Police authority oversight of public protection

Report: 9
Date: 7 April 2011
By: Chief Executive

Summary

This report marks the completion of the initial phase of integrating oversight of Public Protection under the Met Specialist strand of Met Forward, outlines how this has been achieved and explores the way forward for the MPA and Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime.

A. Recommendation

That

1. The suggested priorities for 2011/12 be agreed

B. Supporting information

Overview of Public Protection

1. Public Protection in its widest sense can mean any activity undertaken to protect members of the public – potentially all policing and preventative activity. However, the MPS use a working definition as follows;

‘Public Protection in the MPS means working in an effective and co-ordinated fashion, often with partners, to deal with those circumstances where the potential for serious harm is identified by one or more of the three Public Protection Indicators.

The Public Protection indicators are:

• Offence type – the offence is one that has the potential to cause serious harm to others;
• Vulnerability indicator – the individual or group that are potentially at risk – or who have become victims, have a particular vulnerability that warrants an individual level of service;
• Dangerousness indicator – the potential, or actual offender is one where intelligence/information of dangerousness exists that requires a higher level of management.’

2. The MPA follows this definition in terms of crime types or areas of policing business, so for the purposes of policy review and oversight, Public Protection includes

• Serious violent or sexual offenders (managed through the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, or MAPPA);
• Vulnerable people (for example missing persons, Child Protection and Safeguarding Adults at Risk), and
• Violence against Women (including trafficking, rape and sexual assault, so-called ‘honour’ based violence and domestic violence).

3. These areas of work in turn feed into particular committees within the MPA, namely SOP (Strategic and Operational Policing) and CEP (Communities, Equalities, and Peoples) and their various sub-committees where appropriate, in addition to the MPA Domestic and Sexual Violence Board. As part of the development of Met Forward it became clear that Public Protection forms part of the MPS core business, and would therefore require ongoing monitoring and policy review. It was also clear that there was not a single cohesive approach to such oversight activity and this was the aim of the initial work plan. The final milestone of this work plan is this paper to Strategic and Operational Policing Committee to ensure that Members are satisfied that Public Protection has been robustly established within the oversight mechanisms of the MPA.

4. Public Protection is a priority under the Met Specialist strand of Met Forward, and though it contains the thematic area of Violence against Women it should be noted here that the Violence against Women work strand is also separately included within the Met Partners strand of Met Forward. This reflects the Mayoral priorities and the MPA are fully engaged with the Mayoral Violence against Women strategy The Way Forward.

Met Forward Priorities and Public Priorities

5. The following priorities underpin all of the MPA’s work on Met Forward; these are explored in the context of the Public Protection work programme.

• Fight crime and reduce criminality
  Public protection is not defined by the MPS or elsewhere in terms of crime types, but rather in terms of the severity of harm caused to the public (such as high-risk violent offenders or registered sex offenders), or the vulnerability of individuals (such as in the case of domestic violence or child protection) or groups/ communities (for example in relation to vulnerable adult abuse), or a combination of the above (for example young women at risk of harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation). Oversight of such areas as Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), Child Protection and Violence Against Women (VAW) is crucial to ensure that a consistent, high quality policing response across London focuses on the safety of those at risk of harm and management of those who pose a danger to communities.
• Increase confidence in policing
  The high profile cases of Baby Peter and Sonnex have highlighted policing failures and will have had an undoubted impact on public confidence. Activity which demonstrates that the MPA is appropriately overseeing improvements in the field of public protection should support increased confidence in the independent governance structures which hold the police to account. Targeted scrutiny on high-profile areas of business such as child protection also allow the MPS to publicise any improvements and service developments, further supporting increased confidence. Ensuring that information is available to the public, that Londoners’ views are taken into account when making policy decisions and that MPA Members challenge senior Officers about policy implementation where relevant will ensure that police governance is responsive to need and transparent.
• Give us better value for money.
  More efficient use of resources will ensure the best value for money for Londoners. The inclusion of a ‘financial implications’ section on each report to the authority ensures that the MPA is consistently assessing value for money on behalf of Londoners. The resources invested in Public Protection by the MPS are considerable and oversight of this area will include;
  • Assessing achievements and deliverables (e.g. through performance monitoring at committee and in briefings)
  • Assessing effectiveness / impact of the service delivered (e.g. through performance monitoring as above, assessing increase or decreases in volume and severity of crime)
  • Assessing the cost and resources allocated to deliver the service (e.g. through assessing financial implications of activity or changes in activity, such as impact of the TP Development programme).
• Protect the Most Vulnerable from Harm.
  Met Forward Two stresses an increased emphasis on public protection and the need to do more to identify, support and protect vulnerable children and adults at risk of harm. The focus here is on ensuring that various units across the MPS are working together and with partners to ensure vulnerable adults and children are safeguarded.
• Deliver safe Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012
  In relation to public protection the Human Trafficking and London 2012 Olympics Network works together with partners to manage the risk of an increase in trafficking in human beings in the lead up to and during London 2012. Safety is an absolute priority for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and we are managing the risk by coordinating our efforts across agencies and with our partners in the voluntary sector, to give us the best tools to respond.

6. Londoners are consulted by the MPA in relation to policing priorities, which inform the annual policing plan. A report outlining the findings of this consultation will also be presented to April 2011 SOP. A number of different methods were used, long and shorter questionnaires as well as research and other surveys. One of the priorities identified was anti-social behaviour, this is an area of policing which is considered to have a high impact on older people (British Crime Survey as referenced on help the aged website). Gun and knife crime, violent crime, and other serious crimes were also frequently highlighted as within the ‘top 5’ level priorities, perpetrators of which could fall under categories for MAPPA management. Sex crimes also featured as a ‘top 10’ priority in responses to short questionnaires. All these public concerns demonstrate the importance of getting Public Protection right.

MPA activity

7. Activity thus far primarily focussed on establishing a clear understanding and oversight of all the strands of Public Protection; for example the work plan ensured that MPA Committees received papers providing oversight on Operation Jigsaw (MAPPA procedures and managing serious sexual and violent offenders) and Operation Compass (the MPS response to missing people). Likewise, since 2008, the focus of MPS reports to the MPA on Child Protection have been to monitor the MPS compliance with recommendations from Lord Lamings’ review into the case. It was the aim of the MPA in 2010 to move away from this focus and view child protection performance from a wider perspective. All MPA Members and staff received performance monitoring information as well as practice updates via quarterly briefings. A Public Protection work plan was submitted to MPA Business Management Group in January 2010 and was fully implemented in the 12 month period including the following;

8. Reports on the following subjects were presented to various MPA committees over the year;

• Public protection desks
• SCD5 serious case reviews
• Forced marriage
• SCD2 Update – 6 months on
• Civil orders
• Community Safety Unit performance update
• Women, weapons, and serious youth violence
• Mental health scrutiny update and performance overview
• Safeguarding adults overview
• Female genital mutilation
• SCD9 – 6 months on
• SCD2 – 1 year on
• SCD5 performance overview
• Operation Jigsaw performance overview
• Operation compass performance overview
• Safeguarding adults and anti-social behaviour.
• MPS compliance with the victims code of practice

9. The MPA Quarterly Briefing on Violence Against Women continued to be distributed and provided Members with performance monitoring processes from MPS data and from the MPA Domestic and Sexual Violence Board, updates on reports to committees, MPS and MPA activity, and developments in the field of VAW.

10. An MPA Quarterly Briefing on Public Protection was created and distributed which provides Members with performance monitoring in the fields of Child Protection and MAPPA, updates on reports to committees, MPS and MPA activity, and developments in the field.

11. MPA Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance completed their review of Operation Jigsaw in October 2010, which followed up the recommendations made in a 2009 audit. Outcomes included that Operation Jigsaw developing a system for dip sampling data input by BOCUs on the Violent and Sex Offender Register (ViSOR) system, and reviewing the ratio of the number of Jigsaw related cases to resources deployed at BOCU level. Action is taken to address any areas for improvement identified. Outstanding recommendations include a review of the accountability and governance arrangements between the central Operations Jigsaw Team and the BOCUs, which is awaiting the outcome of the TP Development programme.

12. Domestic and Sexual Violence Board meetings continued to take place every two months, with two boroughs attending each session, as well as a thematic session focussing on front counters call handlers and first responders. MPA Members, statutory partners such as the CPS and GLA, and voluntary sector experts like Standing Together, Rape Crisis and Victim Support work together to monitor and review MPS practice and support improvements.

13. The first Joint MPA/MPS Annual Violence against Women Report was published and presented to February CEP Committee. This included the findings from the meetings of the DSVB over the year, an overview of MPS areas of responsibility and data and commentary on the reported volume of various types of violence against women.

Forthcoming activity and Areas for Development

14. The work outlined above has built a solid foundation upon which the MPA now needs to build. Recent and upcoming work includes

15. An MPA corporate response to the government Green Paper Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders.

16. Reports to committees on the following subjects are planned in the next three months as well as regular updates on SCD2, SCD9, SCD5, and Community Safety Units.

• Stalking and harassment
• Repeat violent offenders
• Multi-agency Safeguarding Hubs

17. The MPA Domestic and Sexual Violence Board will hold its final borough review session in April 2011 and will produce a report in July 2011 outlining and analysing the successes and areas for improvement of the MPA scrutiny process.

18. A new operational VAW board will be created which will continue to review the MPS response to violence against women, looking at working with partners and across London to secure improved safety and better outcomes. This as-yet-untitled board will bridge the gap between the aims of London and national Strategies and the success on the front line of implementation.

19. A refreshed Met Forward project plan and MPA work programme will be produced which reflects the Met Forward II priorities and directs activity over the coming year. Some of the areas of possible focus include;

Offender Management

20. Members will be aware that the MPS is already involved in a range of programmes and pilots which fall under the umbrella of offender management, such as the Diamond Initiative Project Daedalus, and Pathways. Under coalition government plans this responsibility will extend as multi-agency partnership approaches to managing offending are both more efficient and more cost-effective. As yet these plans will not realised for some months, and as the role of policing governance changes there is an opportunity for the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC) to take a more directional role in such developments.

21. Although the Directorate of Audit, Risk and Assurance completed their review of Operation Jigsaw relatively recently, an outstanding area of concern and potential risk remained the unknown impact of the structural changes of the TP development programme. At the time of writing, reports to SOP from the MPS have not established a level of clarity which would allow the MPA to make an accurate assessment of the impact on the MPS resource and the capacity across boroughs and centrally to fully meet the requirements of MAPPA. It is proposed that the impact both financially and operationally of the TP Development programme on Public Protection is assessed in 2011.

Safeguarding adults

22. Safeguarding Adults is a somewhat unusual area of business, as it is modelled on the successful structures of Safeguarding Children and Child Protection but without any of the statutory infrastructure that goes alongside it, such as mandatory local safeguarding adults boards and cross -agency requirements to cooperate and share information. The existing performance monitoring information used to provide Members with information of other areas of Public Protection do not, therefore, include information on this area.

23. Nevertheless it as a field of growth in a time when available resources for existing responsibilities are decreasing. The MPS have worked on pan-London safeguarding adults at risk procedures and it is proposed that these form the basis of MPA oversight in this area.

Mental health

24. Both as part of Offender Management and Safeguarding Adults, mental health issues for both offenders and victims create an additional complexity to any police response. The report received by the Authority noted over 4,000 victims and almost 2,500 perpetrators were considered by MPS officers to have mental health needs. The area of Mental Health links into partnership working with the NHS, as well as violent offending and the use of drugs and alcohol. Lord Bradley produced a report in 2010 which made a range of recommendations, come of which are relevant to policing. MPA oversight in this area is embryonic and it is proposed that the MPA undertakes a scoping exercise to identify priority areas for future oversight.

Child sexual exploitation

25. Following the high profile cases of the grooming and exploitation of young girls in the North and Midlands there has been media speculation and lobbying from organisations such as Barnardo’s and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) for this issue to be recognised as high risk and high priority. Because this pertains often to internal or domestic trafficking, and like both sexual violence and trafficking it is under-reported, there is little information available as to the extent of this in London. It is also an area which could require close working between SCD2, SCD5 and SCD9 and it is proposed that discussions be held with these units to agree a way forward to identify and scope the issue as well as consider whether additional training, specific operational procedures or any further activity is required.

Partnership working

26. It is clear that across all the strands of Public Protection, partnership working is integral to any policing activity. As the regional landscape changes through both the existing approach of the London Crime Reduction Board and the changes to policing governance through the PCC and MOPC, there will be the likelihood of greater strategic involvement with criminal justice and community safety partners. It is proposed that the MPA produce an internal position paper exploring the opportunities for strategic partnership working across Public Protection.

C. Other organisational and community implications

1 Equality and Diversity Impact

1.1 The implications for equality and diversity are contained within the areas of work and do not rise directly from the contents of the report. In the field of Public Protection diversity issues such as age are integral to Child Protection. Mental health and associated vulnerabilities are also key elements of any response to Safeguarding Adults. The area of Violence against Women is defined by the UN as violence ‘directed at a woman because she is a woman or which affects women disproportionally’ but this should not preclude the awareness that such types of offences affect men.

2 Consideration of Met Forward

2.1 The report explores fully considerations of Met Forward.

3. Financial Implications

3.1 There are no financial implications to this report; all activity suggested will be resourced within existing MPA resources.

4. Legal Implications

4.1 There are no legal implications as this report is focused on governance.

5. Environmental Implications

5.1 There are no environmental implications to this report.

6. Risk Implications

6.1 There are no risk implications as this report is focused on MPA governance and MPS performance, however it must be noted that Public Protection is business for the MPS which carries high impact of harm to the public and is therefore considered high risk.

D. Background papers

None

D. Contact details

Report author: Lynne Abrams

For information contact:

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

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