Provision of additional police officers on boroughs

Report: 6
Date: 07 February 2008
By: by Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This proposal was presented to CoP initially on 10 January and was agreed in principle. On that basis, initial discussions have been taking place with local authorities to assess the level of interest. However the Committee asked for additional information to be provided on the proposal. This paper provides the information requested and seeks formal agreement to the proposal.

A. Recommendations

That the Committee

1. gives formal agreement to this initiative and agree that discussions can continue with local authorities within the proposed financial framework set out in Section D and subject to final budget decisions

2. agrees that the provision of the officers is on a cost sharing basis rather than full cost recovery for this initiative only

3. agrees that, subject to recommendations 1 and 2 being supported, delegated authority is given to the Commissioner to exercise the MPA’s powers under section 92 of the Police Act 1996 (power to receive grants from local authorities) to take forward this initiative with local authorities, subject to the Chief Executive approving model terms and conditions in relation to grants to be received from local authorities, and for the Chief Executive to enter into appropriate agreements recording the terms agreed for each grant.

B. Supporting information

1. This initiative involves local authorities making a two-year financial contribution to the cost of providing up to an additional 320 police officers within their areas to support the delivery of LAA performance targets. The MPA has already approved budget growth proposal of £3.9m in 2008/09 and appropriate subsequent growth. The budget submission awaits formal approval from the Assembly.

2. The intention is to provide resources to boroughs over and above that provided through other means for core policing activity. The additional resources will enable the borough, in partnership with their local authority, to manage and task resources to deal with neighbourhood and local authority issues, in support of the challenging performance targets that will be contained within the Local Area Agreements. They will also provide an additional level of resilience to a borough.

3. The local authority will be contributing to the costs of the additional police officers. The financial implications section of the reports submitted to CoP on 10 January set out in detail how the overall recruitment and pay costs will be covered. Costs such as overtime will be covered by the borough to which the officer is posted.

4. This proposal provides the opportunity to have additional police officers on boroughs, at a relatively small cost to the MPA.

5. Additional resources have been provided successfully in other like initiatives. For example, in response to increasing levels of anti social behaviour and crime across London’s transport networks, additional resources have been provided successfully through a similar initiative, supported by TfL. Funding has been received to increase resources above that provided for core policing activity – 21 teams each consisting of two sergeants, one constable and 18 PCSOs now actively patrol the transport networks and hubs, targeting the issues that cause the travelling public real concern and making a real difference to people’s journeys and improving their quality of life in the capital.

6. Specific information requested by MPA members is provided below.

Allocation of posts to boroughs

Initial expressions of interest from boroughs vary. So far, two boroughs are not interested, one borough seeks one post, two boroughs may want 10 each and one borough is likely to seek 11. On that basis, it seems unlikely that the overall demand will exceed the 320 available.

However, if local authorities do seek more than the 320 available, it is proposed that the allocation will be prioritised using the tier 1 category of serious violence offences within APACs. The targets within LAAs are only now being determined but we know that so far 27 of London’s boroughs have either decided to include the serious violence target within the LAA or are considering it. Setting the number of serious violence offences for a borough against the total of serious violence offences for the MPS (using 2007/08 figures) to identify the percentage of the total for each borough, would provide a process for allocating posts within the 320 total available.

Exit strategy

The loss of police officers over the last three years has been between1360 (2004/05) and 1681 (2006/07) per annum. (Up to December 2007, the loss is 1028.) When the contracts come to an end, the additional officers will be subsumed into the BWT of the MPS to replace a proportion of the officers lost to the MPS. The contracts are likely to finish at different times (based on our experience of the varying length of time it takes working with local authorities to get contracts into place) so the redeployment of officers will happen over time.

Abstractions

Alongside safer neighbourhood teams (SNTs), the provision of officers to the activity to be undertaken in this initiative will be a priority and therefore officers will only be abstracted from such activity in accordance with the corporate guidance on SNT abstractions. That means that the officers would be ‘red circled’ from abstractions that would take them away from undertaking these activities. The officers would still be entitled to rest days, annual leave and compassionate or other leave entitlement, they would undertake mandatory and public order training, and they would be available for public order commitments at three major events (Notting Hill Carnival, New Years Eve and May Day). The 7/7 clause would also apply as with SNT officers.

Selection of officers

Officers will be posted to boroughs in the usual way and boroughs will determine appropriate postings to activity.

Timing

As mentioned above, the time it will take to put contracts into place for this initiative will vary from borough to borough. There will not therefore be one date on which all the additional officers will be provided. A deployment plan to set out how the MPS will recruit and deploy officers for 2008/09 is currently being developed and the provision of officers for this initiative will be considered by Management Board in determining priorities for recruitment and posting. Start dates for each contract, linked to the provision of the officers will be negotiated with each local authority.

Management of contracts

The development and management of the contracts will be undertaken by members of the Safer Neighbourhood portfolio, who have experience of handling the contracts for the PCSO cost sharing initiative and TfL safer Transport Teams. The financial arrangements will be put in place and managed by TP Business Support who also manage the PCSO contract financial arrangements.

Communication

We are supporting boroughs in their negotiations with the local authorities, including providing answers to FAQs. The borough commanders and local authority will consider how best to publicise the provision of additional resources for their boroughs that will be available to tackle local issues. DPA and the MPA Press Office will liaise on appropriate corporate publicity for the initiative and the preparation of press lines.

Taking this forward

As with previous initiatives, the MPS will liaise with local authorities on their participation in the initiative under Section 92 of the Police Act 1996. The Chief Executive of the MPA will approve model terms and conditions and sign off each contract as it is developed and agreed (see recommendation 3).

C. Race and equality impact

1. An initial equality impact assessment is attached at Appendix 1. As the agreements would be in place for individual boroughs and the targets for each will vary, it is proposed that a full EIA is undertaken when the individual contracts are being developed so that boroughs can consider the impact in relation to how they use the resources and the targets that are put in place.

2. The MPS strongly believe that by working closely with local communities we can best assess the impact of policing on all parts of the community. LAAs are developed through the Local Strategic Partnerships who have statutory roles in enhancing community cohesion and ensuring positive impacts are delivered for all parts of the community. Local EIA and decision making will be take place within this framework. The Safer Neighbourhoods Team central unit will develop the EIA within this document to produce a London wide picture and ensure quality.

D. Financial implications

1. Full financial implications were set out in the report submitted to the January meeting of CoP. A summary of those implications is provided below.

2. The proposal is that local authorities make a contribution of £37,500 for each police constable provided. As the proposals currently being developed will deliver MPA/MPS, as well as local authority, objectives they involve a cost sharing arrangement and would not achieve full cost recovery on the officers provided.

3. Based on full cost recovery the cost of the 320 officers and the proposed funding package is set out in the table below which shows that the cost of 320 officers over two years will be some £37.92m of which £24m would be met by Boroughs and £13.92m would be met by the MPA/MPS. Having regard to the costs of £6.76m which can be met within existing budget growth of £7.16m is needed i.e. £3.89m in 2008/09 and £3.27m in 2009/10.

 
4. Local authorities will be ‘buying’ a product – a fully trained police officer. On the basis of a fixed contribution of £37,500 from local authorities for each of the two years, the cost of pay awards will fall on the MPA/MPS. The estimates above include the pay award provision included in the 2008 –11 draft budget submission. If pay awards exceed that provision then the cost to the Authority/Service will increase.

5. The proposed sharing of costs between the MPA/MPS and the local authorities reflects the potential impact of other proposals included in the 2008 -11 budget proposals considered at the joint meeting of the PPRC and Finance Committee on 19 November 2007 and the Full Authority on 22 November 2007 - in particular, the proposals by TP to tackle on costs, support costs and realign the delivery of functions to create the capacity within their budget to consume the overhead costs of up to 320 additional officers.

6. The current 2008 –11 draft budget submission includes a contribution of £3.9m for both of the financial years. The latest proposal would imply an estimated additional cost of £3.9m in 2008/09 and £3.3m in 2009/10 which will be reflected in the final budget for 2008 -11.

7. In relation to the potential impact on support services, there are no new requirements on the property estate. Additional marginal costs are only anticipated on HR recruitment activity given the overall potential net increase in officers and staff included in the 2008/09draft budget submission and a provision of £1m has been included in the proposal for the anticipated additional costs by HR which cannot be contained in their existing budget provision.

8. In considering these arrangements the MPA/MPS need to have due regard to their fiduciary duty in terms of non-recovery of the full cost of the officers involved in the proposed partnerships. In reaching a decision, regard must be taken of all relevant, both financial and non-financial, factors. The MPA/MPS need to be satisfied that the cost to the service is commensurate with the benefits gained.

9. This proposal has been included in the growth proposals for the 2008 –11 draft budget submission and is reflected in the Mayor’s draft budget proposals for 2008 -11 which were published for consultation on 13 December 2007. Final budget decisions will not, however, be made until February 2008 and implementation will be dependent on the 2008/09 budget settlement.

10. Any extension of the proposed two year arrangement, together with the associated costs, will need to be considered in developing future years’ budgets. If the arrangement is not extended, existing officers will be redeployed to other posts within the approved BWT.

E. Background papers

Paper to MPA CoP 10 January 2008, agenda item 4

F. Contact details

Report author: Diana Marchant, Director of Business Development, TP, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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