Safer London Panel: forward plan 2005-2007

Report: 9
Date: 16 June 2005
By: the Chief Executive and Clerk

Summary

This report presents a forward plan for the MPA’s Citizen Panel (the Safer London Panel) for the fiscal year 2005/06. The plan outlines the different ways by which the MPA will utilise the 3,000-member Panel this financial year as well as proposed directions for the following financial year. The report also details how the feedback and findings from the Panel will be disseminated in order to inform service provision and policy development.

A. Recommendation

That

1. the Community Engagement Committee endorse the plans for the Safer London Panel outlined in this report;
2. the Safer London Panel be made available for research use by other members of the Greater London Authority (GLA) group [1] and by other relevant statutory authorities.

B. Supporting information

Background information

1. In June 2003 the Consultation Committee recommended the establishment of an MPA Citizens Panel.

2. Citizens Panels are an established cost effective consultation tool. A survey of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships [2] showed that 83% of partnerships that had used Panels had found them useful.

3. Citizen Panels have a number of advantages over other types of community engagement and consultation techniques. For the MPA these include:

• a consistent community engagement method which ensures an inclusive cross-section of Londoners;
• ongoing access to citizens who can be used to consult on a regular basis on a wide variety of issues;
• providing an opportunity for focused and intense discussion around specific themes and an opportunity to work with a particular population subgroups; and
• being cost effective. Over a period of time, a Panel is less costly than a series of one-off surveys.

4. The Safer London Panel has a total of 3000 members. The size of the Panel allows the MPA to identify particular population sub groups (for example: age group, race or ethnicity, gender and working status) of sufficient size to permit statistically useful consultation.

5. In accordance with the MPA’s strategic objective to publish annual policing plans and strategies in consultation with London’s diverse communities, the results of the first survey and consultation workshop have been used to inform the development of the Policing and Performance Plans 2004/05 and 2005/06.

6. Based on the findings from the first survey, the MPS have also been asked by the Community Engagement Committee to provide a response on the steps they are taking to:

• reduce the time which visitors to police stations have to wait before being attended to;
• address public misapprehensions about incidents that are “not worth reporting to the Police”, especially incidents where discrimination is involved;
• be more responsive to the policing priorities of local people.

Key considerations

7. Information from the first year of the Panel (the two surveys and the consultation workshop) allowed the MPA to: build baseline information, identify the most effective ways of using the Panel and begin to measure levels of interest amongst Panel members on particular themes.

8. The challenge for the MPA is to find a balance between, on the one hand, using the Panel innovatively in order to retain interest and membership and on the other hand, to capture information which is rich in detail and which can be used to inform policy and service provision.

9. In order to collect useful information, which both the MPA and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) can benefit from, it is essential to strategically plan the activities for the Panel to fit in with other MPA/MPS consultation activities, events and priority setting exercises. This year’s activities have been planned with this in mind.

10. Suggestions for next year’s activities have been provided but will be considered in more detail in that financial year.

This financial year’s activities

Three Year Policing Strategy 2005–2008:

11. In order to inform the Three Year Policing Strategy (produced in partnership with the MPS) Panel members will be asked to take part in a budget game. The budget game is a technique well tested by local authorities and other public agencies, and will provide a fresh way for Panel members to identify London policing priorities.

12. In order to identify the policing priorities and concerns of particular groups and communities, a number of focus groups will be held with different population sub groups of the panel, in order to assess the differential policing priorities and needs of London’s diverse population.

Community Engagement and Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT):

13. The Strategic Analysis and Performance Team within the MPS are currently undertaking a number of research activities, to assess the effectiveness of the Safer Neighbourhoods Initiative. The Community Engagement Unit has consulted with the MPS to ensure that the MPA consultation on the initiative complements and feeds into the MPS assessment and review. In agreement with the Strategic Analysis and Performance Team, it has been decided that the Panel will take part in an information activity (described below).

14. One of the key general concerns for community members in relation to policing is information (lack of/access to/suitable formats etc) and consequently the panel will be asked to address the following key questions:

• what information do community members require from SNTs?;
• what formats should information be presented in?
• what do community members need to know in regards to SNT and policing in general?

15. A variety of methodologies will be agreed, in partnership with the Office for Public Management (OPM). [3] In order to identify the information needs of different population sub-groups, a number of focus groups will be arranged. It is expected that face-to-face interviews will be provided for the benefit of non-English-speaking Panel members.

Small businesses workshop:

16. The workshop will bring together Panel members who have been identified as either working in or running small businesses. [4] The purpose of this focus group will be to:

• ‘reality-check’ existing survey findings on small business and crime and policing issues;
• identify the additional crime and policing concerns of small businesses;
• produce a series of recommendations.

17. Findings will be bought forward to an autumn MPA Small Business event to which the Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and MPA Chair Len Duvall have been invited. Findings will be presented to the Commissioner with the intention that a commitment is made by the MPS to take forward the recommendations and suggestions.

Newsletters:

18. It is expected that a minimum of three newsletters will be produced in this financial year. The activities listed above (Three Year Policing Strategy 2005–2008, Community Engagement and Safer Neighbourhood Teams and Small businesses workshop) will only involve sub-sections of the panel and therefore it is essential that panel members, who are not involved in any of these activities, remain engaged with the Safer London Panel and remain committed to it. In order to do this, it is advisable to separate the newsletter from each planned activity. To date, newsletters have accompanied postal questionnaires and there has been no contact with panel members between each survey.

19. The newsletter will not only be used to disseminate findings and information, but will also be used to gauge interest in proposed activities and identify members to take part in those activities. In addition, the newsletter will provide an opportunity to share information with Panel members on current policing practices and recent community engagement activities undertaken by the Community Engagement Unit.

20. It is likely that a minimum of three newsletters will also be produced in the following year of the contract.

Suggestions for the following financial year

21. Two of the suggested Panel activities for the following financial year are to be planned and implemented in partnership with the MPA’s Race and Diversity Unit (RDU). These activities will track progress and impact of current work programmes and policy.

Disability Community update:

22. Panel members will be asked to comment on the impact of the Greater London Action on Disability (GLAD) community report recommendations [5] adopted by the MPA, and will be asked to provide qualitative evidence on changes that have occurred in policing practice since the publication of the report in January 2005.

23. The Unit recommends waiting till the following financial year of the contract to run this activity, as this will enable the MPS to take forward the GLAD community report recommendations in the meantime.

Stop and Search:

24. As stated previously, the panel provides an opportunity for a more focused examination of issues and therefore can be used to track the impact of policy changes. Throughout the following financial year a longitudinal study [6] of the changing attitudes of panels members towards stop and search will be carried out.

25. In preparation for the longitudinal study, members will be asked to complete two questions on stop and search. The questions will ask members about their general perceptions of stop and search and its effectiveness as a police mechanism and whether they have experienced a stop and search.

26. The overall aims and objectives of the longitudinal study will be agreed in detail with the RDU.

Working in partnership with pan-London organisations and partnerships

27. In order to develop the profile of the Panel and streamline pan-London community engagement activities, joint engagement events will be planned with pan-London organisations and the MPA’s statutory partners.

28. In partnership with the Strategic Analysis and Performance Team and the Strategic Consultation Unit at the MPS, the Community Engagement Unit is planning an information-sharing event for October 2005. This will bring together pan-London organisations and partnerships with the key aims: of sharing research and community engagement work and findings and identifying how consultation findings can be used more effectively at a pan-London and local level.

29. This event will also provide a valuable opportunity for the MPA to identify how the Panel can be used by partner agencies. The utilisation of the Safer London Panel by statutory partner agencies will serve the MPA’s priority of strengthening joint working with other functional bodies. Working in partnership with other pan-London organisations will also provide the opportunity to streamline consultation activities and will increase the public profile of the Panel and the MPA amongst Londoners.

30. The October event will also serve as a valuable opportunity to highlight the GLA CONSULT database and how it can be utilised. CONSULT is a searchable database containing details of research projects and public consultation programmes undertaken by the GLA Group and partner organisations. Findings from consultation activities undertaken with the Panel will be featured on CONSULT.

Dissemination of results from panel activities

31. Consultation findings will be presented at Community Engagement Committee meetings.

32. In addition, findings from Safer London Panel activities and the newsletter will be widely disseminated across local and pan-London organisations and partnerships, including the following:

• existing MPA borough community engagement mechanisms (Community Safety Boards and Community and Police Consultative Groups);
• Independent Custody Visitor Panels (ICVP);
• MPA website;
• CONSULT database;
• The Job and GLA group newsletters and publications, for example, The Londoner;
• Community Safety Teams;
• Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships;
• relevant statutory partners.

33. Furthermore, depending on the areas focused on (for example: crimes affecting small businesses, disability and policing and stop and search) relevant community and voluntary organisations will also be sent report findings.

C. Race and equality impact

1. The Safer London Panel has been specifically designed to reflect the diverse nature of London’s communities. It provides the opportunity to engage with hard to reach communities on service provision, on policy development and issues such as stop and search that affect particular communities in a disproportionate manner.

2. The Community Engagement Team will continue to work in partnership with OPM to ensure that the panel remains representative of London’s diverse communities. To facilitate this, OPM will be reviewing the current panel membership in August 2005 to identify gaps in terms of age, gender, race and ethnicity and working status and a replenishment of the panel will be undertaken. If necessary, depending on the profile of the Panel, a second review and replenishment will be undertaken in the following financial year.

D. Financial implications

The costs of the Safer London Panel are within existing approved budget allocation. As mentioned earlier in the report, a panel is a cost-effective community engagement mechanism. As this is the second year of the Panel there is no start-up costs to take into account, however, current and future running costs have been considered.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Hamera Asfa Malik

For more information contact:

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

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