Minutes

Minutes of the Co-ordination and Policing Committee held on 19 September 2003 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Toby Harris (Chair)
• Jennette Arnold
• Reshard Auladin
• Richard Barnes (Deputy Chair)
• Cindy Butts
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Nicholas Long
• R. David Muir (Deputy Chair)
• Sir John Quinton
• Richard Sumray
• Graham Tope
• Rachel Whittaker
• Cecile Wright

Peter Herbert was also in attendance.

MPA officers

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

MPS officers

• Sir Ian Blair (Deputy Commissioner)
• Rose Fitzpatrick (Commander)

Part 1

7. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

None.

8. Declarations of interest

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were made.

9. Minutes

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of the Co-ordination and Policing Committee held on 1 September 2003 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

10. Anti social use of motor vehicles

(Agenda item 4)

Chief Superintendent Owen introduced a report on the new powers available to the police under the Police Reform Act 2002.

In response to a question from Cindy Butts about the proportionality of action against young, often black, people riding bicycles or mopeds illegally, Les Owen commented that the MPS is not targeting young people. Rather, it is looking to act against older people who are not providing good examples to the young. Once the traffic section has it own criminal justice unit it will be better placed to provide information on proportionality.

Whilst recognising that these issues were not central to the report, members commented on:

• The number of MPS vehicles – cars in particular – parked on yellow lines in the area around New Scotland Yard. Whilst the Committee was not the appropriate forum for pursuing this, there was an issue that needed to be addressed. Similar problems were also being experienced in roads around the Peel Centre at Hendon
• The environmental impact of parked cars and coaches leaving engines running to work the air conditioning. An instance of this had been seen at the Peel Centre recently

Resolved – That the report be noted.

11. Review of the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) 2005/06

(Agenda item 5)

The Committee considered a report by the Commissioner setting out the timeframe for the review of the RAF and a proposed process for consulting key stakeholder groups.

In the discussion, members commented that a review of RAF did not address what should be the starting point of how total resources are allocated between boroughs and centralised units. It was accepted that there was no formula that could arrive at this allocation, but that, preliminary and parallel to the RAF review, there needed to be transparent accounting to the Authority for these decisions.

The Chair commented that there would continue to be a preoccupation with police numbers and it would be essential to have an explicit baseline of what resources the MPS would provide, if there was to be a discussion with local authorities about their purchasing additional PCSOs. Taking that into account, members confirmed that they wished to see a review which was about resources allocated to boroughs rather than just police numbers and about, for instance, operational availability. This would mean taking into account the factors summarised in paragraph 6 of the report. However, in moving away from allocations based on police officer numbers, it would be important to ensure transparency so that borough consultees could understand the ‘before and after’ positions.

The Chair suggested that a starting point for the review should be the basis of ‘no net losers’. The Deputy Commissioner pointed out that this position was easier to achieve when officer numbers were growing.

The Chair commented that there was no value in having a debate with stakeholders about the working of the formula in the absence of exemplifications as to what the formula would mean in practice for boroughs. The Deputy Commissioner confirmed that this stage of the consultation process was scheduled for after the GLA election.

Resolved – That

1. the proposed timeframe for the review be agreed (Appendix 1);
2. the proposed public consultation arrangements and timeframe be agreed (Appendix 2);
3. the issues to be considered within the scope of the review include those set out in the report and discussed at the meeting; and
4. the risks to the review as identified by the project team be noted (Appendix 3)

12. Member appointments to outside bodies

(Agenda item 6)

The Committee considered a report by the Clerk seeking member nominations to outside body vacancies.

Resolved – That

1. R David Muir and Abdal Ullah be appointed to the LGA Social Inclusion Group; and
2. the other vacancies be held open

13. Any other urgent business

(Agenda item 7)

There was no other urgent business.

The meeting ended at 12.15 p.m.

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