MPS citizen focus policing programme brief

Report: 4
Date: 3 March 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

This programme brief outlines the contribution of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Citizen Focus Policing Programme to achieving the MPS mission of Working Together for a Safer London.

The MPS Citizen Focus Policing Programme will allow the service to co-ordinate activity across the organisation to lead to the delivery of high quality policing services that have been developed to meet the needs of citizens rather than the needs of the service.

This document has been developed based on the draft MPS Corporate Strategy 2006 - 2009. The initial scope of the Programme is based on five work strands, the origins of which may be found in the Government White Paper ‘Building Communities, Beating Crime: A better police service for the 21st century’.

Programme planning will identify the critical pathways, dependencies and constraints within the Programme that will assist Programme Board to make decisions regarding programme content and prioritisation of activity.

A. Recommendations

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. On the 29 September 2005, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) agreed the draft MPS Corporate Strategy 2006-2009, one of the priorities of which is the delivery of a Citizen Focused service.

2. The inclusion of Citizen Focused Policing in the MPS Corporate Strategy reflects the importance the MPS attaches to this way of working. It also demonstrates a commitment to meeting one of the five key priorities from the 2005 - 08 National Policing Plan; ‘to provide a citizen-focused police service which responds to the needs of communities and individuals, especially victims and witnesses, and inspires public confidence in the police, particularly among minority ethnic communities’.

Strategic aims of the programme

3. The MPS Citizen Focus Policing Programme will enable the Metropolitan Police Service to deliver its long-term strategic outcomes of:

• Improved service delivery and responsiveness, leading to raised levels of satisfaction, confidence and feelings of security, resulting in increased operational effectiveness.
• Culture change that embeds citizen focus principles into MPS practices and processes.
• Implementation of the Quality of Service Commitment.
• Increased public involvement in policing.

4. The delivery of the these outcomes will be reflected in improvements in MPS scores in the Citizen Focus domain of the Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) and will be monitored through direct reporting to the MPS Performance Board chaired by the Deputy Commissioner.

5. The Citizen Focus domain of PPAF measures outcomes in three areas:

User satisfaction

6. Measured through the Crime Victim Survey and broken down by:

• Ease of contact
• Action taken
• Keeping people informed of progress
• Treatment by staff
• Overall satisfaction

Confidence in policing

7. Measured annually through the percentage of British Crime Survey respondents who think that the police in their area are doing a good or excellent job.

Fairness and equality

8. As part of the fairness and equality monitoring there are separate Performance Indicators:

• Victims of racially motivated crimes, which reports user satisfaction with the service provided by the police (taking the whole experience into account)
• There is also a comparative Performance Indicator which compares reported satisfaction with the service provided by the police for white respondents and for black and minority ethnic respondents

9. Details of MPS performance in the Citizen Focus domain for the first three quarters of 2005/06 are given at Appendix 1.

Business need

10. The ability of the MPS to respond to major incidents such as terrorism and large-scale public safety commitments is second to none, whereas its ability to consistently provide a high quality service in everyday policing activity presents a significantly greater challenge for the MPS.

11. The MPS has signalled its intention to improve the quality of the services it delivers; the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner have made public their personal commitment to wrap those services around the citizen. The MPS Citizen Focus Policing programme provides the means through which the MPS will embed the citizen focus principles of engaging with citizens to develop with them the services delivered by the MPS.

12. The programme is about improving the way the MPS understands, communicates with and engages with its communities, whether as direct users of services or as members of the wider public. It is a way of working that puts the requirements of citizens at the heart of decision-making and is integral to everything the MPS does.

13. The practical effect of taking a citizen focused approach to policing is that:

• Citizens have access to the MPS and its services through a variety of approaches that are designed around the service user;
• The views of citizens genuinely influence the development and delivery of policing services and feedback is both given and acted upon;
• The MPS responds quickly and flexibly to questions about any aspect of its services and develops an understanding of the requirements of its citizens to the extent that the MPS anticipates the questions and provides the answers before the question is even asked; and
• All members of the MPS consider it core business to honour the commitments they make to citizens.

14. There are many sound operational reasons for moving towards an approach to policing that is truly citizen focused. These include greater participation in the criminal justice system – leading to more support from victims and witnesses throughout the process resulting in more offences being brought to justice. Other benefits that will accrue through greater public involvement in policing include increases in the level and quality of community intelligence provided to the police. This community intelligence is vital if the MPS is to tackle the crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour that effect communities so badly, as well as providing the key to unlock the most serious crimes including terrorism and the harm caused by the activities of organised criminal networks.

Programme scope

15. The programme will be structured to deliver the strategic aims through five strands of activity:

Improving the user experience

16. Positive personal experiences of contact with the police are a key predictor of overall confidence in policing. As 44% of the public have contact with the police in any year, ensuring that contact is a positive experience is the single most important way to improve overall levels of confidence and satisfaction.

17. Concentration on victims of crime is a key priority as is providing appropriate levels of support to witnesses, especially vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.

18. An important component of this strand is the development and delivery of the MPS Quality of Service Commitment. This work is shaped around a set of national minimum standards for quality, accessibility and responsiveness that must be in place for all forces by November 2006.

19. The Quality of Service Commitment sets out standards the public can expect from the MPS with respect to:

• Making it easy to contact the MPS.
• Providing a professional and high quality service.
• Dealing with the initial contact.
• Keeping the public informed.
• Ensuring the public voice counts.
• Victims of crime.
• Other service commitments.
• Freedom of information.

Neighbourhood policing

20. This work area reflects the need for local service provision to respond to the particular concerns of local communities.

21. The critical starting point is having dedicated teams of police officers and community support officers, working in concert with wardens and other members of the extended police family to provide a visible and accessible presence in communities.

22. The Territorial Policing Safer Neighbourhoods Programme is undertaking this work. It is therefore critical that the Citizen Focus Programme and the Safer Neighbourhoods Programme are strategically linked to ensure there are no gaps in service provision and no avoidable overlaps in activity. The MPS Citizen Focus Programme Board will ensure that the momentum of the existing Safer Neighbourhoods work is maintained whilst at the same time providing stronger links with other elements of the Citizen Focus programme of work, such as improving engagement.

Improving engagement

23. Much of this programme focuses on understanding local needs, wishes and priorities. For the MPS, OCUs and Safer Neighbourhood teams to fully understand their public's needs, there is a need to be clear about the make-up of the communities they serve, develop the means to engage with them effectively and maintain an ongoing dialogue.

24. This objective will be delivered through a work strand on engagement that addresses how the MPS can better understand the needs and priorities of our diverse communities, and, working with them, make services more responsive. The cornerstone of this strand will be the development of an engagement strategy, jointly with the MPA, which provides overall direction to both organisations when undertaking community engagement activity.

Public understanding and local accountability

25. The MORI Criminal Justice Confidence survey shows a link between levels of familiarity with an organisation and overall levels of confidence in that organisation. Overall satisfaction levels can be influenced through the management of public expectations, as well as improvements in service delivery. The purpose of this strand is to develop the opportunities for improving satisfaction and confidence by improving public understanding and accountability mechanisms at local level.

26. An example of work in this area is the production of a local policing summary for every household in London. These summaries are a legal requirement and joint MPA/MPS activity will ensure they provide a mechanism through which people can better understand policing activity in their area.

Organisational and cultural change

27. This is an enabling strand of work that underpins delivery of the previous four. The delivery of citizen-focused services requires both cultural and behavioural change amongst people in parallel with changes to policies, business processes and working practices. The work strand on organisational and cultural change aims to address both and includes issues of leadership, training, reward and recognition, performance management, partnership, business processes and staff engagement.

28. The Together approach being developed within the MPS is an important delivery mechanism for many of the objectives within this work strand as is the development of a range of HR practices and processes, and the other strands of the Met Modernisation Programme, into which all this work will feed.

The programme approach

29. The approach of the programme is to ensure that Citizen Focus principles are embedded into organisational practices and processes. To achieve this aim it is essential that developmental work, including the associated revision of policies and procedures, is undertaken within and owned by the relevant MPS Business Group.

30. A small central team, working to the Programme Director, will support the MPS Business Groups and will be responsible for

• Co-ordinating activity across the programme to;
  • Prevent duplication of effort,
  • Ensure there are no gaps in scope of the programme,
  • Provide assurance to the Programme Board that Citizen Focus activity is joined up with other major change programmes, and
  • Ensuring that work packages approved by the Programme
• Board are undertaken to agreed specifications, for example in terms of quality and timescale.
• Acting as a single point of contact for the MPS both internally and externally.
• Supporting staff within Business Groups who are engaged on work in connection with the programme.
• Identifying and disseminating good practice both internally and externally.
• Ensuring the work strands of the programme is co-ordinated with other major change activities, e.g. Together, C3i, MetCall, Met Modernisation Programme and the Diversity Strategy.

Outline programme benefits

31. The benefits have been grouped under four high level headings: increased effectiveness, increased efficiency, enhanced organisational capability and improved public satisfaction.

Increased effectiveness

32. This will include improving performance and improving the quality of service. This will be delivered by projects such as: Safer Neighbourhoods, MetCall and Operation Emerald, all key components of the quality of Service Commitment.

Increased efficiency

33. This will include the development of a right first time culture, reducing the investment in organisational time and resources required to correct mistakes and investigate service failure.

Enhanced organisational capability

34. This will include improving team working and leadership, improving staff satisfaction, increasing the diversity of the workforce and improving partnership working.

Improved public satisfaction

35. This will include increasing engagement with the public, improving access to police and increasing public reassurance and confidence in our ability to deliver. All of which are elements of the Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF) Citizen Focus domain and the HMIC Baseline Assessment.

Programme risks

36. Risk registers are being maintained in accordance with the format developed by the Corporate Risk Management Group who will work closely with the Citizen Focus Policing Programme Team. The risks will be reviewed regularly at meetings of the Programme Board.

Communication

37. A communication plan is under development with support from the Directorate of Public Affairs. The plan will be developed alongside the communication strategies of the other major change programmes to ensure consistency of message.

Programme organisation - governance roles and responsibilities

38. Effective decision-making, communication and the timely resolution of issues are critical to the success of this programme. Communication links to the MPA have been structured to align with the Co-ordination and Policing Committee and a governance structure has been created that describes how the programme governance will integrate with the Met Modernisation Programme, Management Board and the MPA.

39. The key roles of the Citizen Focus Policing Programme are as follows:

• Senior Responsible Owner - Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson
• Programme Director - Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick
• Programme Manager - Chief Superintendent Ian Harrison

Strand Leads

• Detective Superintendent David Whitmore - Improving the User Experience and Neighbourhood Policing
• Ms Belinda Quigley – Organisational and Cultural Change
• Ms Jane Wilkin - Improving Engagement and Public Understanding and Local Accountability.

Programme Board

40. Programme Board membership reflects the need for engagement from across the MPS and includes representation from the MPA.

Escalation and reporting process

41. Tailored information will be provided to the relevant boards to ensure a co-ordinated escalation route throughout the Programme.

42. The Programme will provide ‘Programme Information’ to the Programme Board and ‘Executive Information’ to Met Modernisation Programme Delivery Board.

43. Programme Information will contain tactical information within the programme and will require resolution of those issues escalated from the strand managers.

44. Executive Information will contain strategic progress with escalated issues from the Programme Board together with clear decisions required to resolve such issues.

45. The critical success factor for timely reporting to the Programme Board and Met Modernisation Programme Delivery Board is the information provided to the programme office by the strand leads.

Next stage

46. Some strands, such as Safer Neighbourhoods and C3i, already have established project plans in place. These existing plans have been incorporated into the Citizen Focus Policing Programme planning stage, where key dependencies and critical paths for the overall Programme have been identified.

47. The Programme Team has undertaken work to identify the gaps across the five strands and a programme plan has been developed to close those gaps. The next stage is to provide an assessment of the relative priorities of this work and this will allow Programme Board to ensure the priorities identified are strategically aligned.

C. Race and equality impact

Due to the scale and complexity of the Citizen Focus Policing Programme, each strand will carry out its own equality assessment.

D. Financial implications

The approach of the programme is to embed the Citizen Focus principles in the usual business development processes of the MPS. It is not intended that the programme will be the catalyst for new major change programmes but will add to those already in being, (e.g. Emerald and C3i) for which provision has been made in the Medium Term Financial Plan.

E. Background papers

• Draft Corporate Strategy 2006 – 2009
• White paper ‘Building Communities, Beating crime: A better police service for the 21st century.
• Medium Term Financial Plan
• Existing Programme material

F. Contact details

Report author: Chief Superintendent Ian Harrison

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Customer satisfaction surveys: 2005/2006

Statutory Performance Indicators:

SPI 1a: Satisfaction (completely, very & fairly) of victims of domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and road traffic collisions with respect to MAKING CONTACT with the police.

SPI 1b: Satisfaction (completely, very & fairly) of victims of domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and road traffic collisions with respect to ACTION TAKEN by the police.

SPI 1c: Satisfaction (completely, very & fairly) of victims of domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and road traffic collisions with respect to BEING KEPT INFORMED of the progress.

SPI 1d: Satisfaction (completely, very & fairly) of victims of domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and road traffic collisions with respect to their TREATMENT by staff.

SPI 1e: Satisfaction (completely, very & fairly) of victims of domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and road traffic collisions with respect to the OVERALL SERVICE provided.

SPI 3a: Satisfaction (completely, very & fairly) of victims of racist incidents with respect to the OVERALL SERVICE provided

SPI 3b: Comparison (completely, very & fairly) of satisfaction for white users and black and minority ethnic service users with respect to the OVERALL SERVICE provided.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback