Headline Performance Report for 2010/11

Report: 6
Date: 12 May 2011
By: Deputy Commissioner on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This paper describes performance in the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other corporate measures compared to their 2010/11 targets in the Policing London Business Plan 2010–13 for the whole of 2010/11.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the 2010/11 performance in the indicators shown in the Policing Plan against their targets and the MPS’s activity underway to improve outcomes.

B. Supporting information

1. This is the final report on how the MPS performed for the financial year 2010/11 against the targets set for 2010/11 in the MPA/MPS Policing London Business Plan 2010-13. The Plan’s primary goals are to reduce crime and increase public confidence in the MPS. The comparisons in the report are for the financial year 2010/11 with 2009/10 unless otherwise stated.

2. There is a separate report every two months on borough performance with the next one scheduled for this meeting, and so this report concentrates on looking at performance from a MPS-wide perspective.

Report Structure

3. The body of the report focuses on how the KPIs are performing against targets and against the same period last year. It has 3 appendices:

• KPIs - the corporate ‘key’ measures highlighted in the Policing Plan (Appendix 1).
• Other Corporate Policing Plan Indicators – all non-KPI corporate measures (CMs) featured in the Policing Plan (Appendix 2).
• The KPIs and their targets for 2011/12 (Appendix 3)

The indicators are graded red, amber or green in Appendix 1 as follows:

• Red - performance off target and worse than at the same time last year
• Amber - performance off target but better than at the same time last year
• Green - performance is on or better than target.

Percentage figures are rounded to the nearest ‘whole’ number if over 20% i.e. 25% not 24.7% or 25.2%, unless a decimal place is necessary to support the point being made.

Current performance focus

Summary

4. With the exception of knife crime all the targets for 2010/11 relating to violence were met. However the targets for property crime were not attained and some crimes were at higher levels than last year. Nevertheless for all crime in this report, 2010/11 had relatively low levels when taking a longer term perspective of the last ten years.

5. The main positive points were;

• People injured in violent assaults (VWI) down by more than 4,300 / 6.1%,
• 57 / 1.4% fewer times when a knife was used to injure,
• 10% / 71 fewer offences where a firearm was discharged.
• Second fewest victims of homicide in the last decade though there were more than in 2009/10.
• 271 / 8.3% fewer business robberies
• Recorded domestic violence homophobic and racist crime sanction detection (SD) rates all at 5 year highs.
• 600 more offenders charged with robbery, a rise of 13%, and 350 more with residential burglary.

6. The areas for improvement remain:

• Personal robbery up by 8.7% but the third lowest year in the last ten.
• Thefts of motor vehicles up by 6.3% though the second best year in the last decade.

7. 25 fewer people died in road traffic collisions this year.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Report

8. On 30 March Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) published 'Demanding Times: The Frontline and Police Visibility’ on police availability and visibility. It was issued in place of the expected next version of the Police Report Card as mentioned in the last report to the committee.

9. The only comparative information on forces in the document was a chart with the average of the number of officers and PCSOs in visible roles and on duty at particular points in time as a percentage of all officers and PCSOs whether on duty or not. The MPS and other forces felt that this formula was very misleading. Given the 24/7 nature of policing and the fact that as the report itself says, it takes 5 to 6 people to cover one post all the time, all results would be well below 50%.

10. At slightly under at 12% the MPS came 24th out of the 43 forces in that chart, and just below the average for England & Wales. The HMIC report notes: “More demanding environments tend to require a greater proportion of specialists in a workforce.” and London is a demanding police environment particularly with the MPS’s significant national responsibilities. ‘Specialists’, e.g. detectives and similar roles, are not considered ‘visible’ by the report but are considered ‘front line’. 30% of MPS officers and PCSOs are in those ‘specialist’ front line roles compared to 21% nationally.

11. The MPS has 12% of all its officers and staff in back office functions compared to the 15% national average, and only 4% of its officers and PCSOs in those roles vs. the 5% average nationally. 81% of MPS officers and staff are in front line roles vs. 82% nationally.

12. As Members are aware the MPA at the meeting of the Full Authority on 31 March approved the Policing London Business Plan 2011-14. The KPIs and their targets for 2011/12 are set out in Appendix 3.

Confidence in local policing - people agreeing police & local council are dealing with local crime & anti-social behaviour (ASB) issues - This information is produced quarterly and there is no new data for this report.

User Satisfaction & Satisfaction of white & BME users with the overall service provided. Data is provided quarterly so there will be no new data for this report.

Serious Acquisitive Crime (SAC)

13. 2010/11 has had the second lowest amount of SAC (robbery, MV crime and residential burglary) in the last ten years. However the 3.2% reduction target was missed with a 2.4% / 4,537 increase this year over last year. As previously reported to SOPC, the doubling in the street price of heroin in the last few months may be a factor. The SD rate of 9.6% is practically unchanged from last year when it was 9.7%, and as a consequence the 12.2% target was not attained.

14. There have been 271 fewer business robberies this year than last. This is a decrease of 8.3% compared to the 3% reduction target for robbery as a whole. The SD rate at 25% is roughly the same as last year and the third highest figure in the last ten years.

15. Personal robbery is at its third lowest level for the last ten years but 8.7% above last year’s total. That increase is the reason robbery as a whole is not achieving the 3% target.

16. Robbery as a whole has gone up by 7.1% Robbery with a gun (2% of the total) was 29% below the level of 2009/10 but knife robbery was up by 14% and robbery involving neither a gun nor a knife was up by 8%. Because of the current upward trend and the likely harm, the MPS is particularly concerned about knife robbery. Below are key aspects of the increase in those robberies:

• The rise is in offences where a knife or sharp object is used as a threat - those where a knife was used to injured increased by 1 from 681 last year;
• There were substantial increases in the number of both victims and offenders aged under 26;
• There has been a 27% increase in robberies of mobile phones (though other items may have been stolen at the same time);
• The escalation in the price of heroin may also be a driver in conjunction with the resale value of new generation phones.

Another driver, though less significant in volume, may have been the escalation in the price of gold. Necklaces/pendants taken in personal robberies went up by 25%.

17. The MPS has devoted a great deal of effort to tackling personal robberies and particularly those with knives. Boroughs have used intelligence to concentrate their efforts on places and times most prone to robberies and on the most prolific offenders. There have also been major central initiatives such as Blunt 2, Autumn Nights and Safer Transport Crime Squads assigned to boroughs encountering particular problems.

18. That local and central effort has resulted in the robbery SD rate rising to 16.7% from 15.9% last year. 2010/11 has the second best rate in the last ten years although the challenging the 19% target was not met. Most importantly over 600 more people have been charged with robbery this year, an increase of 13% over last year.

19. Residential burglary ended the year with a small reduction (0.2%) on 2009/10 and so not achieving the 4% reduction target. While other types of articles including mobile phones stolen in burglaries have decreased, theft of jewellery has risen suggesting that the rise in gold prices may be an increasing factor in residential burglary.

20. The MPS launched Operation Focus at the end of January and it is still ongoing. It uses the VOLT (Victim, Offender Location & Time) approach to support boroughs to deal with burglary as effectively as possible. At the same time it provides a dynamic overview of residential burglary across London so that resources can be deployed where the demand is greatest. Boroughs are the primary deliverer of the MPS’s anti-burglary activities.

21. As a result of those activities, over 350 more people than last year have been charged with residential burglary which is an increase of 12%. The number of charges this year is the highest annual figure since 2003/04 when the number of offences was 11% higher than in 2010/11. The SD rate of 12.5% was roughly the same as last year when there were more offences Taken Into Consideration (TICs) at court. However the 16% target was not attained.

22. There was a small (0.9%) increase in thefts from a motor vehicle and so the MPS did not meet its 3% reduction target. Nevertheless, 2010/11 had the second fewest of these offences in the last ten years. The most significant rises in articles stolen have been in cash & credit cards up by 11% and tools a 30% increase.

23. 2010/11 also had the second fewest thefts of a vehicle in the last decade. However these thefts went up by 6.3% over 2009/10. The cause may be due to a large extent to higher scrap metal prices. As mentioned previously, thefts of older (10 years+) vehicles fell in 2009/10 but have increased significantly this year while newer car thefts are still declining except for some luxury vehicles.

24. Compared to last year 189 more offenders were taken to court for either stealing from a vehicle or stealing a vehicle. While the SD rate of 5.4% for motor vehicle crime was not as high as last year’s 6.1% and the 7.5% target, that is because the number of offences detected through TICs fell.

Homicide

25. There were 135 victims of homicide which is the second fewest since 2001/02, although that is 15 more than last year.

26. The 27 young people who were killed this year is higher than the 16 young homicides last year but lower than the 30, 41 and 34 victims in the three years before 2009/10. The number killed by a knife or sharp object was 12, 2 more than last year. 7 were killed by firearms against none last year, but the figure was 6 in 2007/08. It is important to remember that these are very small numbers that change a great deal from year to year.

27. People 20 or older account for around three quarters of this year’s homicides and there are three more of them this year than last - 107 vs 104.

28. The detection rate was 95% which met the target of 85% and was similar to 2009/10 and 2008/09.

Other Serious Violence

29. 2010/11 saw 4,330 fewer victims of violent assaults (VWI) than in 2009/10. That was the fourth consecutive decrease since 2006/07 when the number of VWI assaults was more than 13,000 above this year’s total. The 6.1% reduction on last year more than meets the target of a 4% drop for most serious violence. That reduction applies to both gun and knife VWI which fell by 104 / 13.7% and 219 / 4.5% respectively.

30. The SD rate for 2010/11 is 33%. While about the same as last year, it is the best rate in the last five years (the period for which comparable information is available) and 7.4% points above the rate in 2006/07.

31. At the end of March the MPS launched a major new initiative to crack down on violence driven by gang culture. Under Operation Connect, 26 suspected offenders were arrested across London during raids on 30 March to tackle gang-related criminality. 16 people were charged with conspiracy to supply Class A drugs and remanded in custody, 2 were arrested and kept in custody for breaching court orders, 1 was charged with breaching an outstanding warrant and 8 were bailed to return pending further enquiries.

32. Around £10,000, drugs, various drug dealing paraphernalia, numerous mobile phones and jewellery believed to be stolen were seized were seized. The MPS will consider pursuing eviction orders with local housing officers against properties where Class A drug use was detected.

33. Aside from its operations, the Operation Connect unit will analyse information from across the MPS’s intelligence system and from key partners to produce the first central MPS database of the most harmful gang members in London. The number is likely to top 1,000.

34. That database will ensure that resources are targeted against those individuals that are the greatest threat. Officers will be encouraged to use a wide range of enforcement methods to disrupt criminal activities - from seizing financial assets and uninsured vehicles to taking out ‘gang injunctions’.

35. Another facet of Connect will be to assist local police teams to identify opportunities for intervention both with youngsters who want to leave gangs and those in danger of getting involved in them. The teams will then help those young people to access specialist MPS support and/or refer them to schemes run by external agencies. 15 young people in Waltham Forest are currently taking part, with their families, in an innovative joint council / police scheme over eight weeks to help assess the impact of their activities on themselves, their parents and siblings.

36. Furthermore Connect will act as a channel for other Met diversion schemes aimed at those associated with gangs; as well as facilitate the roll out of initiatives from other agencies, such as ‘Medics Against Violence’ and the Mayor's Mentoring Scheme for young black males.

37. Aside from the above, the MPS is continuing with Operation Verano to provide a pan-London pro-active response to emerging violence flash points, as well as assigning 80% of the MPS’s Territorial Support Group’s time tackling violent crime. Boroughs are applying VOLT tactics against VWI by targeting the places/times and people. Moreover much of the activity against robbery and weapon crime also impact on VWI. This year those actions have had a positive influence on the trend in violence.

Knife & gun crime

38. The number of victims of the most serious knife crimes, those where a knife was used to injure declined by 57 or 1.4%. The SD rate is 32%, 0.9% points above last year’s rate and 7.6% points above the rate for knife crime as a whole. Because of the increase in robberies involving a knife, the 4% reduction target was not achieved for knife crime as a whole which went up by 5.7%. The SD rate for all knife crime is on a par with that for 2009/10 (24.6% vs 24.4%). Much of the action against robbery and violence impacts on knife crime as well. The amnesty container saw 150 knives being handed over three months at Brixton Police Station.

39. This year there were 71 / 10% fewer offences where a shot was fired - the ones likely to cause the most harm. Gun crime as a whole fell by 22% and so the 5% reduction target was achieved. The SD rate for gun crime has risen for the third year running and now stands at 29%, an increase of 4.8% points since 2008/09. However the rate for offences where a firearm has been discharged is 18.5%, 2.5% points below last year.

40. The improvements in gun crime have been heavily influenced by the concentrated action taken by the MPS. Examples of those activities mentioned in previous reports and still on-going are: joint action plans between specialist central units and boroughs around events and trends identified by intelligence, work with partners to disrupt gun supplies, more armed support to boroughs, improvements in managing forensics, proactive use of the media and mediation/intervention work which may have prevented several murders and numerous shootings.

Rape Victims Survey

41. This survey is a valuable source of insight into how victims of rape perceive the service they receive from the MPS. The traumatic impact of this crime on victim’s means that it is not possible to get a robust sample for comparing performance over time. The sample size, though only a small minority of victims was 70 for the latest quarter, January to March 2011. That figure is encouraging given that there were 61 respondents in the previous quarter and 27 in the same quarter in 2010.

42. 89% of the victims in the sample said they were satisfied with their treatment by the police - the KPI. 89% also said they were satisfied with the action taken by the police in their case. A number of very positive comments were made about support received from Sexual Offences Investigation Team officers.

43. Just 60% of respondents reported that the police explained why a suspect was or was not charged, and only 56% were satisfied with the explanation. However this may be as much about whether there was a charge as it is about the explanation given. 11 out of the 12 victims where there was a charge were satisfied as opposed to only 4 out of the 13 victims where there was no charge.

Reported Hate crimes

44. The emphasis and effort both by boroughs and centrally that the MPS has brought to bear on hate crime has resulted in the SD rates for domestic violence (DV), racist offences and homophobic crime being at their highest levels for 5 years. The rates of 49%, 50% and 54% are all above their targets of 47%, 45% and 45%. Moreover the DV arrest rate has improved from 55% in 2006/07 to 82% for 2010/11 and so achieving the target of 77%.

45. There have been fewer victims of recorded domestic violence, racist and homophobic crime this year with reductions of 3,159 (6.1%), 1,156 (11.6%) and 20 (1.5%) respectively. Recorded domestic violence and racist offences are at their lowest levels in the last ten years.

People killed or seriously injured (KSI) in road traffic collisions

46. The number of people who were killed in collisions on the road fell by 25 from 165 last financial year to 140 in 2010/11.

47. The Commercial Vehicle Unit continued a number of the operations mentioned last month such as the one at City Airport where commercial vehicles and drivers were checked for road worthiness, compliance regulations and any criminal activity; proactive checks on commercial vehicles at the Olympic site; checks at Victoria Coach Station for illegal coaches/drivers and criminality on the international coach network entering the UK. The Unit also runs a truckers surgery on the M25 service areas to enable truck drivers to speak in confidence to police on subjects that directly affect them.

48. On 23 March officers from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in Haringey worked with Met Traffic officers and seized 42 vehicles during two operations targeting vehicles being driven without the correct insurance, licence or both. A total of 128 offences were dealt with by means of a Fixed Penalty Notice or court summons, including driving without insurance, driving not in accordance with a licence and driving while using a hand-held mobile phone. 10 vehicles were issued with notices prohibiting them from being driven due to serious faults.

49. A central plank of the MPS’s efforts to bring down the number of people killed or seriously injured in traffic collisions is to get dangerous drivers and vehicles off the roads. In 2010/11 the MPS successfully took legal action that resulted in 4,463 people being disqualified from driving. That is 336 or 8% above the number last year. A further element of the enforcement work to make driving in London safer is issuing Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) for traffic/vehicle offences. Compared to the number in 2005/6 of just under 95,000, the MPS has achieved year on year rises in FPNs of 13%, 15%, 6% and 2%. The provisional number for this financial year up to February is 127,543 up 6% on the number the same period last year.

50. The actions above supplement the vital day to day work by the MPS and partners on traffic related matters. Together they have contributed to making London's roads safer as evidenced by a drop of 461 / 14.5% in the number of people killed or seriously injured in the calendar year 2010 vs 2009.

Police officer recruits from minority ethnic groups -

51. As mentioned in the previous report, 18% of the police officer recruits in 2010/11 were from a BME background. While the 20% target was not attained, the proportion of BME officer recruits is our 2nd highest rate ever. The overall BME representation of police officers in the MPS is now 9.5%, up from 9.3% over the course of 2010/11.

52. We are implementing a new model of recruitment and training. Currently we are inviting applications from serving Special Constables and PCSOs. We will then internally process them to create an eligible pool of suitably qualified people to which future police officer training places will be allocated.

53. For the coming year the majority of recruits will be from our Specials and PCSOs which are both around 30% BME. We are currently anticipating recruiting some 1,000 police officers during 2011/12 but that number is dependent on budgetary arrangements.

Counter Terrorism

54. The Government's review of national counter-terrorism strategy is likely to be published in May 2011. The MPS has sought opportunities to be involved so as to ensure that the operational needs of the police service are fully considered.

55. Performance is currently monitored through a broad range of measures. Below are a number of achievements during 2010/11:

• The Counter-Terrorism Command (CTC) disrupted 46 terrorist networks and/or their activities ranging from fundraising to attack planning (11 months to February);
• The National Terrorism Fraud Investigation Unit, of which the MPS is the host and major contributor, carried out 60 seizures for over £1M in total;
• CTC investigations have resulted in 127 arrests and 29 defendants have been convicted (though not necessarily arrested) in 2010/11. Four of those convicted received life sentences. While these arrests were due to CT investigations, the convictions may not all have been for terrorism offences;
• There have been 17 arrests (trespassing and criminal damage) for intrusions into the Parliamentary Estate this year;
• While planning for the Royal Wedding, and with only 5 days notice, SO delivered a major protection operation for the Government’s Libya Conference. 46 nations and international organisations were invited with 30 people requiring special security during the event. The scale of the operation was such that aid from other forces was needed. Against a backdrop of the recent protests, dynamic programmes and many meetings with external bodies were effectively managed with no adverse incidents. The debriefing and learning will be rolled forward into the preparations for the Royal Wedding and the 2012 Games.

Olympic and Paralympic Risk Exception Report

56. The latest report covers the period from 11 March to 8 April. Two new risks have been added to the Olympic Security Directorate’s priority risk list and they are:

• Risk 24 - Testing and exercising does not provide sufficient assurance across the security programme and for the Games as whole;
• Risk 25 - New venues are added or late changes to venues are made beyond the capability of the projects;

57. No new risks have arisen in the Olympic Business Group Risk Log which has the risks that are mainly the responsibility of the MPS.

58. The MPA has agreed an Olympic Key Performance Indicator in which the Olympic Safety and Security Programme Status will be graded red, amber, or green. Next month there will be a new report with the grade for the Status based on the grades of the various components in the Programme.

Cashable savings delivered

59. HM Treasury in 2009 increased the overall three year (2008/09 -2010/11) savings target for police forces in England and Wales from 9.3% to 10.3%. Based on a 2007/08 outturn for the MPA/MPS of £3,349m, the resulting three year savings target was £344.9m. As at the end of December 2010 (quarter 3) the MPS is forecast to achieve efficiency savings of £407.1m, which will exceed the savings target by £62.2 m.

Other organisational and community implications

Race and Equality Impact

1. The regular review of the statistics provided enables the MPS to highlight areas for diversity and equality consideration and address them accordingly.

Consideration of MET Forward

2. The KPIs and other corporate measures covered in this report reflect performance against the key outcomes of Met Forward: fighting crime and reducing criminality, increasing confidence in policing, and providing better value for money.

Financial Implications

3. The Service has during 2010/11 had to manage the Government’s ‘in year’ reduction in policing grant and the resulting cuts of £28m in general expenditure and £5m in counter terrorism funding, which was on top of the £124m reductions that were part of the 2010/11 budget.

4. Whilst the final 2011-14 Policing London Business Plan was approved by the MPA Full Authority on 31 March 2011, a balanced budget position now exists for 2011/12’ more work is required to close budget gaps of £92.8m in 2012/13 and £174.3m in 2013/14.

5. The revenue monitoring position for 2010/11 at Period 11 (to the end of February) is a forecast under-spend of £6.4m (0.2% of budget). However, Management Board have agreed the need to manage down expenditure to deliver an under-spend of £11m to support the 2011-14 budget position.

6. The Capital Programme as at Period 11 (to the end of February) shows year to date total expenditure of £156.9m. This total represents 56.8% of the revised annual budget of £276.3m. The forecast for the year of £199.6m represents an under-spend of £76.7m (27.8% of the revised annual budget).

Legal Implications

7. There are no direct legal implications arising, as this is a performance monitoring report.

8. The MPA has a duty to secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force for its area and a duty to hold the chief officer of police of the force to account for the exercise of his functions and those persons under his direction and control, under s6 of the Police Act 1996.

9. The MPA also have a specific duty to monitor the MPS’s performance against the Policing Plan under s6ZA of the Police Act 1996, as inserted by paragraph 8, Schedule 2 of the Police & Justice Act 2006 and the Police Authorities (Particular Functions & Transitional Provisions) Order 2008.

10. The Strategic Operational Committee is the relevant committee to receive the report as its terms of reference set out it is responsible for considering and maintaining police performance against the Policing Plan targets and any performance indicators set locally or by external organisations.

Environmental Implications

11. This report contains no direct environmental implications. The MPS has included an indicator relating to the percentage change in total tonnes of CO2 emissions (from buildings, vehicles, operational air travel) which is reported annually within Appendix 2.

Risk Implications

12. Risks and opportunities identified in related to performance against the KPIs are reflected in the content of this report.

D. Background papers

None.

D. Contact details

Report author: Worth Houghton, MPS Strategy and Improvement Department

For information contact:

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

Acronym List

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

AWI

Assault With Injury

ASB

Anti-social behaviour

BCS

British Crime Survey

BME

Black and Minority Ethnic

CSR

Comprehensive Spending Review

DCFD

Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate

DV

Domestic Violence

ESPS

Equality Standard for the Police Service

FYTD

Financial Year to Date (period since 1 April covered in this report)

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators

KSI

Killed or Seriously Injured

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

MSV

Most Serious Violence

MV

Motor Vehicle

NCA

National Crime Agency

OPC

Olympic Policing Coordination team

OSD

Olympic Security Directorate

SAC

Serious Acquisitive Crime

SCD

Specialist Crime Directorate

SCD 2

The unit of SCD that deals with serious sexual offences

SD

Sanction Detections

SO

Specialist Operations Business Group

SOP

Strategic and Operational Policing

TIC

Taken Into Consideration

TfL

Transport for London

TPHQ

Territorial Police Head Quarters

VOLT

Victim, Offender, Location & Time

VWI

Violence With Injury

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback