Proposed MPS Strategic Consultation Unit work plan

Report: 11
Date: 3 February 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report updates members on the proposed work plan of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Strategic Consultation Unit.

A. Recommendation

 That

1. members note the report; and
2. members endorse the plan of action outlined in the report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. This report outlines a draft work plan for the MPS Strategic Consultation Unit.

2. The plan has evolved from three sources:

• Activities outlined in the draft MPS Consultation Strategy.
• Activities required as part of the ‘Improving Engagement’ Strand of the Draft Citizen Focus Work Plan.
• The Strategic Consultation Unit’s MPA liaison role, including statutory requirements.

3. The draft work plan outlining activities to satisfy all these requirements can be seen at Appendix 1. The first column of the work plan either indicates where the activity aligns with the draft MPS Consultation Strategy Strand or the overarching aim of the activity.

4. At the time of drawing up the work plan the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) Community Engagement Strategy had not been received. It is therefore anticipated that the work plan will be amended to include work necessary to help embed the MPA strategy within the MPS.

Priority projects

5. In addition to the priorities and timescales shown in the work plan a number of priority projects have been identified by the Citizen Focus Team (as outlined in the Citizen Focus report presented to today’s Committee meeting). The ‘Consultation and Engagement - particularly within Safer Neighbourhoods processes’ project falls within the remit of the MPS Strategic Consultation Unit and has therefore been given priority status within the unit.

6. Outlined below is the work, identified in conjunction with the Citizen Focus Team, that the Strategic Consultation Unit is currently focusing on to achieve this Citizen Focus priority project

Safer Neighbourhoods – joining up messages given to the teams.

7. The Strategic Consultation Unit will ensure that consistent messages are given to Safer Neighbourhoods teams regarding what they are trying to achieve with consultation and engagement activities, and how they should go about it.

8. Sources identified that need to give a consistent message include;

• Planning and Managing Consultation and Community Engagement Training.
• Safer Neighbourhoods Website.
• Corporate ENGAGE! Tool (see update paper on the MPS Consultation and Community Engagement Website presented at today’s Committee meeting for description).
• Various sets of Engagement/Consultation Guidelines.
• Performance Indicators.

9. Work is currently underway looking at all of the above sources. The Safer Neighbourhoods Team is hoping to have their internal MPS web portal live by the beginning of February 2005. The MPS Strategic Consultation Unit is concentrating on providing the team with coherent information to populate the consultation and engagement parts of the site. It is not intended that the portal will be fully functional by the beginning of February, it is intended that the site will be populated incrementally as information becomes available.

Safer neighbourhoods – performance indicators

10. The Strategic Consultation Unit is concentrating on performing a coordination role in ensuring the performance indicators reflect activities that have been shown to produce results. This will make sure that the teams concentrate on and are evaluated on engagement activities that contribute to closing the reassurance gap.

11. The Strategic Consultation Unit has identified a number of internal MPS stakeholder units and individuals who are carrying out related performance and research work. Effort at this stage is concentrating on bringing the relevant people together in a systematic and regular manner. This will enable the best use of resources and ensure information from a variety of sources (10 year Chicargo’s Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) evaluation, National and MPS research, etc) is considered to arrive at effective measures.

Safer neighbourhoods – training

12. The Strategic Consultation Unit is at present responsible for providing training to both Safer Neighbourhood/Sector Inspectors (as well as policy makers) on how to plan and manage consultation and engagement activities.

13. Proposals have been put to the Safer Neighbourhood Unit by the Strategic Consultation unit to extend specific engagement, consultation and partnership training to the Sergeants who run Safer Neighbourhoods teams. This will be in addition to the training that the teams receive to equip them to carry out their Safer Neighbourhood role. Work is also ongoing to ensure that the training proposed and received from all sources is joined up and appropriately cascaded.

Local Area Agreements (LAA)

14. This at present appears to be the way forward, favoured by the Home Office for local partnerships/funding/responding to priorities identified by engagement activities. Hammersmith and Greenwich are pilot areas within the MPS. The Strategic Consultation Unit will research these to ensure that the MPS is best placed to benefit from and where necessary align itself with the methodology.

Summary

15. As a result, much of the ongoing work carried out by the Strategic Consultation Unit is concentrating on ensuring that Safer Neighbourhood officers are adequately equipped to carry out their role. Once this has been provided emphasis will be realigned to ensure that corporate consultation carried out by policy makers and others has adequate corporate guidance/infrastructure.

16. Continued liaison with relevant stakeholders within the MPS such as; the Citizen Focus Team; Performance Information Bureau; and the Safer Neighbourhoods Team, ensures that the work outlined within this report, is prioritised along with work to deliver the other Citizen Focus work streams.

C. Equality and diversity implications

1. The results of the Community Engagement survey carried out in 2004 indicated that the MPA hard to reach groups were not always consulted systematically throughout the organisation. This report outlines further steps that along with those carried out over the last 12 months, will continue to ensure that all MPS staff carrying out consultation are aware of the need to and importance of consulting with all areas of the community including hard to reach groups.

2. Where consultation activity is carried out directly by the Strategic Consultation Unit, methods are built into the process to ensure that all the hard to reach groups are included in the consultation.

D. Financial implications

The work plan at Appendix 1 is a draft. Where activities are already in progress, or are ongoing process, the financial implications have been incorporated into the Corporate Planning Group (CPG) budget. The Strategic Consultation Unit sits within CPG and does not at present have a separate budget. The financial implications concerned with the implementation of some of the activities have not yet been fully scoped. This will be done once the activity has been finalised and agreed. At that time, funding either from within CPG, or if appropriate from other MPS Business Groups, will be negotiated.

E. Background papers

• None

F. Contact details

Report author: Jane Wilkin, Strategic Consultation Manager, Strategic Consultation Unit, MPS Corporate Planning Group.

For more information contact:

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

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