Minutes

Minutes of the Co-ordination and Urgency Committee held on 10 January 2002, at Romney House, 43 Marsham Street, Westminster SW1P 3PY.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Reshard Auladin
• Richard Barnes (Deputy Chair)
• Peter Herbert (Deputy Chair)
• Nicholas Long
• Graham Tope
• Richard Sumray
• Rachel Whittaker

Also present:

• Cindy Butts

MPA staff

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Nick Baker (Committee Services)

MPS staff

• Ian Blair (Deputy Commissioner)

Also in attendance: 3 members of the public and MPS/MPA staff.

Part 1

34. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies of absence were received from R David Muir.

35. Minutes: 6 November 2001 and 19 November 2001 (special meeting)

(Agenda item 2)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 November 2001 and the special meeting held on 19 November 2001 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

36. Additional budget proposals

(Agenda item 3)

The Committee considered a report that informed Members that the Consultation, Diversity and Outreach (CDO) Committee had considered a range of equality responsibilities that the Authority would wish to build on. The report asked Members to considered a proposal that £280,000 of the MPS equalities budget for 2002/03 should be retained by the Authority in order to take forward its responsibilities to deliver on equalities, diversity and communication polices.

In introducing the report to Members, the Clerk suggested that the report highlighted the work which was currently in progress in this area and in order to meet the proposed work programme, and any additions to it, further discussions should be undertaken. 

Members suggested that this proposal needed to be taken as part of the overall budget process and as the budget had not been announced the report should be at this stage noted. It was acknowledged that in the meantime negotiations on how to meet the work programme should be undertaken, including consideration of a more collaborated approaches in some areas and the need to find joint objectives should be initiated. 

Members highlighted two such area where work could be undertaken on a collaborative basis; CRR training and hate crimes, both of which the Authority had already requested that work be undertaken on.

Resolved - That

1. Members note the proposal that £280,000 from the overall MPS equality budget be retained by the Authority to enable it to develop its own equalities infrastructure in order to meet its statutory obligations and best practice requirements;
2. following the budget announcement a further report be presented to the Committee on this issue;
3. in the meantime discussions be held with the MPS on possible collaborative work on the proposed work programme and joint objectives be identified.

37. MPS response to Police Reform White Paper

(Agenda item 4)

The Chair agreed to receive this report as an urgent item as the closing of date for response to the police reform white paper was imminent. 

The Committee received a report that set out a proposed MPA response to the Governments white paper on police reform and the Clerk in introducing the report confirmed that the response would be direct to the Home Office and would also attempt to take account of the Association of Police Authorities (APA) Plenary Group views. 

The Clerk added that the response outlined in the report required further work and highlighted the need for further detail on Community Safety Officers (CSO) (to support a flexible approach on what is the best option for a particular Authority) and PNB.

In relation to CSO, Members suggested that a response should include that these officers would supplement existing police officers and would not be instead of police officers and that there needed to be a clear distinction regarding their powers of operation.

Rachel Whittaker raised concerns that had been highlighted at Human Resources Committee that the speed that proposals to introduce CSO were actioned implied that the scheme was already agreed, despite any view or consideration by the Authority. It was noted that the Deputy Commissioner believed that Home Office were pushing for this element of the proposals.

Members raised concerns in relation to PNB finance and that this needed to properly reflect the role of the MPS which is sometimes much more specialised that other areas of the country. It was also noted that a response should include the need to pursue retention of officers with 30 years service, but only if financial input can be covered. Finally, Members requested that with regard to CSOs and equalities and diversity a response should incorporate a reference to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry recommendations.

Resolved - That the Clerk re-draft the response to the white paper on police reform to reflect the views expressed by Members and that the final draft be approved by the Chair and the Chair of HR Committee prior to submission to the Home Office.

38. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 5)

A resolution was put that that the press and public be asked to leave the meeting during the discussion of the remaining item of business because exempt information as defined in paragraph 9 of part 1 schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 is likely to be made known.

Resolved - That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the remaining item of business as it is likely to contained exempt information as outlined in paragraph 9 of part 1 to Schedule 12A of the local Government Act 1972.

39. Minutes (Part 2): 19 November 2001

The Committee considered the exempt minutes of the special meeting held on 19 November 2001.

Resolved - That the exempt minutes of the special meeting held on 19 November 2001 be signed as a correct record.

The meeting closed at 3.55 p.m.

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