Minutes

Minutes of the Co-ordination and Policing Committee held on 4 October 2002 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Reshard Auladin
• Richard Barnes (Deputy Chair)
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Nicholas Long
• R David Muir (Deputy Chair)
• Richard Sumray
• Rachel Whittaker
• Cecile Wright

MPA officers:

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Peter Martin (Treasurer)
• Simon Vile (Head of Secretariat)

MPS officers:

• Ian Blair (Deputy Commissioner)
• Bernard Hogan Howe (Assistant Commissioner)
• Tim Godwin (Acting Assistant Commissioner)
• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)
• Mike Jennings (Director of Finance)

Part 1

32. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Cindy Butts, Graham Tope and Abdal Ullah.

33. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

No interests were declared.

34. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Co-ordination and Policing Committee held on 16 September 2002 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

35. Southwark Link Membership

(Agenda item 4)

After discussion, Jenny Jones withdrew her request to become a second link member for Southwark.

36. Change of start time of meeting on 8 November

It was agreed to start the meeting of the committee on 8 November at 11.30 a.m. as the MPS annual service of remembrance was to be held at 11 a.m. that day.

37. Street crime update

(Agenda item 5)

DAC Godwin gave an oral update. The fall in street crime continued. Street robbery since 1 April was 16% below the level of the previous year and street crime was 10.9% down. Legislation was being enacted that day to make it an offence to reconfigure mobile phones – this would enable companies to block stolen phones across all networks.

The update was noted.

38. Draft MPA Secretariat budget 2003/04

(Agenda item 6)

The committee considered a report by the Clerk and Treasurer setting out the proposed MPA Secretariat budget for 2003/04 together with proposed growth bids.

Members discussed the position regarding the one-off transfer of £280,000 from the MPS in 2002/03 for equalities and diversity work and how this would be funded in 2003/04. The Treasurer commented that the staffing element of this (£139,000) was included in the ‘committed’ part of the 2003/04 draft budget and would have to be met from whatever bottom line savings were achieved. The remainder was included in the budget as a growth item.

After discussion it was

Resolved – That

1. The draft MPA budget 2003/04 be referred to the Finance Committee for consideration;
   the items listed in paragraph 10 of the report be forwarded as development bids;
   the forecast outturn for 2002/03 be noted; and
   the approach taken on security matters, as outlined in paragraph 12 of the report, be endorsed.

39. Police Community Support Officers

(Agenda item 7)

The committee considered a report by the Commissioner setting out details of the work to take forward the introduction of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in a community role.

The Deputy Commissioner reported that the Home secretary had announced funding for 4,000 PCSOs. This could mean the MPS getting funding for 1,000 PCSOs, so there was a need to negotiate with interested boroughs over the coming months on how these might be allocated.

Members commented that this made it even more essential to establish an allocation process based on sound principles. The process outlined in paragraph 6 of the report was critical and it was important to be clear that any purchase by boroughs of PCSOs should be in addition to their baseline allocation.

There were clearly a number of issues to be worked through and clarified, such as the basis for assessing community need; working in partnership with boroughs particularly when those boroughs were meeting all or a proportion of the cost of the PCSOs; keeping any contractual arrangements simple; and clarifying what is meant by ‘full cost recovery’.

The Chair commented that he was aware that the Police Federation continued to express some serious reservations about PCSOs and these would need to be addressed. The Deputy Commissioner commented, however, that no one group of employees should have a lien over change authorised by the Authority. Either the Co-ordination & Policing Committee or the Human Resources Committee would need a report in due course. Further discussions would also be needed with the Mayor’s Office to establish to what extent the Home Secretary’s announcement altered the Mayor’s guidance about the precept.

At this stage the committee were being asked to agree the process and sequence. Members would need at a future meeting to consider the actual allocation. It was accepted, however, that some small scale initial allocations needed to be made immediately so that recruitment could start. It was agreed that these could be made by the Programme Board.

After further discussion it was

Resolved - That

1. the contents of the report be noted and the proposed approach to the allocation of PCSOs be endorsed; and
   approval be given to the initial allocations, on a small scale, being agreed at the Programme Board to allow for immediate local recruitment and that the Board should also propose criteria for the overall allocation.

40. Committee work areas

(Agenda item 9)

The committee considered a report by the Clerk proposing an allocation of the MPA’s various work areas between committees.

Members made some amendments to the allocations detailed in the appendix to the report, in particular to recognise the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board’s interest and role as a link/reference committee in the diversity aspects of some issues.

Resolved –

That the committee work areas as set out in appendix 1 to the report be agreed, subject to the minor changes made at the meeting.

The meeting ended at 12.25 p.m.

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