Met Modernisation Programme update

Report: 12
Date: 18 January 2007
By: Director Strategy, Modernisation and Performance Directorate on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides members with an update of progress on the Met Modernisation Programme (MMP), specifically on how equality and diversity principles are embedded in, and central to the process.

A. Recommendations

That members

1. note how the MMP has developed since the last report provided to this committee in December 2005
2. note measures put in place to asses the MMP in relation to the ‘critical success factors’ outlined by the MPA using the Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) process
3. note how the MPS is measuring the tangible impact of the Together programme
4. note how the MMP is addressing the eight challenges identified by the MPA in December 2005 including leadership, effective management, handling complaints, representation, active communication, hidden voices of existing, new and emerging communities, key encounters and accountability.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. MMP is a portfolio of projects and programmes that started in April 2006 to co-ordinate, prioritise and deliver:

• the proposals resulting from the Service Review;
• the strategic priorities and outcomes set out in the Corporate Strategy, and
• major change already taking place in the MPS such as the C3i Programme and Safer Neighbourhoods

2. This major change programme is geared towards delivery of a better service to the public and driven by a rigorous approach to sustainable benefits and success through strategic outcomes.

3. The scope of the programme has evolved since the report submitted to EODB in December 2005. Management Board recognised that with this scale of business change impacting across the whole organisation it would not be possible to do everything in the first year and proposed to the Authority that the programme should be prioritised into categories to maintain focus in the key areas. During the first year, MMP has been prioritised as follows:

• Category 1 - programmes with significant deliverables in 2006/07: Safer Neighbourhoods, Together, C3i/Metcall and Intelligence, Covert Policing and Tasking
• Category 2 - discrete projects that were part of a more extensive programme (e.g. Information Quality) and would also significantly deliver in 2006/07: Single Sign On, Custody and Quality of Service Commitment and Victims’ Code
• Category 3 - programmes that would be scoped in 2006/07 for implementation later into the MMP programme plan: Information Quality, Workforce Modernisation, Modernising Business Support and Olympics

4. At the same time, it was agreed that modernisation taking place in Specialist Crime Directorate and Specialist Operations, including the implementation of the Counter Terrorism Command, should proceed and be integrated within the rest of the programme. Underpinning all of this business change was the determination to focus on the needs of the citizen, to identify efficiencies and value for money and to achieve sustainable improved performance.

Equalities Impact Assessment

5. An EIA is conducted as part of the planning process within each project and programme following criteria developed by the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate. Project/programme managers take ownership for assessing and monitoring the potential impact on the programme guided by the Modernisation Delivery Unit (MDU), the core team co-ordinating implementation of MMP.

6. If no impact is identified then this is appropriately documented. If the impact is identified as unjustifiably adverse, discriminatory, or fails to promote the positive aspects, then alternatives and/or amendments are considered, a process that has not been required to date. Completed EIA forms are attached to key project documents (including the Business Case).

7. EIAs for Safer Neighbourhoods, Together, and Olympics (high priority programmes) are shown in Appendix 1. Please note that due to the change in the EIA template since MMP inception, some of these forms are in the previous format. Any new programmes, or an existing programme that undergoes a change in scope will undertake the EIA through the new template.

8. If a programme is assigned a higher priority it will be subject to further scope and the EIAs will be updated. The categorisation or prioritisation process is driven by the strategic prioritisation set out in the three year corporate strategy.

9. The MDU is keen to ensure that project and programme managers are given the right guidance in undertaking EIAs in a correct and timely way. To this end, the MDU will be arranging a training session at a forthcoming meeting of the Project and Programme Managers’ Forum where the MPA will be asked to provide valuable input.

Together

10. Together has been assigned as Category 1 within MMP for 2006/07 and is also a strategic priority for the MPS. It is about cultural change, concerned with creating an organisation where all individuals, regardless of their role or personal background, feel valued as part of a team.

11. A major part of the project management framework adopted within the MMP is for projects and programmes of work to define their benefits so that the success of the project can be monitored and the maximum return on investment achieved.

12. The delivery of four end benefits (outcomes) across six themes have been agreed for Together. The four end benefits are:

• improved cross-organisational working at a corporate level
• improved team working at a local level
• improved staff productivity
• increased maximisation of staff potential.

13. Work is continuing to identify specific measures for the benefits associated with the above themes. Once agreed, these measures will be reported by the Together team on a regular basis until the desired benefits are delivered.

14. The MPS recognises that the nature of Together, which is seeking to embed a cultural change in values and behaviours throughout such a large scale organisation, will be a long journey and there are challenges to overcome. The benefits as set out above, however, will create the right environment to make the MPS an employer of choice.

Leadership and effective management

15. The Leadership Academy (LA) was launched in June 2006, as part of Together. The first course has been targeted at newly promoted first and second line managers (Team Leaders) across the MPS. Whilst providing practical leadership skills which delegates can apply at work, the key emphasis is upon enabling delegates to lead in a way consistent with the MPS Values. To date, 200 people have completed the programme.

16. Leadership Academy local represents the next stage of delivery for the LA. The main aims of LA local are to:

• take the products and services of the LA to the workplace
• work alongside and support senior leaders of the MPS in developing team and individual leadership capability
• make the MPS Values a reality in the workplace by working alongside officers and staff in promoting the type of workplace that would be more values consistent
• deliver the key skills and knowledge required by officers and staff in respect of leadership, equality and diversity
• bring together all the key messages of the MPS in one intervention - working in partnership with the relevant Senior Management Team.

LA local will also begin with a pilot to test its approach and effectiveness in the first quarter of 2007.

17. The Leadership Academy will enable leaders to develop the competencies, confidence and courage needed to be inspirational and effective leaders for their teams. It also represents a challenge for leaders to lead by example, to be the type of leader that both staff and the public want to see, a leader who makes a difference to the performance of the Met.

Handling complaints

18. The Morris Inquiry report made several recommendations on how the MPS deals with complaints made to the police service. These recommendations have been developed by the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) through the DPS Review, and it’s subsequent implementation. It should be noted that the implementation of the findings from the DPS review is not one of the strands of the Met Modernisation Programme. The values approach articulated by Together is in this work.

19. The implementation of the DPS review recommendations have been built around the Together values and was instrumental in the creation of the Prevention and Organisational Learning Command within DPS. This incorporates cultural change, to learn from experience and find ways to be even better. This will be delivered partly through the Professional Standards Support Programme (PSSP), which will offer support, guidance and share good practice to Borough Operational Command Units (BOCUs) and those public facing Operational Command Units (OCUs).

20. DPS and Together are working collaboratively to align the new LA Local and PSSP. This will ensure that leadership and management skills are incorporated into the professional standards model and address Morris Inquiry recommendations.

Active communication

21. The MDU Communications Team is an integral part of the MMP and responsible for co-ordinating active communication and engagement in relation to programmes and projects. At the outset of the programme, the team carried out a stakeholder analysis to identify key groups of internal and external stakeholders. These groups have been incorporated within a Communications Strategy that has been developed in liaison with the Directorate of Public Affairs. The following paragraphs set out the communication and consultation activities carried out by the Communications Team to maximise awareness and engagement of key stakeholders.

22. Weekly visits to frontline staff are carried out by the Programme Director (Director Strategy, Modernisation and Performance Directorate (SMPD)) to develop first hand experience of how modernisation projects and programmes are impacting frontline colleagues. The visits include going out on patrol with police officers and sitting down with staff and discussing their experiences of their day-to-day work. The sessions are also an opportunity to demonstrate what work is in progress to address their concerns in areas such as rekeying and excessive bureaucracy.

23. The MDU hold quarterly live intranet forums where staff have the opportunity to ask questions or raise issues directly to Director SMPD about the modernisation process. Sixty questions were addressed during the two intranet forums held in 2006 and most questions had an instant personal response. The next forum will be held in February.

24. Colleagues from across the organisation can also ask questions or provide feedback on modernisation via the MMP intranet site. In conjunction with this is a dedicated modernisation email box that is monitored by the MMP communication team who provide a response to the questions and feedback. The issues received are also fed back to the programmes and projects. The MMP intranet site also has a message board for staff to post comments on modernisation topics and to disseminate best practice.

25. Options for a staff survey are being prepared for Management Board. It will be important to make the links between the results from this survey and the values and anticipated benefits of Together.

Representation

26. The MMP Communications Team are engaging with MPS staff associations through the Director of HR Services. The team provide updates on modernisation programmes and projects at staff association meetings. The team now provide monthly updates to the group in the form of a newsletter, which includes the latest progress in the strands and emerging issues.

27. Director SMPD chairs a monthly meeting held with senior representatives from the Federation, Superintendents Association and police staff unions. Different guest speakers attend each meeting to cover a particular modernisation topic in greater detail.

28. Two citizen development panels have taken place in December and January. These are intended to be the first of many panels to be used by modernisation programmes and projects to gain a citizen perspective on intended changes. The inaugural panel held on the 18 December focused on Workforce Modernisation. The structure of the meetings will provide the opportunity for citizens to raise issues and concerns, provide significant feedback and describe the potential impact on them of proposed changes. Membership of the group is from a cross-section of local communities, ages and gender. A follow up meeting is planned to demonstrate to attendees how their input has influenced the pilot Workforce Modernisation projects.

Hidden voices of existing, new and emerging communities

29. The MDU encourage programme managers across the MMP portfolio to consider existing, new and emerging communities when inviting participants to citizen development panels.

30. Self-defined ethnicity (SDE) was an issue raised within Planning and Performance Review Committee (PPRC) which itself was in the context of a scrutiny of the Criminal Recording Information System (CRIS). The report submitted to PPRC in November indicated that there are three key issues to be tackled around the recording of SDE:

• some reluctance for reporting officers to 'press' people in telling them what they think their ethnicity is
• telephone reporting is the area of highest non-compliance
• confusion to reporting officers as to what is mandatory and non mandatory (within the context of the CRIS system itself)

31. A review is now in place to bring together the governance arrangements for the CRIS system. This will deal with three separate issues:

• The ‘technical files’ necessary to ensure quality information
• The supervision of accountability for the quality of information within the system itself
• The analysis that is made of the information recorded in the system

Compliance of SDE will be a key issue in this approach. A report will be submitted by the Performance Directorate to PPRC to advise on progress of these three strands.

Key encounters

32. Citizen Focused Policing 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. The Citizen Focus Programme is a key element of the 2006 – 2009 MPS Corporate Strategy.

33. The Commissioner has made very clear the critical imperative of focusing on the user experience and that this needs to be collectively embedded across the whole MPS. As with Together, there is the need for significant culture change and tailoring our service to the needs of the individual citizen at the incident in hand. It is about ‘doing the existing things better’ rather than the launch of a new initiative.

34. The MPS has recently appointed a new AC whose responsibilities will include how to ensure:

• changes in structure and leadership are driven through the MPS to avoid silo working
• the ‘user experience’ is reflected more broadly in the corporate performance framework
• the corporate measures are reflected in Business Group performance frameworks
• identified good practice is mandated and not optional

35. Victims Focus Desks (VFD), staffed by specialist Victim PCSOs, are being rolled out across boroughs as part of the Quality of Service Commitment and Victims Code. Territorial Policing leads this work in close collaboration with Citizen Focus. The VFD will provide a high quality customer focused service to victims and witnesses of crime in accordance with MPS policy and national legislation of the Victims Code.

36. The VFD will act as a single-point-of-contact for victims and witnesses and provide information about support services in their area and make referrals as required. They will be able to explain the processes and procedures of the Criminal Justice System, and act as liaison with other police departments, as well as other Criminal Justice agencies to provide a vital service to victims of crime. The Victim PCSO staffing the desk will also work with the investigating officer, providing updates on case progression to the victim in line with the Victims Code of Practice. Specific recruitment to these desks will begin towards the end of January 2007.

37. MPS front counters represent the 'shop window' of our organisation and are key to our citizen-focus programme. It is here that the greatest proportion of victims of crime and members of the community make contact with the MPS and frequently we are judged solely on the quality of the service they receive during this contact. It is our intention to increase the provision of such services and move many of them into community-based settings.

38. The strategic intention is to modernise the current process of delivering front counter services to reflect a 'citizen focused' approach. This will be achieved by segregating the elements of enforcement, reception and victim focus to allow for a more appropriate approach to the needs and demand of the public.

Organisational learning

39. The SMPD has taken the corporate lead for co-ordinating input from all business groups to determine MPS business requirements in relation to Organisational Learning. A strategic level forum met for the first time in December 2006 to identify how organisational learning can be captured and translated into improved practice and procedures, in all business areas, and to develop a way forward.

Performance and accountability

40. The benefits described by each of the programmes are geared to improving performance. Many of the benefits from programmes such as Safer Neighbourhoods, C3i, Together and Intelligence, Covert Policing and Tasking are focused on improving service provision particularly in relation to community engagement, confidence and satisfaction. While specific measures for these programmes are still under development, clear improvement has been seen in the performance areas these programmes are designed to impact:

• residents reporting significant concern of Anti-Social Behaviour has fallen;
• confidence in the MPS is increasing; and
• user satisfaction has generally improved considerably.

41. Director SMPD chairs the Programme Delivery Board, which is the primary decision making body within MMP. Management Board prioritise the programme in accordance with the MPA/MPS corporate strategy. The MPA Oversight Committee meets on a monthly basis and provides a crucial role in steering and overseeing the direction and speed of the programme.

Abbreviations

SMPD

Strategy, Modernisation and Performance Directorate

MMP

Met Modernisation Programme

EIA

Equalities Impact Assessment

MDU

Modernisation Delivery Unit

LA

Leadership Academy

DPS

Directorate of Professional Standards

PSSP

Professional Standards Support Programme

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

OCU

Operational Command Unit

SDE

Self-defined ethnicity

PPRC

Planning and Performance Review Committee

CRIS

Criminal Recording Information System

VFD

Victims Focus Desks

C. Race and equality impact

This report considers throughout the race and equality implications of the MMP.

D. Financial implications

MMP programmes and project will require continued investment throughout 2007/08. Business Cases will be duly considered at the MPS Investment Board.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Michael Debens, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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