Local policing summaries

Report: 7
Date: 11 May 2006
By: Chief Executive and Clerk

Summary

This report provides the background options and recommended implementation process by which the MPA/MPS will provide Local Policing Summaries to every household in the Capital, as required by statute under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.

A. Recommendations

It is recommended that:

1. Members direct officers to further explore with MPS Strategy Modernisation and Performance the feasibility of implementing the borough specific policing summaries option;
2. Members agree that the Royal Mail be used as the primary delivery mechanism;
3. Members agree that local information together with a précis of the annual policing plan is included in the Local Policing Summaries;
4. Members direct officers to undertake a process of consultation with local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships to explore whether Summaries can be produced jointly with local partnerships;
5. In light of the research carried out by the Safer Neighbourhoods Evaluation Team, members receive a report from the central Safer Neighbourhoods Unit outlining how the Unit will develop a comprehensive and consistent public information dissemination strategy for all local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams;
6. The Chair informs the Home Office of the approach to be adopted by the MPA/MPS.

B. Supporting information

Local policing summaries: a new obligation on police authorities

1. At the heart of the police reform programme is a commitment to strengthen community engagement in policing. The provision of relevant and useful information on how local policing is being delivered is central to this commitment. Through understanding how policing is delivered locally, communities can play a greater role in local policing. In addition, providing practical information on local policing to communities ensures that policing is accountable and transparent to members of the public.

2. The MPA and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have made an explicit commitment to local accountability and are currently in the process of developing a joint approach to community engagement.

3. In turn, the Home Office has introduced within the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 a new obligation on all police authorities to provide local information - Local Policing Summaries - to every household in the authority’s area on the policing service that has been and is being delivered. The obligation is on police authorities but there is an expectation that the summaries will be produced in partnership with police forces and that other criminal justice agencies will be asked to support the venture.

4. The MPA/MPS welcomes the opportunity that the summaries provide. The obligation fulfils a key joint commitment to strengthen community–police engagement and existing commitments to the citizen focused police agenda. In addition, public awareness of the role and remit of the MPA needs further strengthening and providing annual information to Londoners will increase the public profile of the authority and raise awareness of policing issues across the Capital.

5. Outlined below is the recommended approach by which the MPA/MPS can meet the new Home Office obligation. In the attached Appendix 1 a number of alternative options are also detailed for comparison. The appendix also contains information on:

• the Home Office minimum requirements for Local Policing Summaries;
• the results of consultation undertaken with the MPA’s Safer London Panel commissioned by the central MPS Safer Neighbourhood Evaluation Team;
• the approaches being utilised by other police authorities/forces;
• alternative dissemination mechanisms; and
• the work undertaken by the MPA corporate Local Policing Summaries working group.

The proposed way forward

6. In order to take forward the statutory obligation a number of production and dissemination options have been considered:

1. the production of one MPA/MPS wide policing summary available electronically;
2. the production of 624 policing summaries in order to reflect and present the local activities of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams to be distributed through local networks;
3. the production of 32 policing summaries to be custom designed to incorporate Borough Operational Command Unit activities mailed to every household; and
4. the distribution of the existing annual police plan to all London households.

7. It is proposed that the MPA/MPS, as purveyors of good and promising practice further develop option three (the production of 32 custom designed policing summaries delivered to every household). While this option corresponds most closely with Home Office requirements (See Appendix 1) and also ensures the widest possible access to policing summaries further detailed work is required with MPS Planning and Performance, particularly as it impacts on Territorial Policing, Diversity and Citizen Focus and the Directorate of Public Affairs.

8. Additional advantages of producing summaries at a borough level are that:

• the current Borough Operational Command Unit infrastructure is already positioned to provide the local information for the policing summaries;
• public policy is being given increasing emphasis at a borough level;
• borough level policing summaries provide an appropriate intermediate level to connect ward and pan-London information and address the information needs identified by Londoners (See Appendix for the research conducted by the central Safer Neighbourhoods Evaluation Team with the MPA’s Safer London Panel);
• it complies with the Home Office key requirement that summaries are delivered to every London household;
• it fulfils the MPA equality requirements, ensuring that no London community is excluded from the process;
• it raises the profile of the MPA/MPS amongst those communities that are traditionally considered to be hard to reach; and
• it ensures that all Londoners are made aware of their local policing priorities.

9. However, this option is resource intensive and will require financial support from the MPA/MPS. (See financial implications)

10. In providing a four-page summary, as recommended by the Home Office, the front pages of the document would provide information on Borough Command Units; detail how local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams can be contacted and provide information on how people can become involved in community-police engagement locally.

11. The remaining page would provide a précis of the annual policing plan outlining arrangements for policing London over the next financial year with details of priorities and objectives, past performance and future performance targets, funding and the use of resources.

12. It is expected that the production of the 32 Local Policing Summaries will be the responsibility of the MPS units who currently manage the production of the annual policing plan. The MPA/MPS working group is expected to provide the template, content and editorial support.

Distribution of the local policing summaries

13. Research indicates that the only distribution mechanism that could guarantee delivery to every household is the Royal Mail. According to the Association of Police Authorities, the Home Office has been in discussion with the Royal Mail to negotiate various options for delivery. While there is currently no outcome on these negotiations the Home Office have suggested that authorities might consider utilizing the services of the Central Office for Information. (See financial implications)

14. Information on alternative distribution methods are detailed in the attached appendix.

Additional considerations

15. In addition to the statutory requirement under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, a complementary strand of work emanating from the Home Office, the ‘Review of the Partnership Provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998’, identifies the need for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Community Safety Partnerships to produce regular reports on community safety issues for local communities. It further notes that the requirement of disseminating Local Policing Summaries may be an appropriate vehicle for fulfilling this obligation.

16. It would be in the best interest of the MPA/MPS to collaborate with local partnerships to produce a summary that not only fulfils the Home Office minimum standards but also has a partnership dimension. To support this process the MPA has contacted all 32 local partnerships and advised them of the proposed approach that the authority is considering to take and suggested that the summary is used as the primary vehicle for the partnership reports.

17. Producing a single combined document reinforces the MPA strategic direction as well as supporting the central government ethos that sustainable and effective crime and disorder solutions can only be achieved through successful local partnerships and that tackling crime and disorder is not the sole responsibility of the police.

C. Race and equality impact

1. The production and dissemination of the Local Policing Summaries provide a valuable opportunity for the MPA/MPS to communicate with all Londoners. By using the Royal Mail as the sole delivery mechanism the MPA/MPS can ensure that the summaries reach all Londoners.

2. In addition, the summaries will:

• ensure that all Londoners are made aware of their local policing priorities and will provide information on how Borough Commanders intend to tackle crime and disorder in their boroughs;
• increase Londoners’ awareness of local community safety organisations and partnerships that work with Borough Command Units to ensure that sustainable crime and disorder solutions are developed; and
• provide information about local community–police engagement mechanisms. This will raise the profile of MPA supported community-police borough engagement mechanisms (such as Community Police Consultative Groups) and provide direct engagement opportunities to those Londoners who wish to become involved in local policing.

3. In addition to English, the Local Policing Summaries will be available on request in other languages, including the following: French; Bengali; Chinese; Greek; Gujarati; Hindi; Punjabi; Turkish and Urdu. The summaries will also be available on request in a variety of accessible formats.

D. Financial implications

1. The cost projections for the production of 3.2 million copies of a four page A4 full colour leaflet on 115gsm paper would be in the region of £71,000.

2. The design and artwork for 32 separate borough-policing summaries will cost approximately £4,050.

3. With regards to distribution costs, by utilising the services of Central Office for Information the MPA/MPS will be charged a flat free of £1,000, which would include planning and coordinating the delivery process on behalf of the MPA/MPS. The main delivery mechanism to be utilised by Central Office for Information is the Royal Mail, which provides a discounted rate of £37 per 1000 households. These costings are based on 2005/06 figures and the MPA has been advised that new rates will apply as of March 2006. Dissemination at 2005/06 costs is estimated at £118,400.

4. Finally, £5,000 will be ring fenced for translation costs and for producing the summaries in accessible formats. It is difficult to predict with accuracy the true cost for producing the summaries in a variety of formats, as this will be dependant on demand.

The approximate total costing is £200,000

5. There is no present budget available to finance the ongoing revenue cost estimated at £200,000. It is therefore proposed that the Finance Committee be requested to consider whether it would support the costs in 2006/07 being financed from underspendings resulting from the 2005/06 financial year and that for 2007/08 and future years a growth item of £0.2M be added to the Medium Term Financial projection.

E. Background papers

• ‘Local Policing Summaries: the Minimum Standards and Guidance for the Provision of Information to the Public’ – Consultation Document. Home Office, October 2005.
• The Police Act 1996 (Local Policing Summaries) Order 2005.
• ‘Guidance on producing local policing summaries’. Home Office, February 2006.
• MPS Local Policing Summaries draft paper. MPS Strategic Research Unit, February 2006.
• ‘Review of the Partnership Provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 – report of findings’. Home Office, January 2006.

F. Contact details

Report author: Hamera Asfa Malik and Tim Rees, MPA

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Additional supporting information

A. Local Policing Summaries: minimum standards

1. The Home Office’s ‘Local Policing Summaries Minimum Standards and Guidance’ provides information on what authorities/forces need to include in the summaries.

2. The minimum standards are:

• a statement of the police priorities for the coming year;
• an assessment of the extent to which the police force met the priorities set for the previous year; and
• an assessment of the extent to which the police force has met the strategic policing priorities (if any) set by the Secretary of State in the National Policing Plan.

3. Additional information that the Home Office would like included is:

• details of how policing is organised and delivered locally;
• the impact of local policing on levels of crime and disorder; and
• information on how to access the police and other agencies responsible for local community safety concerns.

4. The obligation has been framed at an authority/force level. However, the Home Office guidance clearly expects the Local Policing Summaries to contain localised information. If not contradictory, the Home Office expectations are ambitious and perhaps do not take into consideration the difficulties of fulfilling the obligation in London.

5. The obligation comes into force on the 1 April 2006. The Local Policing Summaries have to be issued by the MPA in 2006/07 and the Association of Police Authorities is encouraging authorities to produce the summaries early in the new financial year.

B. The justification for Local Policing Summaries

1. In addressing the objective of increasing Londoners’ awareness and understanding of policing issues, the MPA/MPS recently embarked on a process of joint consultation to determine the most appropriate way forward.

2. The MPA’s citizens’ panel, the Safer London Panel, was commissioned by the Safer Neighbourhoods Evaluation Team within the MPS’s Strategic Research Unit to take part in qualitative research exploring how well informed people feel about police and policing in London and what they wish for and expect from information received from the police.

3. A literature review was undertaken by the Safer Neighbourhoods Evaluation Team prior to the public consultation to ascertain whether there was a recognized need for this work. The review indicated that previous research had repeatedly established that public knowledge of the criminal justice system is poor. This included knowledge about crime, the police and policing. The review also highlighted that increased knowledge levels were linked to higher confidence in the effectiveness and competence of all criminal justice agencies, including the police. In addition, the review indicated that if the public are more aware of policing issues, their confidence levels increase and fear of crime goes down.

4. The qualitative research undertaken with the Safer London Panel supported the key findings of the literature review and supports the need for Local Policing Summaries. In terms of the type of information that the public wants, the qualitative research found that:

• Londoners want sustained and regular provision of information, directly from the police. With appropriate local content and in a user-friendly format, this information would give people a sense of reassurance about what is happening locally;
• Londoners also want information on local crime and disorder concerns, including details of initiatives to tackle these concerns and subsequent outcomes of the actions undertaken;
• Londoners require crime prevention and safety advice from the police and wanted relevant local contact information for local police services and criminal justice agencies responsible for addressing crime and disorder;
• Londoners also require that local police provide clear explanations of police procedures and priorities and how these impact on local service provision;
• information would carry most impact and relevance if provided at local (that is ward) level. However, Londoners stated that some comparators in the form of additional borough and London-wide information would give the information context and therefore would be considered useful; and
• Londoners believe that direct information provision from the police is an essential part of community–police engagement and that receiving this information could improve relationships between the police and the community.

5. In summary, it is evident that the provision of appropriate information to the public plays a key role in reassurance with regards to crime, risk of victimisation and policing and that the public would welcome locally relevant information from the police. Londoners would welcome the concept of the Local Policing Summary, as it would address a fundamental requirement of community based policing. The summaries will also provide an important opportunity to increase the visibility of the MPA/MPS.

C. The MPA Working Group

1. In order to steer the development of the Local Policing Summaries a corporate working group with officers from all units within the MPA Secretariat has been convened, together with a representative from the MPS Strategic Engagement Unit.

2. The working group has:

• liased with the Home Office’s Police Standards Unit and the Association of Police Authorities to obtain further clarification and expert advice and support on the best methods to implement this obligation;
• met with the MPS Strategic Engagement Unit to consult on the development of an MPS response to the obligation;
• met with representatives of the MPS Safer Neighbourhoods Evaluation Team to discuss working in partnership with local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in the development of the Local Policing Summaries;
• identified a number of options and risk factors and made contact with the Greater London Authority functional bodies and other pan-London organisations to explore how these risk factors can be tackled; and
• reviewed the plans and intentions of other police authorities.

D. Approaches being taken by other police authorities/forces

1. A preliminary survey has been undertaken with a number of authorities/forces to ascertain the different approaches to be used in the production of the summaries.

• Cambridgeshire, Devon & Cornwall and Surrey are enhancing annual reports with sections listing each of their Operational Command Units performance. Cambridgeshire will be distributing summaries via free newsletters, Devon and Cornwall via a free magazine and Surrey will be using the Royal Mail.
• Kent intends to use an insert in free newspapers.
• Greater Manchester Police has placed an insert in council tax demands stating that the summaries will be available on the Internet, in libraries and in police stations.
• South Yorkshire Police is adhering strictly to the requirement of delivering the summaries to each household. The Royal Mail will send local information on each of the five Operational Command Units to every home.

2. Members should be aware that there has been one previous occasion when the MPS was required by the Home Office to distribute information to every London household. In 2000 the Home Office requested that the MPS provide information to Londoners on how crime statistics were changing. The difficulties identified in undertaking this work, included the need to provide information in all the main languages spoken in London and the awareness that many London workers were commuters who lived in the Home Counties. As a one-off distribution and in order to capture as many householders and commuters as possible, adverts were taken out in The Evening Standard, The Metro, and City AM. The Home Office was told that other options were not viable and that this method would capture the largest number of people.

E. Options for production and distribution

1. In fulfilling this new statutory obligation there are a number of significant factors that the MPA/MPS needs to consider and respond appropriately to.

Budget

2. The production and distribution of locally relevant summaries to 3.2 million London households is a sizeable task and impacts on the resources of both the MPA and the MPS. A specific budget for the production and dissemination of the summaries will need to be identified from the existing agreed budget for 2006/07.

Providing information at the appropriate level

3. The available budget will have a direct impact on the level of information that the MPA/MPS is able to provide to Londoners.

Therefore the working group has considered a number of options:

1. the production of one MPA/MPS wide policing summary available electronically;
2. the production of 624 policing summaries in order to reflect and present the local activities of Safer Neighbourhoods Teams to be distributed through local networks;
3. the production of 32 policing summaries to be custom designed to reflect Borough Operational Command Unit activities mailed to every household; and
4. the distributions of the existing annual police plan to all London households.

Option 1: One London wide summary

A few police authorities/forces elsewhere in the UK are pursuing the authority-wide option. This option is somewhat similar to the approach to be taken by the Greater Manchester Police Authority and the MPS in 2000. Adverts could be placed in The Metro, City AM, Evening Standard and The Londoner advising Londoners that an authority-wide Local Police Summary will be available on the MPA/MPS websites.

The advantage of this option:

• it is not resource intensive and has limited cost implications. Placing the information on the two MPA and MPS websites would be the responsibility of the MPA/MPS communication teams.

The disadvantages of this option:

• in smaller authority/force areas this may be a viable way forward. In London however, the usefulness and relevance of producing a pan-London policing summary is of questionable value;
• it does not adhere to the Home Office key requirement that summaries are sent to every household;
• its success is reliant on Londoners collecting a copy of the Metro and City AM, receiving the Londoner or buying the Evening Standard.

The Metro and City AM are distributed during the early morning rush hour at tube stations. However neither is available after the core commuter hours for those transport users who travel after the morning rush hour. Therefore the only Londoners who would be informed of the summary information would be those who travel during peak hours.

The MPA is aware that not all London households currently receive the Londoner and therefore these households would be excluded from the process.

Finally, according to existing press data only 8% of London’s population read the Evening Standard, resulting in very few Londoners being made aware of the availability of the summary information.

• it is not only dependent on all Londoners having access to a computer but also on all Londoners having the capacity to access the information from the websites;
• it does not adhere to the MPA/MPS equality and diversity requirements. By providing the initial information via four adverts the MPA will exclude the majority of Londoners. Those individuals who do not travel during the peak morning rush hour period, or who live in a locality that is not covered by the Londoner and finally those who do not purchase The Evening Standard will be excluded by this option.

In addition to placing adverts in The Metro, City AM, The Evening Standard and The Londoner advising Londoners that Local Policing Summary information will be available on the MPA/MPS websites, a supplementary option would be to make the London wide summary available in all Local Authority offices, regularly visited and utilised by Londoners, such as Jobcentre Plus offices.

The advantages of this supplementary option:

• it is not resource intensive and has limited cost implications.

The disadvantage of the supplementary option:

• are similar to those outlined above. This option is reliant on Londoners having access to the free newspapers, living in a locality that is covered by the Londoner and in addition utilising Local Authority offices; and
• it does not comply with equality requirements.

Option 2: 624 Safer Neighbourhoods Based Policing Summaries to be distributed through local networks

The working group explored the feasibility of producing ward level summaries.

• With the Safer Neighbourhoods roll out still not complete, the infrastructure to pursue this option is not in place in all areas of London. Given that the infrastructure still needs time to develop and bed down it would not be timely to impose a considerable duty on Safer Neighbourhoods Teams to work in partnership with the MPA to develop and distribute ward summaries.
• While this option addresses Londoners needs for local information the content required by the Home Office is much broader than local, ward specific activity.
• Local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams are already required to communicate – formally and informally – with wards. For information to remain pertinent and be of use to communities it has to be updated continually by the teams and should have an operational context. The summaries, in contrast, are to be produced annually and are expected to provide strategic information. The summaries can support and complement the localised information provided by local Safer Neighbourhoods Teams. Rather than duplicating or displacing the good and promising practise being developed by individual teams, it is recommended that the summaries supplement the existing local information.
• With some outstanding exceptions, present Safer Neighbourhoods public information and dissemination efforts are under-resourced and consequently uneven. The information needs of Londoners, as identified in the previously noted research, clearly require that the provision of local information be given an increased importance and priority. As the rollout of the Safer Neighbourhoods initiative moves towards completion, it is recommended that a more comprehensive and consistent information dissemination strategy be supported and developed. In this context, the central Safer Neighbourhood Unit should consider developing a newsletter template that can be utilised by all local teams and which also corresponds to the template used in the production of the summaries. This will help Londoners to recognise the links between the locally specific information produced regularly by the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams and the annual summary information produced by the MPA/MPS.

Option 3: 32 borough based policing summaries delivered to every household

This option is considered in detail in the main body of the report.

Option 4: Distribution of annual policing plan

Given the size of the existing annual police plan, its limited interest to the majority of Londoners, the costs associated with distributing it to every household and the fact that the document in its current form does not address the requirements of the legislation, option four was not pursued further.

F. Distribution

1. Initial conversations with the Greater London Authority functional bodies, the MPS and other pan-London organisations, have highlighted that no pan-London organisation currently provides information directly to every household. It was hoped initially that the Local Policing Summaries could be sent out with information from other Greater London Authority functional bodies to reduce costs. However, it was found that the only information produced by a pan-London organisation, the free newspaper ‘The Londoner’, is not received by every household - the Greater London Authority uses a door dropping approach and this does not guarantee delivery to every household.

2. Alternative options include utilising free borough newsletters. However, once again there are no guarantees that all London households receive free newspapers from their relevant local authority. Free newsletters and papers are also door dropped and experience of this approach suggests considerable unreliability.

3. In addition, there is no consistent approach to the production of free newsletters. The MPA is aware that not all local authority newsletters are specific to one particular borough. In some cases, newsletters are produced in partnership with a neighbouring borough and in others; newsletters focus on a particular area rather than covering an entire borough. For example, the free Grove magazine, produced in Kensington and Chelsea, only provides information relating to Ladbroke Grove.

4. The final option, which is too late to consider for the 2006/07 summaries, is posting the information out with local council tax precept information. However, the MPA/MPS should be wary of distributing the summary with council tax precept information as the summaries have a broader objective then solely providing a fiscal justification of police expenditure.

5. The research undertaken by the Working Group indicated that the only distribution mechanism that would guarantee delivery to every household, is the Royal Mail (See additional information)

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