Minutes

22 May 2001

Minutes of the meeting of the Consultation, Diversity and Outreach Committee held at the Market House, Market Place, Kingston upon Thames.

Present

Members

• R David Muir (Chair)
• Cindy Butts (Deputy Chair)
• Angela Slaven (Deputy Chair)
• Nicholas Long
• Abdal Ullah

Also present: Peter Herbert (Deputy Chair, MPA)

MPA staff

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Philip Powell (Director of Communications)
• Derrick Norton (Best Value Officer)
• Julia Smith (Policy Officer, CDO)
• Johanna Gillians (Senior Analyst)

MPS staff

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner Tim Godwin
• Chief Superintendent Jeff Brathwaite (Borough Commander, Kingston upon Thames)

In addition, approximately thirty members of the press/public and other MPA/MPS staff were present.

Part 1

104. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Jennette Arnold, Jenny Jones and Cecile Lothian.

105. Minutes: 24 April 2001

(Agenda item 2)

Resolved:
the minutes of the meeting held on 24 April 2001 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

Arising:
Review of Performance Information Provided to MPA Committees Noted that the Chair had now discussed the process for performance information management with the senior analyst.

106. Chair and members' update

(Agenda item 3)

The Chair reported on several current issues relating to the work of the Committee. These included:

Consultative groups
the Chair reported that in their capacity as link members he and other Committee members had met representatives of some of the consultative groups to discuss the implementation of the best value review of consultation.

Virdi Inquiry
it was hoped to submit a draft report to the Authority at its meeting in July.

Committee members and Peter Herbert also spoke of their MPA work. Amongst other activities Cindy Butts reported that she was now a member of Operation Trident, Nicholas Long spoke of the work which was now underway in connection with the 2002/03 policing and performance plan, Angela Slaven reported that she had visited the Criminal Justice Unit, Abdal Ullah said he had attended a ceremony to present bravery awards to young people and police officers in Newham and Peter Herbert reported that he was continuing the follow-up work arising from the conference on race hate crimes he had attended earlier in the year.

Presentation to Police Constable Mark Beale

The Chair said it gave him great pleasure to present an award to PC Mark Beale for his dedication to the community of London and in particular for developing and widening and the role of neighbourhood watch so that it reached out and met the needs of London's diverse communities. The Chair also referred to the work which Mark had done with the local communities in connection with the Notting Hill Carnival.

Resolved:
the Chair's update be noted.

107. Questions and comment from the public

(Agenda item 4)

The comments, questions and replies are contained in Appendix 1 of the minutes.

108. Consultation arrangements for 2002/03 policing and performance plan

(Agenda item 5)

The MPA is required each year to set objectives for the MPS. A report was considered which outlined the options for consulting Londoners and other partners on the policing priorities for 2002/03.

Resolved:

1. the consultation methods proposed at paragraph 6 for consulting on the policing priorities for 2002/03 (pending development of an MPA/MPS consultation strategy) be endorsed;
2. a panel be established to oversee development of MPA/MPS consultation strategy.

109. Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 – Progress Report

(Agenda item 6)

The Association of Police Authorities (APA) sought the views of all police authorities on the implementation of this Act. A report was submitted which contained a provisional response which had been made to the APA and invited the Committee to submit further comments to the Association. The report also contained details of the working group which will be progressing the development of the racial equality scheme for the MPA.

Referring to the details of the working group see Appendix 2 suggestions were made as to other organisations which could be invited to join. It was felt however that on balance it would be preferable to limit the membership to that set out in the paper.

Resolved:

1. the provisional response submitted to the APA be noted and no further comments be made;
2. the arrangements for the meetings of the working group which will be responsible for advising officers on the development of an MPA race equality scheme be noted.

110. Community Police Consultative Groups and Independent Custody Visiting panels

(Agenda item 7)

The Committee received a report concerning the allocation of funds to the consultative groups to meet one-off costs.

Resolved:
the process and allocation of funds see Appendix 1 be agreed.

111. Independent custody visiting - progress report

(Agenda item 8)

The Committee received a report that brought Members up to date with the Authority's work on custody visiting.

Resolved:

1. it be noted that as a result of meeting with Members adjustments are being made to the consultation analysis report and it will be presented at the June meeting of the Committee;
2. the publicity strategy at Appendix 1 be endorsed;
3. MPA officers begin discussions with social services, the Local Government Association, SOLACE and other relevant bodies and organisations to ascertain the level of involvement for the MPA with Appropriate Adult schemes across London;
4. the attached monitoring forms that will be piloted over the next month in Appendices 2-2.4 be noted.

112. MPS draft guide to stop and search

(Agenda item 9)

There are two sets of draft guidelines/good practice guides on the use of stop and search powers which have been submitted to the Authority for comment: one from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and one from the MPS. The MPS guidelines were attached as an appendix to a report considered by the Committee. The ACPO guidelines were circulated separately to members for comment following the meeting.

Several Members said they could not support the recommendation that internal interim guidance be published as they felt that there did not appear to be an overwhelming reason for different guidelines to be issued to officers in London as opposed to the rest of the country and there was also the possibility that officers might find it more confusing to be issued with two sets of guidelines. In any case, Members wished to suggest several detailed amendments to the draft guidelines.

Resolved:

1. a meeting be held as a matter of urgency to discuss the way forward on the proposal to publish the internal interim guidance;
2. members be involved in the preparation of the final guidance following the decision of the Home Office on Recommendation 61;
3. members submit further comments on the ACPO guidelines as quickly as possible.

113. Review of MPS pace stop and search data and analysis

(Agenda item 10)

The MPA analysts are carrying out a series of reviews of MPS data quality. A review of the quality of Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) stop and search data and its analysis, particularly with regard to disproportionality, is planned for May and June 2001. A report was submitted which asked the committee to consider the terms of reference for the project. The project report will be presented to a future CDO committee meeting.

Resolved:
the terms of reference be agreed as set out.

114. GLA "family" identity

(Agenda item 11)

The Greater London Authority (GLA) has proposed that the MPA and other functional bodies adopt a family identity which would see the use of similar colours, logos and artwork on publications. For the MPA, this would mean changing the corporate colour from green to red and adopting the LONDON branding on all material. A report was submitted which asked the Committee to consider this request.

The Director of Communications circulated examples of the artwork in GLA publications.

Resolved:

1. the MPA decline the GLA proposal for the MPA to adopt a family identity;
2. with the GLA and other functional bodies but further consideration be given to the;
3. use of the LONDON branding at the bottom of letters and publications.

115. Questions and comments from the public

(Agenda item 12)

The meeting closed at 8.03pm.

Appendix 1: Questions and comments from the public

(Agenda items 3 and 12)

The Chair, in accordance with Standing Order 33, invited questions from members of the public. The Chair also stressed that members of the public should use the forms provided at the meeting if they wished to receive a written response to their question. The following is a summary of the questions and comments put to the Committee:

In introducing the item the Chair said that changes continued to be made to the structure of the meetings in the light of comments received. In this connection, he requested that a note to be sent to the Secretary of the Haringey PCCG detailing the changes which had been made following comments made at the April meeting.

(a) In its first year what was the total spending of the MPA?

(b) What do members consider to be the greatest achievement of the Authority so far and what do they hope to achieve next year?

Members said that on a personal basis they would cite the following achievements during the first year: the overall GLA budget which had included the increase in police numbers, free rail travel for police officers as an aid to retention; an increased recognition of the value of the civilian staff; the best value review of consultation and the consultation over stop and search in particular the conference which the MPA had held in March. Information on the financial aspect of the question was not immediately to hand and would be sent to the questioner

As regards the future, the Chair said that community trust and confidence had to be central to everything the Authority did. Specific targets he hoped to see the MPA achieve in the coming year were an improvement in recruitment so that there were more officers on the beat and for Londoners to feel that money spent on policing represented good value.

(c) Are you aware of the perception that under the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) outer boroughs lose out at the expense of the inner boroughs?

The Chair acknowledged that their were weaknesses with the RAF which were currently being examined under a review process Any changes would take effect from April 2002 and there were also proposals to extend the scope of devolved budgets to the boroughs.

(d) As a local custody visitor I note that new custody suites are being built at Sutton and Croydon. There is some concern that there may be plans to concentrate resources on new larger suites as the expense of the smaller custody suites such as that at Kingston.

Nicholas Long explained that he was the Chair of the Estates Sub-group and as such was aware of the poor conditions in many police buildings. There was a strong commitment on behalf of Members to improve conditions and new ways to fund building works such as the Private Finance Initiative were being explored. Decisions about the provision of new cells would be taken bearing in mind the condition of the existing premises and the pattern for the number of arrests in a particular area. He was not aware of any plans to carry out building works at Kingston.

(e) I am concerned about the lack of police presence in parts of the borough such as near licensed premises. I would stress that older people in particular wish to see more officers deployed on the street and not in cars.

(f) As an older person I am concerned about the lack of policing in New Malden which means that we feel unsafe when venturing out at night.

(g) While it is encouraging to see that through the use of volunteers it will be possible for a front desk at New Malden police station to be open, are you aware that local people would prefer to see a fully functioning police station.

The Borough Commander reported that Kingston was 22 officers below its establishment. As was this case in all boroughs he had to balance the competing demands on his resources when considering where to deploy officers and this was informed by intelligence led policing. He was aware of the problems being experienced by some residents in New Malden and in response to those concerns it had been agreed that extra resources would be deployed in that area. The Commander gave an assurance that all the extra officers which would be allocated to Kingston under the recently agreed budget would be deployed on the street.

(h) Although I am connected with several local organisations none of them appeared to have been advised about this evening's meeting.

The Director of Communications referred to the extensive distribution of publicity material for all meetings of the Committee. On this occasion the MPA had also tapped into the databases used by the local Council. It was unfortunate if the distribution of the information had not been as successful as the Authority hoped to achieve. He would be pleased to talk to the questioner after the meeting so that the organisations he had referred to could be included on the MPA database.

(i) There is concern that the recruitment process for police officers still poses difficulties for potential recruits from certain sections of the community as evidenced by several local people I know of who were all rejected.

Angela Slaven stated that she and three other members of the Committee also sat on the Human Resources Committee. That Committee had examined the recruitment process in great detail and this had included examining the reasons why people were rejected at each stage of the process. She would be very pleased to speak to the questioner after the meeting about the issues involved in the particular case which had been referred to. Peter Herbert spoke of a successful pilot scheme in Haringey where potential police recruits from ethnic backgrounds attended a introductory course run by a local College. He also reported that the 40 per cent of the latest intake of Special Constables were persons from an ethnic minority. There would be an assessment of the reasons for this encouraging figure to see whether any lessons could be learnt for the general recruitment process.

(j) How do you see the relationship between the MPA and the consultative groups developing?

The Chair said that he very much hoped that the good working relationships which had already been established would be developed.

(k) What further steps do Members think can be taken to assist in the retention of police officers?

Abdal Ullah said that from time he had been out on shift with police officers in his link boroughs. He felt that there were many areas where improvements could be made which although perhaps small in themselves had a cumulative effect on self-esteem. Praise and respect from members of the MPA and the local community was always appreciated. Other Members said that they had been struck by the perception that as an organisation the MPS did not appear to have a culture of praising its staff. Angela Slaven reported that the Human Resources Committee was due to consider a report on the introduction of a scheme whereby officers who wished to could continue to serve after the present statutory maximum of 30 years service.

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