Minutes - draft

Minutes of the Equal Opportunity & Diversity Board held on 16 November 2006 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Kirsten Hearn (Chair)
• John Roberts (Deputy Chair)
• Cindy Butts
• Aneeta Prem (to the end of agenda item 8)

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive and Clerk)
• Annabel Adams (Deputy Treasurer)
• Laurence Gouldbourne (Head of Race and Diversity)
• Hamida Ali (Policy Development Officer, Race and Diversity Unit)
• Julliett Fearon-Knott (Policy Development Officer, Race and Diversity Unit)
• Doug Lewins (Policy Development Officer, Race and Diversity Unit)
• Bennett Obong (Manager, London Race Hate Crime Forum)
• Melissa Wagstaff (Analyst)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick (Diversity and Citizen Focus)
• Commander Steve Allen
• Commander Sue Wilkinson
• Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell
• Gary Pugh (Director of Forensic Services)
• Detective Supt Alistair Jeffrey
• Shaun Kennedy Head of Diversity Learning and Development Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate

Also present:

• Lee Jasper (co-opted member)
• Davina James-Hanman, Director, Greater London Domestic Violence Project
• Fatima Khan, Muslim Safety Forum
• Daniel Snowdon, Vice-President, Welfare Student Office, University of London Union
• Shereen Samara, Equality Co-ordinator, Croydon & Sutton Law Centre
• Ben Owusu, Chair, Race Independent Advisory Group
• Beryl Foster OBE, Director, Standing Together
• Anni Marjoram, Mayor’s Advisor - Women’s Issues, Greater London Authority
• Sandra Horley, Chief Executive, Refuge
• Nicola Sharp, Policy Advisor, Refuge
• Cliff Codona, Chair, Gypsy & Travellers Independent Advisory Group
• Patricia Larrigan, Association of Senior Female Police Staff
• Susan Paterson, Senior Criminologists, Performance, Development and Monitoring Unit, Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate
• Vicky Kielinger, Senior Criminologists, Performance, Development and Monitoring Unit, Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate
• Sue Jacobs, District Crown Prosecutor, Crown Prosecution Service
• Peter Collier, Committee Member, Waddon Safer Neighbourhood, Croydon
• Helen Bowes, Senior Policy and Performance Officer, Community Safety, Greater London Authority
• Bhimji Vekaria, Chair, Metropolitan Police Hindu Association
• Ruth Bashall, co-vice chair, Disability Independent Advisory Group
• Penny Kennedy, Services Manager, Domestic Violence Intervention Project
• Ben Jamal, CEO, Domestic Violence Intervention Project
• Professor Betsy Stanko, Senior Adviser, Strategic Analysis, MPS
• Nathalie Stewart, Westminster Human Rights, Equalities & Race Group
• Ann Middleton, Association of Senior Female Police Staff
• Louise Shellard, Disability Independent Advisory Group
• Samantha Rust, Head of Policy and Communications, London Criminal Justice Board

28. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

An apology for absence was received from Damian Hockney. A number of apologies from members of the invited community organisations were also submitted.

29. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No interests were declared.

30. Minutes – 7 September 2006

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2006 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

31. Chair and member’s update

(Agenda item 4)

Resolved – That the report be noted.

32. Performance management information on domestic violence - overview

(Agenda item 5)

The MPA analyst made a brief presentation on the performance data. She said that her researches had not revealed any readily available figures concerning dual arrests in the MPS and this position seemed to be the same in other police areas. There was also no relevant data on customer satisfaction.

Arising thereon – Commander Allen pointed out that the MPA figures were on a rolling basis whereas the ones in the MPS report were based on the financial year to date. He suggested that it might be helpful to explore having a common time scale.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

33. Focus item report by the MPS – Project Umbra

(Agenda items 6)

A report was submitted on Project Umbra, a multi-agency initiative designed to proactively manage all aspects of domestic violence to provide a consistent level of professional service – across all Criminal Justice agencies - to victims (including children).

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted; and
2. the MPA continue to support the Project

34. Concurrent report by the MPA on the focus item report

(Agenda item 7)

This report provided a response from an equality and diversity perspective to the report by the MPS.

Resolved - That

1. the MPS confirms the arrangements outlined at the meeting as how they will resource Project Umbra adequately both in the short and medium to long term;
2. Project Umbra reports its performance to the next MPA Domestic Violence Board on 6 February 2007; and
3. the progress made in Project Umbra across the six equality strands be reviewed in the next committee cycle.

35. Discussion on the focus item

(Agenda item 8)

Standing Orders were suspended for this item to enable contributions to be made from non-members.

Administrative arrangements

As part of his introduction to the report Commander Allen said that following a meeting held on 2 October there was a detailed plan to put in place the necessary administrative arrangements and a communications strategy. There would be a full time administrator for Project Umbra.

Data

Davina James-Hanman, Director, Greater London Domestic Violence Project, sought clarification on the data and in particular had there really been a 7% decrease when the fact that under 18s were no longer included in the data which in reality meant there had been an increase? The MPA analyst said that she would provide a suitable annotation to her data. Commander Allen said he was clear that for the current financial year there was a reduction year on year.

Beryl Foster, Director, Standing Together wondered why were the latest figures regarded as an achievement? Increased reporting had been seen as being an achievement in the past by partners.

Commander Allen said the figures were not claimed to be a success but as an important question we need to know the answer to.

Peter Collier, Committee Member, Waddon Safer Neighbourhood, Croydon said that actual figures might be more helpful rather than percentages. He observed that there did not seem to be any figures for domestic violence against men and asked what was being done to make it clear to men that violence against women in their own home was just not acceptable.

The MPA Analyst explained that the figure for the sanctioned detection rate in Croydon was 23%– the lowest in London. She would come back with the actual figures. Commander Allen said that information about male victims was shown in paragraph 31 of his report and he would highlight the figure of 87% of the aggressors being male. The message that this was not acceptable had been featured in advertising campaigns aimed at men which had been praised for their assertive tone.

Terminology

Nathalie Stewart, Westminster Human Rights, Equalities & Race Group referred to the use of the term “honour killings” which she said gave the perpetrator of violent attacks an excuse or credibility for their acts and she was surprised to see that the term was still being used. She would also be interested in hearing about work targeted at women or children as victims either physically or psychologically.

Commander Allen explained that the MPS was working with ACPO and government departments on the issue of definitions and terminology used for describing these crimes and it had to be borne in mind that some of the voluntary agencies in this field wished to continue using this description. The MPS tended to use the phrase but with qualifications such as “so called“ honour crimes. The publicity work so far had concentrated on messages to the perpetrators rather than victims. Strand 3 of Umbra contained reference to work with children.

Ethnicity considerations

Lee Jasper, co-opted member of EODB, said that it was he wished to thank the MPS for providing a very good report and the improvements in the sanctioned detection rates were to be commended. Referring to the fact that 20 out of the 28 murders last year were BME women which was a substantial over-representation he asked how were the voices of BME women taken into account in tackling this area of crime. Resources - paragraph 6 – was a matter of concern to the Mayor as well as the MPA. Paragraph 18 – unknown ethnicity –what is the timescale for getting an improvement? Failed refugees and asylum seekers – the message he was getting from speaking to police officers on the ground is that people falling into this category are increasingly reluctant to engage with official bodies and this would include a reluctance to speak to police officers. He felt that as long as these women declined to report incidents then the plight of the women in these communities would surely worsen. Paragraph 18 was also of concern with a substantial number of victims being described as being of unknown ethnicity. What was the time scale for getting these areas of data being properly recorded in the future?

On the question of resources Commander Allen said he would acknowledge that the resources in place had not panned out as anticipated but as from the following week there would be a full time Administrator and a half time post providing administrative support. DCI Campbell had been appointed as the temporary project manager. He was speaking to the executive of London Criminal Justice Board about how it might be help share the administrative burden of Umbra.

With regard to the monitoring self-defined ethnicity of victims Commander Allen said he was not in a position to say when this would be done but it was clear the only way to achieve this would be to make it mandatory as it was for the perpetrators where there was now 100% compliance and discussions were talking place with the CRIS Changes Board to make it mandatory for victims too. When he had spoken to the CRIS Board again he hoped to be able to let Lee Jasper have an update on the likely timescales. It had to be borne in mind that there was an issue about compliance with data capture across the MPS.

DCI Campbell said he shared the concerns expressed with regard to BME women. Strand 2 dealt with advocacy and support and had achieved success in its outreach work. Borough Commanders were given the relevant statistical data and this could then be shared with partners within the CDRP to ensure that resources were in place. Strand 6 would be operational from next month and there was a schedule of meetings for 2007. Part of his remit was to liaise with the Immigration Service to ensure that they received timely reports in order that they were in a position to improve the quality of the service they offered. There was a constructive dialogue with various women’s groups within the MPS which acted as critical friends in terms of expectations and delivery. Despite the work which was already being carried out it was undoubtedly the case that more work could be done at both a strategic and borough level to ensure that resources were correctly targeted.

Lee Jasper asked for a breakdown on the proportions of crimes in the various ethnic communities. He would be pleased to play a role in raising the profile of this issue within black men’s organisations.

DCI Campbell advised that the figures for last year were as follows:

• 1 south European
• 10 black/ African
• 5 Asian
• 3 Chinese/ SE asian
• 1 Arabic

Scrutiny role and dual arrests

Cindy Butts, MPA member, said the key role for MPA members was to challenge and scrutinise in order to achieve further improvements. Resources were clearly one of the issues and it had been good to learn about the plans which had been outlined at the meeting. However, this should be set out in writing so that it was possible to assess how the resources met the current need and the likely future demand.

Cindy Butts also asked how the central Project Umbra team was able to influence what happened in the boroughs . When the borough performance figures were assessed what action was taken with regard to those boroughs were performance was either not satisfactory or on the cusp of not being satisfactory. She felt that the advocacy work in strand 2 was very good. On the question of disproportionality in BME women she agreed that a report should be submitted as a matter of urgency on how to address this issue.

Dual arrests – she would welcome clarification on the MPS policy as members were aware of anecdotal evidence that it did happen.

Commander Allen said the MPS was clear about the scrutiny role of the MPA. Resources – a resource plan could be drawn up but it was a complex matter as domestic violence was not entirely a discrete issue and there were linkages with other areas of expenditure on violent crime and public protection generally. Dual arrests - it was difficult to respond to anecdotal incidents and he would ask members to submit details of particular occurrences so that an explanation could be given. Measuring – there were difficulties in connection with data capture. There was no policy to make dual arrests – the primary aim was to arrest the primary aggressor. Processes for identifying borough performance were discussed in the report. CCSM held borough Commissioners to account in front of the relevant DAC or Commander and this was now an area covered in appraisals. Where a borough was not performing recommendations would be made for remedial action.

At the next meeting of the Domestic Violence Board it was intended to look at all the data collated over a 24 hour period and this would enable dual arrests to be identified. Disproportionality – the information which had been requested would be provided.

Homicides and suicides

Sandra Horley, Chief Executive, Refuge, said her organisation was encouraged by the report and many of the initiatives being carried out. She asked for more information on the ethnicity of the BME women who had died in the current year. Whilst the number of homicides was going down suicide was an area of major concern and whilst it was gratifying to note that work on this would be developed as part of strand 6 she would be interested to hear whether Commander Allen had anything further to add on this subject.

Aneeta Prem, MPA member, said a particularly area where more information should be available is the reason for the much higher incidence of suicides amongst Asian women.

Commander Allen said he would be happy to let the MPA have the data on ethnicity of murder victims for the current year. There was currently not much data on suicides although would be rectified as part of strand 6. There were linkages with arranged marriages and it was the also case that there may be many unsuccessful suicide attempts.

Cindy Butts asked how many of the victims were known to the murderer?

The Chair said that perhaps that the information could be included in the report from the Domestic Violence Forum.

Disability aspects

Ruth Bashall, co-vice chair, Disability Independent Advisory Group (IAG) raised the question of domestic violence by carers and in a residential care setting had been disused with Commander Allen previously but there appeared to be nothing on this topic in the report. She also would request that at some stage there be a review of all the work on domestic violence from a disability context. The IAG did not have the resources to get involved in the detailed work on all the strands but she would be interested to learn how the MPS proposed to work with disabled groups especially those representing women . Statistics on murder – did they include men?

Commander Allen said that he would endeavour to make it easy as possible for the IAG and other groups to get involved in all the work that will be carried out. On the issue of definitions he was clear that the word “intimate” included the type of carer arrangement that Ruth had outlined and this would be introduced across the organisation. An Equality Impact Assessment on the whole of Project Umbra had been commissioned and there would also be an assessment of each strand which would include disability aspects. Where a homicide occurred within a crime defined as domestic violence then disabled people would be included in the figures. The Albert Adams case had shown the importance of this approach.

Safe havens

Ben Owusu, Chair, Race Independent Advisory Group asked what work was done with CDRP colleagues. He referred to the safe haven in Croydon run jointly by the police and local authority but he wondered if they were provided more generally.

Commander Allen said the Croydon safe house was a good illustration of at work that was carried out by many parties other than the police. The GLA provided borough Chief Executives with data on work being carried out in their boroughs which could in turn be fed into the CDRP.

Linkages with Crown Prosecution Service

Aneeta Prem MPA member referred to the issue of resources discussed earlier and said that a recent case of what she was aware had achieved a satisfactory result because of the commitment of the officers Aneeta asked for more information on work with the Crown Prosecution Service – for example, the proportion of charges amongst sanctioned detections. What was being done to ensure that all cases are being pursued?

DCI Campbell explained that he has a performance management role in the violent crime directorate. The aspiration was that as many cases as possible would result in a conviction. There were duty prosecutors in all boroughs during office hours. There was very good co-operation with the CPS on strand one which meant for example that there was a better understanding of why some cases had to be dropped through lack of evidence. There had been a detailed analysis of the court outcomes in one NE London magistrates court where 13 out of 19 cases had resulted in a not-guilty verdict. In terms of charging it is the sole decision of the Crown Prosecutor for the vast range of offences which fall within the DV category.

John Roberts, Deputy Chair EODB, said he had heard comments that the police were more interested in the sanctioned detection rate than the conviction rate. He referred to the reply which had been given to the question on support borough performance in terms of support – how realistic was it that adequate support could be given that there are 32 boroughs. He would also be interested in knowing something about what are the plans for the future in terms of learning, resources etc.

Commander Allen said he would stress that the resourcing of domestic violence was a complex issue and was linked with other parts of the violent crime directorate and elsewhere in the organisation. He would be happy to discuss with partners where further resources would be particularly useful.

With regard to aspirations for the future DCI Southwell said this would include a reduction in repeat offenders and improved service delivery and satisfaction levels.

Summing up

DAC Fitzpatrick said that the discussion had illustrated some of the complexities involved in this area of policing. She also referred to some of the work which the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate was doing to support the violent crime directorate such as the equalities scheme which would assist in the performance of the domestic violence work.

Cindy Butts said it was clear that domestic violence remained a key priority for the whole organisation. The MPA remained supportive of Project Umbra and members looked forward to contributing to the strategy on violence against women.

The Chair thanked everybody for their contribution and suggested that the London Domestic Violence Forum would be able to give further consideration to some of the points raised.

36. Diversity issues within Child Protection Group

(Agenda item 9)

A report was submitted which outlined the work of the Child Abuse Investigation Command (CAIC) outlining resources, together with key equality and diversity issues in relation to community engagement, service delivery and employment. It also details current work in progress around children exposed to domestic violence and Project Umbra and how DNA is being used to investigate child abuse. It will also outline some key challenges faced through the implementation of “Every Child Matters”.

Commander Wilkinson said there were recent leaflets and press cuttings on some current initiatives which she wished to table. The Chair requested that this information be made available in a form accessible to her before it was circulated to other members.

The MPA Chief Executive confirmed that the Authority was due to receive a report concerning its duties and obligations under Every Child Matters.

In reply to questions Commander Wilkinson confirmed that the current computer systems – CRIS and MERLIN were not able to identify child abuse cases by particular faiths and ethnicities. She accepted that this was a pressing need and said that if a computer upgrade was not possible then some manual system would need to be introduced. Initiatives were carried out on the basis of information coming from analysts.

Lee Jasper said that it was crucial that information on ethnicity and faith was available and that without it was not possible to properly carrying out work targeted at particular groups. Instead there was the danger that work would be carried out on particular areas, such as African churches, with no rational reason for so doing and no overall sense of balance.

Other members agreed that monitoring of child abuse across all faiths and ethnicities was essential. On the suggestion of Lee Jasper it was agreed that the MPS be requested to carry out work on the following areas:

1. The monitoring of child abuse across all faiths and ethnicities, rather than just BME communities. To what extent are we recognising disproportionality?
2. Clarity of the extent of child abuse in London. Do we have 'official' statistics and what are NGOs saying/indicating around underreporting.
3. Data on victims and offenders against ethnicity and gender to explore issues of disproportionality. Trends over 2-3 year period would be useful.

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted.
2. further work be carried out in relation to the three points outline above.

37. The use of DNA in tackling crime and promoting equality

(Agenda item 10)

A report was submitted which provided information relating to the use of DNA including equality monitoring to ensure that there is no disparity in sampling.

Lee Jasper felt there were some serious areas of concern around areas such as profiling and there was an argument for the Board not considering the report until these hade been addressed.

The Chief Executive suggested that a way forward would be for members to outlined their concerns so that they could be addressed in a further report to be submitted to a future meeting.

Lee Jasper said that he would write to the Director of Forensic Services on some particular concerns which he would like to see addressed could be included in the next report. It was the case that this issue was of major concern to the black community.

The Director of Forensic Services said he would be happy to speak to any particular organisations.

Resolved – That

1. the report be noted.
2. a further report be submitted

38. Progress report of Race & Diversity Learning & Development Programme

(Agenda item 11)

This report detailed progress on MPS implementation of the Police Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme published by the Home Office, ACPO, and the APA in November 2004. The report also includes an update on MPS progress on the development of training on the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000).

Members commented that whilst they recognised the reasons for the delay in identifying the performance gap , it was unfortunate that this implementation of the programme had not proceeded more speedily.

The Head of Diversity Learning and Development Diversity and Citizen Focus said he shared the frustrations which members had expressed.

Resolved – That the report be noted

Note – due to time constraints the recommendations in the following reports were agreed without discussion.

39. Corporate equalities objectives

(Agenda item 12)

A report was submitted which asked members to endorse the progress made towards achieving the Corporate equalities objectives for 2004-07. It also highlights areas of improvement and invites members to agree the actions needed to meet the agreed objectives.

Resolved - That

1. the progress and outcomes made towards the Corporate Equalities Objectives be endorsed; and
2. the action listed as outlined in paragraph 3 to keep the MPA on track to achieve its objectives be agreed.

40. Progress towards meeting the Local Government equality standard

(Agenda item 13)

A report was submitted which updated the Board on the progress for delivery of the Equality Standard for local government and the identification and development of a performance management system to monitor compliance across the MPS.

Resolved - That the work in progress be noted.

41. Update on MPA progress towards meeting the Local Government equality standard

(Agenda item 14)

A report was submitted which outlined where the MPA is on the Equality Standard for Local Government (ESLG) and how it proposes to respond to changes made within ESLG. It also provides a concurrent response to the MPS’ position paper in relation to the ESLG.

Resolved - That

1. the actions the MPA is taking to ‘sign off’ Levels 1 & 2 be agreed;
2. the steps that the MPA is taking to meet Level 3 of the ESLG be agreed; and
3. the response to the MPS’ progress towards ESLG be agreed.

42. MPA Disability Agenda

(Agenda item 15)

A report was submitted which outlined the background to and the current progress of the MPA Disability Agenda.

Resolved - That members agree to review the progress made by the Metropolitan Police Service in regards to the outstanding issues from the MPA Disability Agenda, which are to be progressed via the MPS Single Equality Scheme.

43. Reports from EODBoard sub-groups (oral report)

(Agenda item 16)

No reports were given.

The meeting closed at 4.50 p.m.

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