Progress report on the review of community police engagement at borough level

Report: 6
Date: 1 September 2005
By: the Chief Executive and Clerk

Summary

This report details the progress being made on the review of borough based community engagement as agreed by the committee at their meeting on 16 June 2005.

A. Recommendation

That the Committee is asked to note the report and receive a further progress report at its next meeting.

B. Supporting information

1. The Community Engagement Committee at its meeting on 16 June 2005 received a report summarising a major review of community engagement at the borough level. This included a number of recommendations for member consideration and approval.

2. Members approved Option 2, which whilst seeking to involve local statutory partners in determining local engagement leaves the final decision to the MPA. It also seeks to encourage community engagement groups to hold not just the Borough Commander but also the CDRP to account.

3. This report summarised the tasks that need to be carried out to implement the committee’s decision, the progress being made and the further work that needs to be carried out.

Review current grant funding procedure

4. Discussions with the CPCG Chairs since the last committee meeting strongly identified the need for a definition of what the core activities of a community engagement group should be in the future. This is particularly timely in the light of the MPA’s stated desire to move away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach in that it will balance local requirements with an irreducible core of activities that will be common to all.

5. There is a need for an independent and objective approach to this task so that all parties can have confidence in the outcome. For that reason the Unit has commissioned Professor Michael Hough of Kings College London to carry out this work. The results of this work will be shared with key partners including, of course, the CPCGs so that a consensus can be reached.

6. Once such a consensus has been reached it will then be possible to review the details of the funding process to ensure that it will be adequate to deliver Option 2 in full or in part by 1st April 2006. This review will include the setting of appropriate and practical Performance Indicators and a scrutiny and evaluation methodology leading to clear outputs and outcomes.

7. It will also be necessary to review and amend the existing application and guidance forms and the internal assessment form upon which funding recommendations are base. In all of this we shall be consulting the key partners i.e. community engagement groups, Borough Commanders, Link Members and Community Safety Managers with the aim of establishing a more open and consensual approach than has been the case to date.

Consultation with key partners

8. Community Engagement Unit staff were invited to a meeting of the London CPCG Chairs Forum on 12 July 2005. The meeting was given over to discussing the implications of the committee’s decision to adopt ‘Option 2’ and a number of useful proposals emerged. In order to have more detailed and manageable discussions than would be possible in such a large gathering a CPCG Reference Group has been set up comprising of 9 Chairs chose to representing a balance of Groups. This has already met once and is proving very useful. It will meet regularly until the 2006/07 funding arrangements are completed.

9. It is envisaged that regular meetings will take place with Commander Jim Smith of Territorial Policing to ensure that the Borough Commanders are aware of their role in the new arrangements and to allow them to comment on the process as it evolves. Other avenues including asking for an agenda item on AC Godwin’s bi-monthly meetings with all the Borough Commanders and making contact with the 4 geographical BOCU cluster meetings.

10. It will be necessary to establish a dialogue with the Local Authority community safety managers, in order to explain the MPA’s aims in developing borough based community engagement groups and to seek their co-operation in furthering those aims, particularly in relation to the relationship between the Groups and the CDRPs. The Government Office for London has regular meetings with the community safety managers and has offered the Community Engagement Unit an agenda item on their next meeting on 8th September 2005. This will allow the dialogue to commence.

11. Last and by no means least is the role of them MPA Link Member. The Committee agreed to the setting up of a Members Panel with an enhanced membership drawn from the Committee and the Authority as a whole. This Panel would act on behalf of the Committee in receiving and discussing reports on the new funding procedures and agreeing the final proposals. Given the summer holiday period it has not been possible to finalise the Panel’s membership let alone call them together. It is hoped to do this by early October 2005.

Community Engagement Programme Board

12. The Committee agreed at its last meeting to the setting up of an officer led Community Engagement Programme Board with an initial membership drawn from the MPA, MPS and representation from the CPCGs and the Cabs. This may be extended to include representation from the GLA, Government Office for London, the community safety managers and possibly the Home Office. It has not been possible to set up the Board since the last committee meeting, nevertheless bi-lateral meetings have taken place with some of the parties and more are planned. It is probably best to leave this initiative in abeyance until further progress has been made.

Good practice conference

13. In order to allow existing groups and statutory partners the opportunity to consider the increasing variety of approaches to borough community engagement a conference will be held to showcase good practice models currently in operation.

14. Both Consultative Groups and Community Safety Boards will make contributions. The results of the research on CPCGS and their relationship with the CDRPs and their work with young people will also be presented, as will be the relationships between the Groups and the Safer Neighbourhoods Community Panels.

15. A variety of statutory and community partners will be invited especially those who will be involved in future funding decisions. A report of the conference proceedings will be produced and widely circulated. The conference is likely to take place in late November and probably on a Saturday. As soon as the date is confirmed it will be circulated to all members of the Authority.

Resources

16. The reforms as envisaged in the review report and as endorsed by the committee at its last meeting will only be successfully implemented if there are sufficient resources to support them. In terms of both human and financial resources this is currently far from the case.

17. A number of different approaches are under consideration including reviewing the total allocation of appropriate MPA resources, negotiating with MPS as to what support they can offer and discussing the nature of next year’s funding allocation with the CPCGs. The outcome and consequences of these approaches will be the subject of a further report to members.

C. Race and equality impact

It is the intent of the MPA that in reviewing borough level community engagement arrangement all aspects of diversity are given due consideration. In particular, we intend to ensure that Groups receiving funding include representatives of local communities who are considered hard-to-reach, sizeable minorities in the area, and groups who are disproportionately victimised.

D. Financial implications

There are no specific financial implications in this report, but the implications of implementing the options may require the reallocation of existing resources which will be considered as part of future reports.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Christopher Calnan

For more information contact:

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

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