Update on workshops for CDO Committee

Report: 5
Date: 26 September 2000
By: Clerk

Summary

This report is to inform members of progress in arranging the workshops on Diversity and Crime and Disorder.

A. Supporting information

Background

At the meeting of the CDO Committee on 28 July members requested that two workshops be organised to give them the opportunity to explore their responsibilities and emerging work programmes in respect of Diversity and Crime and Disorder. The Diversity workshop will take place on 27 September, that on Crime and Disorder on 16 October. Draft outline programmes have been put together for both events, and are at Appendix 1 (Diversity) and Appendix 2 (Crime and Disorder). Contact has been made with a range of people to invite them to give presentations. Confirmation is awaited from some of those approached.

Members will note from the outline programmes that MPA staff are seeking to involve the the MPA's key stakeholders in both workshops. This is to ensure that any strategy developed by the MPA takes into account learning from, as well as progress that has already been made by, key stakeholders in their policies on Community Safety and Diversity.

Other diversity-related initatives

Members will be briefed at the Diversity workshop on the tangible progress that the MPS has made in implementing its public commitment to achieve an internally diverse police service that is sensitive to the needs of the diverse population of Londoners, and on its future plans. But members may also wish to be kept informed about various initiatives related to diversity that the GLA, the ALG and the Home Office, among others, are pursuing, whether to progress particular Stephen Lawrence recommendations or to amend the Race Relations Act. Some of these are still in the embryonic stage. Over the coming weeks, officers will seek to collect further details, which will be brought back to members where this is judged consistent with members' emerging thinking on MPA Diversity priorities.

One particular point that members might like to note now is that Cindy Butts, Deputy Chair of the CDO Committee, has been appointed to represent the MPA on the GLA Equalities Commission. (Graham Tope will also be on the Commission, though not in his MPA capacity.) The Terms of Reference of the Commission are at Appendix 3.

Crime and disorder-related developments

The Mayor has also established a Policy Commission on Crime and Community Safety. Toby Harris has been asked to chair the Commission, and has accepted. Terms of reference of the Commission arenot yet finalised. Members will be kept informed of the Commission's work. The outcomes could well have an impact on the role and remit of the MPA in the Crime and Disorder partnerships.

B. Recommendation

Members are asked to approve the draft outline programmes for the workshops, subject to discussion and any amendments agreed.

C. Financial implications

There are no immediate financial implications to this report. But members will need to give consideration to staffing and other financial costs in the development of the MPA's Crime and Disorder and Diversity Strategies.

D. Review arrangements

Members will be asked to give a written evaluation of their feedback.

E. Background papers

The following is a statutory list of background papers (under the Local Government Act 1972 S.100 D) which disclose facts or matters on which the report is based and which have been relied on to a material extent in preparing this report. They are available on request to either the contact officer listed above or to the Clerk to the Police Authority at the address indicated on the agenda.

List only items produced in the production of the report. Items will be available to the press and public to inspect.

F. Contact details

The author of this report is Julia Smith, MPA. 

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1: Diversity Workshop Programme

27 September 2000, Room AG12

Context

The Macpherson Inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence and the MPS handling of it resulted in a raft of recommendations, subsequently adopted by the Home Secretary, with the potential fundamentally to change the ways in which public sector institutions, including the MPS, operate in a culturally diverse society generally and in London in particular as the most diverse community in the whole of the UK. Policing such a diverse community presents many challenges. The MPS have responded boldly to these challenges and are implementing the Community and Race Relations recommendations in the report of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Policing London "Winning Consent (Part 1)".

Statutory and legal context

Section 404 of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 requires that in exercising its functions, the MPA shall have regard to the need to:

• promote equality of opportunity for all persons irrespective of their race, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation or religion;
• eliminate unlawful discrimination;
• promote good relations between persons of different racial groups, religious beliefs and sexual orientation.

This duty is specific to the MPA, the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) and the GLA. In common with other Police Authorities, the MPA is subject to the general statutory duty on Local Authorities under section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended by section 391 of the 1999 Act). Although the MPS appears already to have put in place a great number of measures aimed at bringing about more culturally diverse policing, the MPA will be required, separately and independently, to seek to meet those statutory obligations which it is required to undertake.

Workshop aims

The aims of the Diversity Workshop will be to:

• explore the statutory responsibilities of the Authority for Diversity and its implications for the way in which the Authority undertakes its work;
• explore the approaches taken by the GLA and other functional bodies and consider how to take forward co-operation where this is appropriate;
• identify those performance measures that will set the framework for the MPA's implementation of its Diversity Strategy.

Workshop outcomes

By the end of the workshop MPA members should be able to:

• propose approaches and directions that they would like the MPA to take in order to meet its statutory obligations for Diversity;
• identify the broad short, medium and long term Diversity objectives for the MPA.

Workshop programme

Appendix 2: MPA crime and disorder workshop

Monday 16 October 10.00am – 1pm
Room AG21, Romney House

Background to workshop

Crime and Disorder strategies are considered as an integral component of the Government's (five year) National Crime Reduction Strategy: Raising performance: The police, and the Crime & Disorder reduction partnerships were launched in November 1999 (see Appendix 1). The strategies have also been introduced to empower local people to take control in the fight against crime and disorder in their local communities.

The MPA's statutory responsibility to consult with the public, as well as its specific role in the crime and disorder partnerships as a co-operating body, and as the body that oversees the MPS involvement in and delivery of crime and disorder reduction places it in a key role to influence the process at a strategic level.

At the meeting of the CDO Committee on 28 July members agreed to hold an internal workshop in order to "clarify the role and desired direction of the Authority in crime and disorder partnerships, prior to engaging with local or pan- London partners".

Workshop aim

The aims of the workshop are to:

1. provide information to members on the legislative and practical background, roles and responsibilities of the principal players in the crime and disorder partnerships; and
2. contribute to the decision-making process on the role that the MPA should play as a co-operating authority and that members should play in their individual capacity in these partnerships.

Workshop outcomes

By the end of the workshop members should:

1. have gained a broader overview of the MPA's role, remit and responsibility in the Crime and Disorder Partnerships;
2. be able to agree on key actions that the MPA should pursue in line with its role, remit and responsibilities;
3. propose a draft action plan for Officers to implement.

Programme outline

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback