Managing further expansion of the MPS

Report: 4
Date: 17 Feb 03
By: Treasurer

Summary

The report seeks to initiate a major strategic review of the opportunities and implications of future expansion of the Metropolitan Police Service. Governance arrangements are proposed for the review.

A. Recommendations

That:

1. the initiation of a strategic review of the opportunities and implications of future expansion of the MPS in accordance with the statement of intent as given at Appendix 1 to the report be agreed: and
2. the proposed governance arrangements, in particular the lead role for Coordination and Policing Committee and the MPA representation on the project steering group be agreed.

B. Supporting information

Current position

1. The revenue budget for 2003/04 which is due to receive its final approval by the Mayor and Assembly on 12 February 2003 includes provision for a further 1,000 police officers, plus an additional 223 for the Transport OCU funded from the TfL budget. This will take the total number of police officers to over 29,600 by March 2004, an increase of 16% since the Mayor was elected and the MPA formed.

2. In the current year police community support officers (PCSOs) have been introduced and next year’s budget provides for 1,000 to be in post by March 2004. A further 157 PCSOs are included in TfL’s proposal to expand the Transport OCU.

3. Although financial pressures necessitated retrenchment in the civil staff budget, civil staff numbers are now set to rise. This is firstly as a result of civilianisation, for example with C3i and the telephone investigation bureaux. There is also now a clear recognition that civil support staff posts need to rise in line with the increase in police officers in order to secure the operational effectiveness of uniformed officers.

4. We are therefore already in the middle of a substantial expansion of the Metropolitan Police Service. So far this has taken place on a year-by-year and incremental basis. It is largely being contained within the existing infrastructure. This will not be sustainable if there is to be continuing expansion in the future.

Future development

5. The Mayor has expressed a public commitment to increase the number of uniformed police staff to 35,000. In effect this is being seen as a target for a second mayoral term. In the Mayor’s presentation of his 2003/04 budget proposals to the Assembly meeting on 22 January 2003 the following statement is included:

‘The Mayor has asked the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Police Commissioner to prepare a strategy for increasing police numbers (both police and police community support officers) to 35,000. This strategy will need to reflect the progress in the civilianising the 999 service – itself a major project with its own attendant financial risks. If this strategy is agreed then the medium term forecasts will be updated accordingly.’

6. Attached at Appendix 1 is a brief statement of intent which is intended to act as a starting point for the strategic review which now needs to be carried out. The statement seeks to define the broad scope of the review and the context within which it has to take place.

7. In summary the review will address the options for achieving the underlying objectives, the opportunities offered by substantial growth in terms of the way in which London is policed, how the service should be organised, logistical issues, and the implications of securing effective support and infrastructure. The review must result in costed options so that the funding implications can be exposed and explored. The emerging findings will have to inform the medium term financial projections and development of the 2004/05 budget, and the policing plan.

8. There is stakeholder agreement that a substantial proportion of the 2003/04 financial provision for the Efficiency and Effectiveness review programme can be used to fund additional resources to assist in this strategic review. A sum of £400,000 has been earmarked at this stage.

9. The matter has been discussed at MPS Senior Management Team and in particular at a recent Senior Management Team seminar. Senior Management Team supported development of a model of growth to support a reassurance style of policing. This would aim to provide a much enhanced level of local, visible, uniformed policing. The visibility would be provided by a suitable mix of police officers and Police Community Support Officers.

Governance

10. Specific governance arrangements will be necessary to steer, manage and monitor this review. A steering group is proposed chaired by the Deputy Commissioner and including key management leads and key stakeholder representation. The latter would include the GLA and/or the Mayor’s office as well as the MPA. MPA representation should be both officer (Treasurer and/or Clerk) and member. The Committee is asked to decide the member representation. Given the importance of this initiative to the Mayor’s agenda he may want a channel to input his own views as the review proceeds. This has been raised with GLA officers.

11. Under the Steering Group would be a Programme Board. Proposed arrangements are that it should be chaired by the DAC Strategic Development with representation from all Directorates. There would e MPA officer involvement at this level. There may also be representation from the GLA and staff associations/unions. The role of the group would be the co-ordination of the work needed to implement the strategic direction set by the Steering Group.

12. Within the MPA’s existing structure it is suggested that Coordination and Policing Committee should have lead responsibility since the review will cross a number of committee boundaries. Items which require specific committee consideration can be identified and routed accordingly. This Committee’s format offers the opportunity to review issues informally as well as through the formal committee mechanism. The Committee should receive periodic progress reports to coincide with key milestones in the review plan, drawing on rather than duplicating the work of the steering group. The conclusions of the review will feed into the update of the medium term financial forecasts which will be approved by the full Authority in the summer.

13. The governance arrangements will need to be reconsidered when the review stage is completed and the project moves into implementation mode.

C. Equality and diversity implications

This review will need to have regard to the equal opportunity and diversity policies of the MPA and MPS at every stage.

D. Financial implications

The costs of the review will be contained within existing budgets including an allocation from the Efficiency and Effectiveness review programme funding. A key outcome of the review will be an assessment of the financial implications of future expansion.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Peter Martin

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1: Developing the Metropolitan Police Service

The MPA and MPS have agreed a framework for the future strategic direction of the Metropolitan Police (Towards a Safer City). This identifies five objectives in pursuit of the vision of making London the safest major city in the world:

• Developing safer communities
• Securing the capital against terrorism
• Revitalising the criminal justice system
• Developing a professional and effective workforce
• Reforming the delivery of policing services

Progressing these objectives in the medium term will depend on securing the appropriate resources and managing them efficiently and effectively.

The Mayor, with the advice of the Commissioner, has indicated his wish to increase police numbers to 35,000 by mid 2006 with an emphasis on visible policing. With civil support staff there would be around 45,000 people contributing to the policing of London. The Mayor has also advised that achieving a diverse police service is a high priority for London.

It is clear that this aspiration could be achieved by a combination of measures as follows:

• A general increase in the number of police officers
• Targeted recruitment of additional police officers from a range of London’s communities
• Extending the use of police community support officers (PCSOs)
• Civilianising roles currently carried out by police officers, including specific opportunities created by the Police Reform Act
• Reducing non-productive police time through smarter use of IT and elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy

Full exploitation of these options requires a more sophisticated measure of how police resources are being applied to replace reliance on the headcount of police officers and link resources to performance. This should be achieved through the development of the operational policing measure.

Development work is required to examine options for progressing along these lines. This will involve, inter alia:

• Exploration of alternative policing styles, having regard also to the implications of C3i, to maximise the effectiveness of the potential future resource
• Consideration of organisational arrangements to sustain a new approach
• Review of the practicalities and timescales of recruitment, training and absorption of additional resource
• Feasibility studies of the capacity of the organisation’s infrastructure, in its broadest sense, to support further significant growth
• Development of costed options
• Review of funding availability

The development work has to accommodate and support medium term business and financial planning and annual budgetary processes.

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