Towards an MPA community engagement strategy

Report: 7
Date: 3 February 2005
By: Clerk

Summary

This report, with appendices, puts forward a draft community engagement strategy for the Metropolitan Police Authority.

A. Recommendation

That the Committee receive this report as the basis for further consultation and discussion before considering the adoption of a final Community Engagement Strategy and then by the full Authority at its next meeting.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The statutory obligations of the MPA to engage with Londoners is contained within a number of pieces of recent legislation, most particularly, Section 96 of the GLA Act (1999). Section 96 requires that the MPA must make arrangement after consulting the Commissioner, to obtain the views of the public about policing and to secure their cooperation with the police in preventing crime.

2. An initial draft strategy and action plan was published by the MPA in November 2002. While never formally adopted, it incorporated much of the learning and recommendations arising from the Greater London Authority, Listening to London’ Best Value Review of Consultation as well as those from the MPA/MPS Best Value Review of Consultation (2001).

3. The development of this Community Engagement strategy, in building on this earlier work, will need to viewed as a living document and subject to change and amendments as the strategy is progressed.

4. In order to achieve its overall mission the MPA has adopted a Corporate Strategy with five strategic goals. The corporate strategy sets out the priorities that the MPA intends to achieve over the next three years. The development of the MPAs Community Engagement Strategy is centred on one of the five strategic goals, which is to:

‘Transform community engagement to help Londoners secure more responsive policing at a local level.’

5. The purpose in developing this Community Engagement strategy therefore is first, to set out how the Authority, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Service will engage with Londoners to put Community engagement at the heart of citizen focused policing.

6. Secondly, to develop a systematic framework for embedding community engagement in the practice of policing in London. In other words, the purpose is to encourage and nurture the development of a more integrated approach to citizen-focused policing and community engagement across the whole of the organisation.

7. Thirdly, to establish a framework by which the MPA can assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the MPS in undertaking community engagement and assist in improving performance.

8. Throughout its history, policing in London has been centred on the concept of consensus policing – policing by consent within a community context. Sir Robert Peel’s principles when he formed the London Metropolitan Police in 1829 overtly emphasised the need for good relationships with the public and the prevention of crime. He stated:

‘The primary object of an efficient police is the prevention of crime; the next that of detection and punishment of offenders if crime is committed. To these ends all the efforts of police must be directed. In attaining these objects, much depends on the approval and cooperation of the public, and these will be determined by the degree of esteem and respect in which the police are held’.

9. Research has consistently since confirmed that strong communities can help to reduce crime through social monitoring and control. Policing will be vastly easier and more effective when it has the trust and cooperation of the public, when the police can work with local communities to identify problems and priorities.

From Consultation to Community Engagement:

10. But it was not until 1985, after the Brixton riots and Lord Scarman’s report that dialogue with the community actually became mandatory. And while the legislation does not stipulate the form by which that dialogues should take, the most common mechanism was community-police consultative groups (CPCGs). Today even the most cursory review of community police community consultative arrangements across London suggests a huge array of different purposes and multiplicity of different outcomes.

11. The evolution of policy and practice over the last twenty years has perhaps brought us back full circle to revisiting what Sir Robert Peel meant by the ‘approval and cooperation of the public’ and of putting people back at the centre of public services. It is, as the Home Office Strategic Plan 2004-08 requires, putting the citizen at the heart of everything the police service does. It has also been a process of moving the traditional notion of policing by consent to a more pro-active, dynamic and accountable process of cooperation and collaboration between the police and citizens in the delivery of policing services.

12. This emphasis is reflected in the first priority of the present National Policing Plan, which requires ‘providing a citizen focused service to the public which responds to the needs of the individuals and communities and inspires confidence in the police particularly amongst minority ethnic communities.’

13. Community police engagement today therefore – and as articulated in the Home Office White Paper, Building Communities, Beating Crime (November 2004) – is no longer a reactive activity but a proactive role of harnessing the energies of local communities and partnerships in identifying problems and holding the police to account in negotiating and influencing priorities for action and participating in and shaping solutions.

14. Community engagement is much more than consultation. Community engagement encompasses a variety of approaches at the strategic level (service-wide, pan-London), the operational level (borough level), and the community level (neighbourhood and ward level) that empower residents to both express their views and influence how their particular policing needs and priorities are met.

15. Successful community-police engagement requires:

1. residents willing and able to get involved (ie supply side)
2. a police service willing and able to involve and be influenced by the viewpoints of Londoners (ie demand side)

16. An effective community engagement strategy therefore entails supporting both these two strands. On the one hand the MPA needs to consider and ensure effective ways are in place to increase Londoners awareness and understanding of policing issues and also support the capacity and willingness of individuals and communities to work collectively to shape and strengthen the civic governance of policing in London.

17. On the other hand, it entails the MPA ensuring that the Met actually do engage Londoners in as open and constructive way as possible. In mainstreaming community engagement through all levels and facets of the Service, the Met must be able to demonstrate that it is engaging all Londoners in delivering policing services.

Clarifying oversight responsibilities

18. A number of recent reports have identified the present confusion around what should be ‘division of labour’ between the MPA and the MPA – who owns the processes of public consultation and engagement? A prime governance responsibility of the MPA is to hold the MPS to account to ensure that community engagement is fully integrated and mainstreamed throughout the MPS. In summary, the appended draft Community Engagement Strategy proposes that the MPA is not the primary provider of community engagement, but instead is responsible for setting the framework and focus by which the MPS integrates community engagement in its activities. Through its responsibilities for monitoring, for setting standards, for scrutiny, for developing and testing exemplary projects, and promoting best practice, the MPA will seek to improve the MPS approach to community engagement and ensure a citizen focus ethos.

19. A further underlying theme of this draft Community Engagement Strategy is to reinforce the principles of localisation and devolution. This is congruent with the Government’s wider strategy on public service reform and the central importance of engaging with diverse communities at the local level and a commitment to partnership working.

20. In providing greater community opportunities to influence policing, particularly at the neighbourhood and BCU level, the Government proposes a joint duty on the police and local authorities in each CDRP area to ensure they have sufficient arrangements in place to deliver a range of engagement opportunities for local neighbourhoods. At the same time, the Government proposes that the police authority will “oversee the relationship between CDRP’s and neighbourhood bodies and ensure the implementation of citizen involvement.

21. In conclusion, the appended draft Community Engagement Strategy, together with the appended draft companion and complementary MPS Consultation Strategy, is intended to further strengthen the capacity by which Londoners can influence policing decisions, policies and service development. This strategy is also intended as the driver for continuous, robust, and sustainable improvements in ensuring that Londoners play a central part in setting the agenda for policing.

C. Equality and diversity implications

One of the most important challenges for the police is how the policing needs of London’s diverse population can be met in partnership with, and in a manner, which their differences can be taken into account effectively. The proposed community engagement strategy calls for a much sharper focus on connecting the delivery of policing with the real involvement of the public, in all diversity.

D. Financial implications

There are no direct financial implications to this report, costs of the new Strategy will be contained within existing budgets.

E. Background papers

• None

F. Contact details

Report author: Tim Rees, Community Engagement

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1: Draft MPA Community Engagement Strategy

1. Vision

The goal of this Community Engagement Strategy is:

To provide effective ways for Londoners to understand and to be able to influence the policing decisions and policies that affect them, and to hold the MPS to account for the service at local level.

The strategy therefore recognises that effective community-police engagement in London will be a collaborative effort between the police and the community that identifies not only problems of crime and disorder but also involves all elements of the community in the implementation of solutions to these problems.

Community police engagement is therefore defined in this strategy as a proactive role of harnessing the energies of local communities and partners in not merely identifying problems but in negotiating priorities for action and shaping and participating in solutions.

This strategy details how the MPA will strengthen Londoners’ own voice in directly shaping the nature of policing such that it will allow the MPA in speaking on behalf of Londoners with a legitimate, informed voice. This strategy provides a framework for a strong local democratic process over policing in London.

The key indicators of success in implementing this strategy will be:

• increasing the overall public satisfaction and confidence in the police;
• Londoners increasing level of involvement and sense of ownership over the policing of London.

A success indicator for the police will be establishing a work culture which routinely recognises understands and takes account of the needs, expectations, experience and perspectives of Londoners.

2. Lead Responsibility

The Community Engagement Committee of the MPA shall have overall responsibility for directing and monitoring the implementation of the Community Engagement Strategy.

3. Governance and Oversight

Within its statutory duty to obtain the viewpoints of Londoners on policing, the MPA will pursue this in the context of its governance and oversight responsibilities. These responsibilities help to clarify the ‘division of labour’ on community engagement between the MPA and the MPS. For example, the MPA will support and oversee the MPS and its local partners in engaging with the public on the operational and tactical issues at the borough and neighbourhood level. The prime governance responsibility of the MPA is to hold the MPS to account to ensure that community engagement is fully integrated and mainstreamed throughout the MPS.

In line with the White Paper on Police Reform and the National Policing Plan, the MPA has a primary responsibility in the management of the police by scrutinising performance and holding those responsible to account.

In taking charge of this Community Engagement Strategy on behalf of the MPA, the Community Engagement Committee will support, promote and monitor a citizen-focused police service, which responds to the needs of all Londoners. This requires: -

• A citizen focused police culture with appropriate resources, standards and structures in place to ensure Londoners can influence and shape its policing requirements
• Neighbourhood policing, accessible to the public and responsive to citizen needs and priorities
• Effective engagement with Londoners on a regular basis and their increased participation in community safety
• Effective and accessible mechanisms for accountability back to residents including better information, tailored to local needs
• Partnership working across London extended beyond statutory agencies to ensure they fully involve and are responding to and serving the needs of neighbourhoods and communities

The MPA will expect to see in the annual policing plans, in local strategic plans and in the initiatives undertaken by specialist areas within the Met, the actions being taken to improve the citizen focus of policing services.

4. Standards of Community Engagement

As part of this division of responsibilities the MPA will develop standards and performance measures for community engagement and scrutinise delivery against these standards.

The Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) provides the Community Engagement Committee with an initial framework for measuring, comparing and assessing the MPS’s performance with reference to community engagement and the citizen focus.

In supporting the development of standards and performance measures for community engagement, the Committee will utilise these standards in assessing all reports and presentations before the Committee in terms of progress against the strategy.

The Community Engagement Committee, in receiving reports or survey results on a regular basis, will also expect to see comparative satisfaction levels by race, ethnicity, faith, disability, age and gender. In this regard, the Community Engagement Committee will work with the Home Office and the APA to strengthen the way police performance is measured and inspected so that it reflects the priorities of the public and their views about policing.

For example, some of the additional outcome measures expected of community engagement might be:

• How did it strengthen police accountability to the community or directly inform a decision, or shape policy or service delivery arrangements?
• How did it help to set local performance standards and targets?
• Did it increase the percentage of people who say the organisation listens to their views?
• Did it increase the percentage of people’s awareness of community-police engagement methods in place?
• Did it increase people’s involvement in policing (i.e. whether asked about police service, whether attended public meeting etc?)

5. Channelling the Results of Community Engagement Activities

The variety of forms by which Londoners can engage encompasses a variety of approaches at the strategic level (i.e. service-wide, pan London), at the operational level (i.e. borough level), and at the community level (i.e. neighbourhood and ward level).

In order to ensure a greater clarification of roles, to avoid duplication and overlapping of activity, to avoid consultation ‘fatigue’ amongst respondents, and strengthen cooperation and joined up work, it is the intent of this strategy that the Community Engagement Committee of the MPA provide the conduit through which the results of all this activity be channelled.

This will provide the MPA with greater opportunities for streamlining these various activities and an assessment of their effectiveness and utility. Secondly it will provide the MPA with the opportunity for a coherent response in tackling the emerging issues. Thirdly they provide the MPA scope for integrating the results into the MPA and MPS performance management systems.

6. Promoting Best Practice

The MPA will strengthen its role in setting the framework and focus by which the MPS integrates community engagement in its activities. It will do this by developing performance criteria, by regular scrutiny, by developing and testing exemplary community-police engagement models and by promoting best practice. The MPA will pursue an evaluation and research agenda that will focus on evaluating, clarifying and strengthening existing methods and structures and identifying the nature of participants, intent and intended outcomes of each community engagement partnership mechanism. The MPA will look to support and disseminate innovative methods and structures for community-police engagement.

7. Community Engagement at the Local Level

The MPA, through its Community Engagement Committee, will expect to receive analyses of community engagement best practice emanating from the activities of Safer Neighbourhood teams.

In order to enhance local accountability, increase partnership work and strengthen local democratic involvement, the MPA should reposition the current arrangements for community-police consultation more directly to the borough level and to channel its support via local partnerships.

At the borough level the MPA will also continue to support the development of innovative models and structures of community police engagement to ensure a coordinated, seamless process of community participation from the local neighbourhood level to the borough level. The learning will contribute to further enhancing the criteria and standards for community police engagement performance and for promoting best practice.

The MPA will also expect to receive annual reports on the methods and impact of community engagement on the activities of CDRPs. These reports will be further supplemented by the work of the MPA officers working with local CDRPs in strengthening their partnership and community engagement activities. It will also include:

• Ensuring that the impact of community engagement is responsive to the diversity of local policing needs at the borough level.
• Ensuring that MPA/MPS community engagement activities are inclusive of all sectors of London’s populations
• Ensuring that community engagement activities are compliant with existing and impending legislation and fulfil existing best value and other recommendations aimed at improvement and increased effectiveness in community engagement by the MPA/MPS.

8. Community Engagement at the Pan-London Level

Historically the MPA’s community engagement efforts have largely been expended at the local level. It has been weak in obtaining a pan-London perspective in gathering Londoners views on overall strategic policing issues. The Community Engagement Committee will wish to address this by enlarging and strengthening its pan London initiatives.

This will include:

• Ensuring that the MPAs 3,000 member Safer London Panel is effectively used and its collective viewpoint is widely disseminated and promoted
• Maintaining and strengthening partnership work with appropriate institutions such as the GLA, the Home Office, ALG, GOL, APA, etc
• Building partnerships with pan-London community based organisations to undertake community engagement with specific target groups.

9. Serving Diverse Communities

London’s diversity includes characteristics not only of race, ethnicity, faith, language and immigrant refugee status. It also includes huge differences in crime and safety experiences, and thereby different policing needs based on age, gender, sexual orientation and mental and physical disability. Further layers of ever increasing diversity that impacts upon policing – and thereby methods of community engagement – include the complex and overlapping differences and divisions that exist in terms of people’s values and beliefs, lifestyles, life chances and levels of disadvantage and deprivation.

The dramatically changing and mobile nature of London’s population clearly creates greater urgency for more purposeful community engagement processes that are accessible and equitable for all sectors of the population.

For example, the MPA will continue to drive forward the disabled peoples policing agenda, and will strengthen its engagement with the faith communities in London, particularly with respect to policing practice that negatively impacts those of certain faiths. Similarly it will wish to strengthen its engagement with the LGBT communities, with Women’s networks, and with the Black, minority and ethnic communities.

In summary, the Authority sees its role in strengthening Londoners involvement at a pan London level and on overall strategic priorities, while at the borough level, the MPS and local partners will lead on more tactical and operational issues.

10. Strengthening The Community Voice

Apart from ensuring a police service able to involve and be influenced by the viewpoints of Londoners, successful community-police engagement also requires residents willing and able to get involved. The MPA will therefore consider effective ways are in place to increase Londoners awareness and understanding of policing issues and that there is capacity and willingness of individuals and communities to work collectively to shape and strengthen policing in London.

In summary, the proposed priorities in implementing the Community Engagement Strategy are:

11. Priorities

• To require the MPS to deliver community engagement in accordance with this strategic framework, to scrutinise the community engagement performance of the MPS and to hold the MPS to account for continued improvement, all as an extended element of its governance responsibilities
• To establish standards and quality assurance of processes at the local, borough and pan-London levels that strengthen the level of Londoners involvement and influence over policing
• To establish organisational procedures that ensure the viewpoints of Londoners inform the whole of the MPA decision – making and planning process including the annual policing plan.
• To establish a public education and awareness strategy
• To develop the capacity of communities in London to engage.

Appendix 2: Draft Consultation Strategy Statement

“Consultation is to listen, inform, exchange and respond appropriately in order to ensure that the overall service delivered reflects expectations, is perceived as fair, open and accountable and builds public confidence in the MPS.”
(MPA/MPS Best Value Review (2000) definition of consultation)

The overarching objective of the strategy is

“to make the best decisions for Londoners through effective engagement with Londoners”.

Outlined in the following pages are the six strands that will achieve this objective. They comprise the goals, activities and benefits that would make up an effective consultation strategy statement and provide direction and a framework on which the MPS can structure consultation activity to ensure that it is both effective and efficient.

At present there is no published strategy or co-ordinated approach to the significant amount of consultation carried out within the MPS at local and corporate level.

Drivers for the consultation strategy

• The government’s Citizen Focus agenda
• The MPS Safer Neighbourhoods programme
• The Towards The Safest City aim to improve consultation
• Recommendations arising from the HMIC BVR Inspection and MPA/MPS review
• Legislative and mandatory requirements

Consultation Strategy Outline

The overarching objective of the strategy is “to make the best decisions for Londoners through effective engagement with Londoners”. To achieve this the draft strategy contains six strands, each with a specific goal:

1. Building a Consultation Community
   “Identifying stakeholders including ‘hard-to-hear’ groups. Managing stakeholder relationships and build up-to-date stakeholder database.”
2. Ensuring Effective Dialogue
   “Effective planning and implementation of a variety of consultation styles with stakeholders, using methods that make it easy for stakeholders to contribute having regard to the status of stakeholders and other defined criteria.”
3. Analysing Results
   “Consultation responses subjected to rigorous analysis, having regard to the status of stakeholders and other defined criteria.”
4. Influencing Decisions
   “Producing a final submission to decision makers by rationalising consultation responses, integrating this input with the full decision-making processes and recording the output.”
5. Giving Feedback
   “Meaningful feedback compiled and published from all consultation activities, showing respondents, stakeholders, Londoner’s and MPS staff, how their contributions have been considered in appropriate decision making processes.”
6. Co-ordinating Activity
   “Design and manage a series of consultation processes to inform key decisions, co-ordinated to minimise inconvenience to stakeholders and avoid confusion.”

Benefits of an over arching consultation strategy

• Improved public perception of the MPS
• More effective community engagement
• Co-ordinated approach to consultation
• More effective use of MPS resources
• Increased quality of consultation
• Increased ability to meet community/public expectation

This has been drawn up after some consultation with MPS business groups. Further consultation would be needed and the results of the consultation incorporated into a published strategy statement, before an implementation plan could be developed.

The implementation plan will cover a 3 year period with an annual programme of activity agreed by the MPA consultation Committee. The workplan will include;

• Create steering Committee + professional training throughout the organisation + initial capacity-building
• Consolidated Stakeholder Database and improved co-ordination/value for money + further capacity-building
• Centralisation of consultation findings, integrating results with intelligence systems, analysis and better integration into decision cycles.

1. Building a Consultation Community

Goal

“Identifying stakeholders including ‘hard-to-hear’ groups. Managing stakeholder relationships and build up-to-date stakeholder database.”

Some groups in society have always been adept at influencing decisions. Today’s need for more inclusive consultation means making special efforts to engage those groups that are less equipped to participate in traditional consultation methods. As a result the MPS needs to consult with a wide stakeholder base and use a variety of methods. The localised nature of MPS consultation activity means there is currently no centralised stakeholder database within the organisation, resulting in duplicated activities and confused participants.

Activity to achieve the Goal

• Publicise regular bulletins on consultation activities/ past successes to help recruit future participants.
• Promote what consultation is and is not, to manage stakeholder/ community expectations.
• Identify a range of stakeholders including community groups representing the ‘hard-to-hear’ groups as identified by the MPA.
• Capacity building exercises with stakeholders where need identified.
• Ensure local up to date lists of stakeholder organisations/ representative groups.
• Identify an ‘owner’ unit within the MPS for a centralised stakeholder database.
• Create a centralised relational stakeholder database with stakeholder profiling.
• Investigate the use of new technology to reduce resource intensity, i.e. stakeholder portals to allow stakeholders to update their own details.

Benefits to the MPS of achieving the Goal

• Readily available representative sample of the community
• Effective use of internal resources
• Effective engagement with participants
• Ability to more effectively meet stakeholder/ community expectations
• Improved ability of stakeholders to respond effectively to consultation exercises
• Single accurate database
• Results based on informed consultation
• Ability to carry out targeted consultation

2. Ensuring Effective Dialogue

Goal

“Effective planning and implementation of a variety of consultation styles with stakeholders, using methods that make it easy for stakeholders to contribute having regard to the status of stakeholders and other defined criteria.”

There are many tried and tested methods of consultation currently in use within the MPS. However, knowledge within the MPS of these techniques and how to carry out a consultation dialogue is variable. A significant amount of consultation carried out within the MPS is at a local level and although the Strategic Consultation Unit is able to give advice on methods, not all MPS practitioners are aware there is a documented ‘toolkit’ available. Local units sometimes re-invent the process each time, which is a major source of avoidable waste as many consultation processes are repeatable, and with good documentation can be refined and improved over time.

Activity to achieve the Goal

• Ensure the centralised ‘toolkit’ is well publicised, and includes:
  • distinction between continuous and single consultation activities
  • advice on traditional methods (public meetings, focus groups, document circulation, etc) and newer e-methods (online consultation, online debates, web surveys)
  • guidelines to ensure consultation activities adopt a communication mix that allows a representative response
  • established processes with a ‘checklist’ of steps to follow
  • mechanism to ensure best practice is captured and centrally collated.

Benefits to the MPS of achieving the Goal

• Better consultation carried out by the MPS
• Consistent standards of consultation activity
• Structured consultation processes
• Consultation activity is planned rather than ad hoc
• Auditable consultation processes
• Maximise participation in the consultation process

3. Analysing Results

Goal

“Consultation responses subjected to rigorous analysis, having regard to the status of stakeholders and other defined criteria.”

The variety of consultation methods utilised within the MPS often results in a mass of unwieldy information. Additionally, MPS staff carrying out consultation often do not have the expertise to turn this information into useable intelligence. As a result the information can easily be put on a shelf and forgotten about. To ensure participant responses are effectively analysed, the resources and mechanisms for analysis must be considered and put in place when designing the consultation.

Activity to achieve the Goal

• Upfront consideration of:
  • what format information will be generated in
  • what resources and expertise will be needed for analysis
• Analyse responses:
  • with consideration of both quantitative and qualitative results
  • objectively and free from bias – independent analysis if necessary
  • weighted where appropriate.

Benefits to the MPS of achieving the Goal

• Consultation process integrated with NIM
• Robust conclusions from consultation information
• Quantitative and qualitative results
• Decisions based on full consideration of consultation results
• Transparency

4. Influencing Decisions

Goal

“Producing a final submission to decision makers by rationalising consultation responses, integrating this input with the full decision-making processes and recording the output.”

Consultation data management i.e. the mechanisms that convert consultation input into ‘advice’ for decision makers and records the result of the consideration of this data - is an area of weakness within the MPS. Carrying out consultation activities, without appropriately feeding the input from consultees into the decision making process, loses essential input into that process. Feeding consultation information to decision makers is a key part of consultations. Without it, at best the MPS misses valuable intelligence and at worst is just ‘going through the motions’, wasting money, effort and goodwill from all concerned.

Activity to achieve the Goal

• Engender a consultation culture within the organisation.
• Decide who presents consultation data and through which fora.
• Produce and publish robust methodology for consultation data management including -
• mechanisms for feeding information to decision-makers
• recording the result of this input.
• Produce timetables for decision making where appropriate.

Benefits to the MPS of achieving the Goal

• Better informed decisions
• More robust decisions
• Wider ownership of decisions
• Transparency
• Increases organisational focus on consultation
• Credible processes
• Best use of consultation results

5. Giving Feedback

Goal

“Meaningful feedback compiled and published from all consultation activities, showing respondents, stakeholders, Londoner’s and MPS staff, how their contributions have been considered in appropriate decision making processes.”

The MPS as a whole is a consultative organisation. Both officers and police staff tend to operate in a consultative manner. Talking to the people is something they take for granted. However, even when this dialogue occurs as part of a formal consultative process, respondents who have participated in consultation exercises are often left unsure of what happened. Exacerbated by a lack of guidance, this is the part of the consultation process that the MPS currently struggles with most.

Activity to achieve the Goal

• Plan and fund feedback to stakeholders.
• Publish proportionate and sufficient feedback to encourage the responder to participate again next time.
• Consider options on feedback such as -
  • full text of all submissions and responses
  • edited digest
  • summary of entire consultation
  • independent analysis
  • consolidated response
• Give interim feedback where consultation is on going.

Benefits to the MPS of achieving the Goal

• Improved public perception
• Better engagement
• Increased future engagement
• Creation of a consultation community
• Increased transparency
• Increased accountability

6. Co-ordinating Activity

Goal

“Design and manage a series of consultation processes to inform key decisions, co-ordinated to minimise inconvenience to stakeholders and avoid confusion.”

Most consultation within the MPS is organised at local OCU/BCU level with no central co-ordination. Knowledge of how to carry out this consultation dialogue is widespread but variable. Although it would not be viable or desirable to run or even co-ordinate all consultations centrally, ensuring consistent standards is paramount. MPS staff carrying out consultation activity often do so as an addition to their regular role, which means training for this function is very limited.

Activity to achieve the Goal

• Co-ordinate key consultation activity throughout the MPS.
• Produce guidelines on when/how central co-ordination is necessary.
• Co-operate between local autonomous B/OCUs with a central co-ordinator for specified consultation activities.
• Forward plan consultation activities, including a visible schedule published ahead of time of ‘regular’ consultation activities.
• Tie in consultation with activity carried out to implement related MPS strategies and policies, i.e. Internal Communication Strategy and Media Policy.
• Consolidate a central training facility for MPS consultation practitioners.

Benefits to the MPS of achieving the Goal

• Reduce consultation fatigue
• Value for money
• Quality assurance
• Consultation activity integrated with other related strategies and activities
• Consultation seen as means to an end
• Increased transparency and public confidence
• Better collaboration between MPS units
• Better partnership
• Increased standards and consistency across the MPS

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