Publishing a summary of the best value performance plan for 2003/4

Report: 4
Date: 2 May 2003
By: Clerk

Summary

In previous years the Authority has published a summary of its Best Value Performance Plan as part of a wider GLA group summary. Members are asked to decide whether they wish to publish a summary for the 2003/4 financial year and to advise on how this should be done and on the contents of the summary.

A. Recommendation

That members decide which option they prefer for the publication of a Best Value Performance Plan summary for 2003/4.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPA (working with the MPS) is required to produce an annual Best Value Policing and Performance Plan (the policing plan). The Authority agreed the 2003/4 plan in March and it was published on the MPS and MPA websites on 31 March 2003. Copies have been supplied to libraries and police stations for public access and to a list of interested organisations.

2. The full 2003/4 policing plan is too long and complex to be suitable for wider publication. The MPS produces a shorter summary version of the plan, but this is still several pages long and is only distributed to a wider list of interested organisations and groups. This detailed summary has not been used in previous years as the main method of communicating the plan to the public.

3. The statutory guidance for producing a summary of the policing plan for the MPA is unclear, despite efforts from the Association of Police Authorities and MPA to clarify the situation with the Home Office. The Home Office produced guidance in January 2001, amended in March 2003, for Best Value Authorities generally, but this does not apply to the MPA. It therefore could be interpreted that the MPA does not have to produce or distribute any summary plan. However, in the absence of statutory guidance for the MPA, it could be argued that best practice would be to follow the guidance issued to other Best Value Authorities. The guidelines, as they relate to policing plan summaries, are that:

• Police authorities must publish and distribute the summary as soon as possible after 31 March 2003 (though a later date can apply to the MPA if it seeks to co-publish a joint summary with other functional bodies).
• There is no expectation that the plan should be distributed to every household but police authorities are expected to communicate the plan, as an advert for the full plan, to the widest possible audience without incurring disproportionate cost.
• Previous requirements to ensure that the summary is a fair and accurate reflection of the Performance Plan no longer apply. Authorities are expected, however, to make a summary of their performance available to local people but authorities now have discretion over how summaries of performance are presented and communicated.

4. For the last two years the Authority has decided to publish and distribute a summary to as wide an audience a possible by taking part in a joint summary with the GLA family. This summary has been inserted into the Mayor’s “On Magazine” and distributed widely to households in London. The MPA has contributed a two-page summary showing priorities for the coming year, performance against key targets and a summary of the best value programme. This has been at a cost of approximately £125,000, which has been met from the MPS budget.

5. In 2001 and 2002 ON Magazine was used to distribute the GLA Group BVPP summary to all London households. The Londoner, a GLA published newsletter distributed to London households every two months, has now replaced this. The Londoner claims to provide information about the whole range of GLA Group services and it is intended to be used to circulate the 2003/2004 GLA Group Best Value Performance Plans, or equivalent information. The Mayor has asked that the MPA contribution should be £125k towards the total cost of £1.866 million (£0.595m net), giving us the opportunity to cover other topics in each issue. These new arrangements would provide a significant improvement in value for money, if Members decide to continue the collaboration with the GLA family.

6. The GLA is likely to include information in The Londoner on some aspect of policing performance, and perhaps the role of the MPA, irrespective of whether we participate or not. However, we would have no editorial control over the contents. Members may wish to consider whether this fulfils the requirement to ‘make a summary of their performance available to local people’.

7. The alternative could be to produce our own MPA/ MPS summary, or to use the existing MPS summary and circulate this widely to households in London. More than a thousand interested groups across London will be sent the summary for 2003/4, together with the summary of the strategy plan. The cost of reproducing this information in this format for a wider audience is likely to be disproportionately costly.

8. To produce our own smaller MPA/MPS summary is likely to be at a cost of approximately £100,000 (from the MPS budget previously used for the GLA summary) but may take time to develop and distribute.

9. The options for publication of a summary for the 2003/4 Policing Plan are as follows:

11. Members are asked to decide which option they would prefer for publication of the summary Policing Plan for 2003/4.

C. Equality and diversity implications

In the decision as to whether to produce a policing plan summary, members should consider the implications on equality for Londoners to access of information. If no summary is produced, the only availability of information about the plan will be from the website, police stations and libraries, which may not be accessible for all Londoners. If a summary is produced, it should reach a wide audience but may still exclude households that are difficult to reach through postal lists and the homeless.

The full and summary policing plan documents issued by the MPA/ MPS include a page offering a summary of the plan in 9 alternative languages, Braille and audiotape. Previous GLA family summaries have offered a translation into 8 different languages.

D. Financial implications

The MPS has budgeted for the £125k cost of the ON Magazine BVPP summary for the last two years, and as there has been no indication to the contrary, it is assumed this money is available this year to fund a 2003/4 BVPP summary. Should Members decide to adopt Option 2, this would have the added benefit of paying for further MPA/MPS editorial contributions in up to six editions of The Londoner.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Johanna Gillians and Philip Powell, MPA.

For more information contact:

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

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