Joint APA/ACPO race and diversity audit template

Report: 09
Date: 05 February 2004
By: Clerk

Summary

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Association for Police Authorities (APA) have developed a Race and Diversity Audit Template that they have asked all forces to complete by March 2004. This report updates members on the plans for completing the audit.

A. Recommendations

1. That members agree the suggested approach to completing the audit described in paragraph 5.

B. Supporting information

1. Following the television programme, the Secret Policeman shown on 21 October 2003 , Chief Constables Council of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) agreed a 7-point action plan for tackling racism in the service.

2. As part of this, ACPO and the APA have jointly developed a Race and Diversity Audit Template that forces could use to identify critical areas requiring attention and develop action plans for remedial action. (Appendix 1*).The aim is that the completed template will be received by a ‘buddy force’.

3. There is not a comparable police service to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) given its size, complexity of business and the community it serves. However as an organisation that encourages learning from others, there should be value of the exercise for the MPS, and the information emerging from the Audit will be of great interest to this Board in implementing its scrutiny role of the MPS Race and Diversity performance.

4. Commander Steve Allen, Head of the Diversity Directorate will be taking the lead in completing the template. He will be working closely with Julia Smith, Head of Race and Diversity and MPA Members.

5. There will not be an Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board (EODB) meeting in March when the template is required to be submitted to ACPO and the APA. It is therefore proposed that the Chairs of this Board and the Chair of Human Resource with the Clerk, Head of Human Resource and the Head of Race and Diversity forms part of the MPS Committee that will be responsible for signing off the completed template. The completed template will then be presented at the April EODB meeting.

APA model report

6. The APA has developed a draft model report to assist police Authorities in assessing how effectively they are tackling Race and Diversity issues both in relation to the Authority itself and in terms of the oversight of the MPS. The model report (Appendix 2*) is aimed at helping police authorities in identifying their strengths and weaknesses in this area and planning the actions that remedy the situation where weaknesses are identified.

7. The APA has requested that the MPA submit the outcome of each Authority’s analysis of its performance by 27 March. The APA hopes that the outcome of each Authority’s analysis will help to provide a national picture that will inform the APA’s submission to the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) formal investigation into racism in the police service, which will be lead by Sir David Calvert-Smith QC, former Director of the Public Prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

8. The EODB and other MPA Committees already receive much of the information from the MPS that is suggested in the APA model report. However, undertaking the audit could be useful for this Board and would assist the APA in its collation of good practice examples for dissemination to other police authorities.

9. The audit report could form the basis for a detailed discussion at the April meeting and would therefore give the Board time to consider both the MPA and the MPS response to the MPA ACPO exercises.

10. The MPA Head of Race and Diversity will take the lead for completing the Audit, in full consultation with the Head of Diversity Directorate. The final product will be reviewed by the group proposed in paragraph 5.

CRE investigation into racism

11. The Chair of the Board has already written to the chair of the CRE and hopes to meet with him shortly. The MPA will wish to make representations to the investigation in its own right, and it is proposed that the Clerk and the Chair of this Board agree the most appropriate means for doing so.

C. Equality and diversity implications

Undertaking the APA audit would contribute to the Authority’s ability to scrutinise its internal performance and ability to hold the MPS to account for its diversity performance more closely. The exercise will directly contribute to meeting the general duty of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications directly associated with this report. In undertaking the Audit, any identified resource implications will be reflected in the report to the April meeting of this Board.

E. Background papers

• APA , Special Plenary Session – Secret Policeman, 19 January 2004
• APA Model Report

F. Contact details

Report author: Julia Smith, Head of Race and Diversity, MPA.

For more information contact:

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

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