. In terms of discharging its functions, the MPA shall also have regard to s6(2) of the Act, which includes the objectives set out in the local policing plan, which amongst other matters refers to a commitment to reducing serious youth violence. This report describes how mediation services aid the prevention of crime, and contribute towards meeting objectives under the MPS Youth Strategy.

6. The MPA has provided grant funding for mediation services. Such funding may be provided by the MPA under Part 3 of the Local Government Act 2003, as an expenditure that is incurred by the Authority. In addition to the provisions set out in that Act, the MPA must also comply with any requirements set out in its standing orders, particularly clause 13 of Part F, Financial Regulations, which relate to grant funding to voluntary or outside bodies.

F. Environmental implications

1. There are no significant environmental impacts associated with this paper. However efforts to identify environmental issues should be ongoing and environmental best practice should be encouraged and promoted through supplier engagement. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) including environmental implications will be considered within the formal procurement process for the new contract

G. Background papers

• SCD Mediation Project. Paper for the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee, 8 January 2009

H. Contact details

Report author: Emma Fleming, SCD3, MPS

For information contact:

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

Abbreviations

CIC

Community Interest Company

CES

Conflict Engagement Specialists

SLF

Safer London Foundation

TGAP

Tackling Gangs Action Plan

CTC

Counter Terrorism Checks

ISO

International Organisation for Standardisation

SPOC

Single Point of Contact

YOT

Youth Offending Team

CNPP

Criminal Network Performance and Prioritisation

JCG

Joint Commissioning Group

Appendix 1

 MPS Steering Group Terms of Reference

1. Background

In March 2009 the MPA agreed an independent company to be the approved contractor for delivering high-risk conflict resolution services to the MPS for 2009-11.

This is a Community Interest Company (CIC) independent from the MPS, but with whom the MPS has been working closely to ensure the capacity and capability to deal with information and risk of resolving conflict where there is a risk of serious violence resulting from serious group offending and/or gang rivalries.

2. Purpose of the MPS Mediation Steering Group

The purpose of the MPS Mediation Steering Group is to ensure coordination and cooperation across the MPS on the use of mediation services with a view to developing a process for engagement with such services in the future. Specifically:

• Development of minimum standards for organisations delivering conflict resolution services on behalf of the MPS
• Agreement of MPS process for engaging mediation in high risk situations
• Agreed use of current mediation services
• Future tendering processes for MPS Mediation contract.

3. Compositions & Appointment

Membership of the group will be drawn from those business groups and B/OCUs with a focused interested in the delivery of mediation services in the MPS. In the first instance these will include:

• Commander Organised Crime & Criminal Networks (Chair)
• Commander (Crime) Violent Crime Directorate
• OCU Commander MIB
• OCU Commander SCD3
• OCU Commander Trident
• OCU Commander Southwark
• Procurement
• SCD DPA

Others Members shall be invited to join the Steering Group as required.

4. Meetings

For the first three months of the Contract (Sept to November 2009) the Steering Groups will meet on a monthly basis.

After this period, and dependant on the views of members, the meeting will be held quarterly.

Appendix 2

 MPS high threat mediation minimum standards

Minimum standards for the engagement of a Level One conflict mediator service

1. All mediators (includes volunteers and contractors) to be trained to Level One mediation and accredited by a UK Educational Institution.
2. All employees of the mediation service and contract / volunteer mediators to be vetted to CTC level
3. An agreed DoI information sharing protocol must be in place between MPS and mediation provider(s)
4. Office security must comply with a CO6 security survey with all recommendations implemented
5. Information data and storage must comply with ISO 27001 standards, the Data Protection Act and MPS DOI standards. The transfer of information (up to restricted) via E-mail must be sent through secure/encrypted systems similar to GSI levels
6. MPS will provide information regarding identified risks. The mediation company will provide risk management plans including risk assessments
7. Mediation service to have agreed written Operating Procedures for receiving referrals, deploying mediators, updating stakeholders and recording risk assessments
8. MPS to have a clear referral procedure, which includes criteria, objective and purpose on appropriate documentation
9. A signed contract of engagement or a service Level Agreement between stakeholder(s) and mediation service provider
10. Monitoring and evaluation of the referrals process and outcomes of mediations

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback