MPS Gender Equality Scheme

Report: 15
Date: 24 May 2007
By: Deputy Assistant Commissioner Diversity and Citizen Focus on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report presents details on how the MPS will deliver Gender Equality using the MPS Equality Scheme framework, which was published on 30 April 2007. The paper outlines the key issues and challenges for the MPS in relation to employment, service delivery, training and community engagement. It also sets out to explain how the scheme was developed.

A. Recommendations

That Members:

1. Note the contents of this report; and
2. Endorse the progress made within this report and satisfy themselves that it is being monitored and progressed effectively.

B. Supporting information

1. The MPS is fully committed to achieving Gender Equality by breaking down the visible and invisible barriers that stand in the way of delivering high quality services and enabling our workforce to achieve their full potential.

2. Policing is perceived by some to be a male orientated service but the MPS is determined to change its overall culture to one that is more inclusive for all women and men, including transgender people.

3. The MPS Equalities Scheme with its common and disability specific sections was published on 4 December 2006. In compliance with the Equality Act 2006, the Gender specific section was published on 30 April 2007.

4. The scheme is available in an electronic version and is available through the MPS’ Internet and Intranet sites. The scheme can be accessed in other formats, such as Braille, upon request.

Key equality issues and challenges in relation to employment, service delivery (especially citizen focus), training and community engagement

5. As a result of extensive consultation, analysis of existing reports and strategies, it is clear that a number of factors are relevant to achieving Gender Equality, for example:

• real, tangible organisational commitment
• the presence of visible and active senior women role models
• flexible work options that support people’s ability to meet family / personal responsibilities
• removing gender stereotypes that exist around people’s roles and abilities
• addressing occupational segregation, which results in certain roles being viewed as either traditionally masculine or feminine
• providing appropriate development experiences and support.

6. The Scheme was developed with:

• the assistance of Individuals and communities from across London who were involved in engagement events during June and July 2006
• was informed by the results of parallel consultation conducted for the MPS Policing Plan 2006–07
• was informed by activity conducted by the Territorial Policing (TP) business group in relation to hate crime
• takes into account Home Office, MPA and Mayoral priorities and legislative requirements, such as meeting new specific and general duties in respect of disabled people.

7. The following section focuses on the areas that they felt we needed to improve to meet the Gender Equality Duty.

8. Women and men told us that a number of the key issues that the organisation needed to address were specific to:

Leadership:

• we need to select a senior lead to drive compliance and a corporate approach to external and internal gender issues
• we need more senior women as role models for the organisation and must address any underlying development and promotion issues
• we must ensure our policies and procedures, in relation to the way in which people are treated, are proportionate and fair and devised through a robust Equality Impact Assessment process
• our staff are sometimes difficult to approach; they appear aloof and remote from the public they serve
• some of our units and departments appear to have a male-dominated culture which may preclude some women from wishing to apply for a post within them
• our leaders need to be better role models when managing gender issues
• our leaders need to do more to monitor gender relevant policies that are devised through stakeholder engagement, to ensure they are implemented consistently and as published.

Service delivery:

• our efforts must continue to remain focused on making London the safest major city in the world
• there is some inconsistency in the way that different units and Boroughs respond to matters or circumstances: the issues can be seen as a priority for one, but may not be for another
• there is a need for further development of prevention strategies in certain areas of police performance such as domestic violence (including forced marriage, so-called ‘honour’ based violence and female genital mutilation)
• we should make it easier for all victims of domestic violence to report incidents to us
• we need to allocate greater resources to those units who have primary responsibility for the investigation of gender-based violence and recognise and improve the status of those employed in such units
• our staff must have a good understanding of the communities they serve and the specific issues faced by women and men
• we must do more to meet our primary care responsibilities when dealing with all detainees, but particularly women and transgender people
• our response to all elements of rape allegations needs to be further developed
• improvements need to be made in the way we police the sex industry, including our approach to prostitution issues.

Employment:

• primary carers, who are often women, must be afforded the same opportunity to realise their full potential
• leaders must challenge inappropriate sexist remarks and behaviour
• line managers should consult with their staff to discuss suitability of work patterns
• some people, women in particular, working in policing are unable to fulfil their role as well as achieve a work / life balance
• equipment to carry out tasks needs to be of the right quality and standard and suitable for all our staff
• that the corporate ‘Keep in touch’ scheme for our staff who take maternity / maternity support leave and career breaks and our corporate induction and re-entry into the workplace processes need to be improved
• we need to conduct an equal pay review
• women in employment are reluctant to reach their potential and there is a need for more positive encouragement from line managers.

Community engagement:

• communities and individuals should be more involved in day-to-day operational issues as well as strategic decision-making
• we should establish relationships that allow women from ‘hard to hear’ communities and transgender people, in particular, the opportunity to fully engage with us
• we need more effective interaction with agencies who work to support people involved in the sex industry so our services to them can be improved
• newly recruited front-line staff should undertake training within the communities they will serve in order to fully understand their issues and needs.

Governance arrangements for delivery of the Gender Action Plan

9. The MPS Equalities Scheme Reference Group, which includes invited representatives from all MPS Business Groups and also key external stakeholders from, for example, the MPA, GLA and our Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs), meets regularly to agree the structure, timetable, scope and contents for the Scheme.

10. With the publication of the MPS Disability and Gender Equality Schemes and the ongoing work to update the existing Race Equality Scheme and develop the Age, Sexual Orientation and Faith elements, it is proposed – as a matter of natural transition – that this group should take on the primary mantle of organisational governance.

11. This body will be known as The Equalities Scheme Steering Group, will be chaired by a senior member of the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD) and will formally progress the Equalities Scheme Action Plan. The role of this group is to ensure each element of the action plan is delivered in full and on time and that every section of the MPS is engaged. This group’s role is crucial to the successful delivery of the Scheme, including Gender.

12. Business Groups with assigned lead responsibility for delivery of the actions are now developing local action plans to deliver the related objectives. These plans will be specific in terms of activity, will need to take account of the associated financial and resource implications, be focused on deliverable outcomes and each action will be given a target delivery date against which the lead owner will be held to account.

13. Progress reports on the delivery of the Equality Scheme action plans, including those within the Gender section, will also be an agenda item on the MPS Diversity Board, which provides the highest level of governance on equality issues. Lead owners will be held to account at this forum should they fail to meet the target dates stated within the Scheme. Membership includes external stakeholders and MPS Staff Association representation.

Access to information

14. We would make use of the MPS publication scheme which can be accessed through our Internet site at www.met.police.uk. The purpose of the Publication Scheme is to make information available before it is asked for. We routinely publish large volumes of information on our website and will clearly do so for the Equality Scheme and each section as it is published. The purpose of the Publication Scheme is to make information available before it is asked for. Other information listed in the Scheme, but not available electronically, will be sent, or be made otherwise available on request.

15. The MPS strives to reach all communities so that they can have the confidence to access our services. By consulting with community groups, independent advisors and other service users, we aim to ensure that our arrangements make us increasingly accessible to an ever-growing number of Londoners. Through monitoring the demand for information we will identify, review and refine our services to meet the expressed experiences and needs of communities.

16. Barriers to prevent us providing information do exist but engagement with the public helps to break them down. The formation of specific Independent Advisory Groups, such as those involving the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities; the Tamil community; and the Gypsy and Traveller Community, have also played their part in helping the communities they give advice on, to access our services.

17. Our commitment to providing clear, accessible information, including its ethical collection, storage and management, will also help to ensure that we are able to comply with the Quality of Service Commitment Standards.

18. To ensure our activity is driven consistently, and that progress is measured effectively across the organisation, we have adopted the Equality Standard for local government (ESlg). This is in use across the local government sector and demands that all our functions should provide a fair and equally accessible service to all Londoners.

19. The development of an equality based performance framework, setting out where each operational unit is in relation to the Standard, will also demonstrate how well we are doing in delivering the Scheme. The Standard is an important tool for achieving the aims of the Scheme.

20. Through our ESlg framework, we aim to generate greater engagement between local police units and the people they serve. As each (B)OCU devises its own action plan it will need to consider how to meet the criteria contained within the Standard. In doing so, and in partnership with the community, it may, for example, consider:

• ensuring gender issues are included in local staff induction and training (including our new programme for police recruits)
• communicating successes in relation to senior positions held by women and transgender people
• providing effective support mechanisms to people working in demanding roles
• setting staff individual objectives, based on activity required to progress the gender strand of local ESlg Action Plans
• providing personal and building security advice to women and men in their homes / workplaces
• ensuring women and men are represented on their local (B)OCU Diversity Forum
• considering the viability of part-time or flexible working opportunities in relation to existing roles as well as locally advertised vacancies
• ensuring any vital, local intelligence / information that women and men can provide is not lost because of any stereotypical or patronising attitudes or perceptions or because of barriers in relation to communication or access.

Involvement of gender communities

21. From the outset active steps were taken to ensure that a wide range of views helped shape the contents and direction of both the Common and Gender-specific sections of the Scheme.

22. Women and men both within and outside the MPS:

• were members of the Project Reference Group, providing valuable help and guidance at the strategic level
• helped to develop the criteria for assessing corporate policy for relevance and priority
• screened all of our corporate policies, over 135 in total, for their relevance and priority in respect of meeting the gender duties
• attended a series of seminars designed to capture what Londoners expected of the MPS in relation to all of the diversity strands
• attended additional seminars designed to capture what Londoners specifically expected of the MPS in relation to gender issues
• completed a questionnaire, devised to capture the views of individuals who could not attend any of the consultation seminars.

23. In addition:

• each BOCU was sent a questionnaire to establish the level of gender-related engagement taking place; and
• provided informed comment on the draft version of the Scheme.

24. Steps to ensure involvement in the engagement process were far-reaching and included:

• the production of materials in appropriate formats
• use of the Police Message Broadcast System (PMBS), a two-way system in which people from across London register their details with us and are then sent a range of community information by text, e-mail and voicemail
• letters to all MPS staff working away on secondment, those on career breaks, long-term sickness and maternity leave
• Safer Neighbourhood Teams promoting opportunities for people on their individual wards to contribute
• Diversity Champions, identified for every MPS OCU, ensured that all staff, including those without IT access, were afforded the opportunity of contributing
• discussion with, and advice provided by, the London Mayor’s Policy Advisor for Women’s Issues, and members of her staff
• letters of invitation and questionnaires sent to community support organisations located across London
• supplying a questionnaire to capture the views of individuals who could not attend any of the consultation seminars.

25. The engagement opportunities provided a large amount of information about what people wanted from us in terms of activity. Whilst they told us about some areas of our work that are effective, they also focused on the areas that they felt we need to do better, in order for us to meet the Gender Equality Duty.

26. Contact details of those that have contributed to the development of the Scheme during the consultation process have been collated and they are provided with regular updates. We intend to continue to keep them appraised of developments by ensuring that they have sight of the updated action plans being developed by business groups, and we will continue to seek their comments. It is also our intention to enhance the community contacts established thus far by making use of those that have been developed by colleagues working in other parts of the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate and elsewhere within the organisation.

Delivery of action plans

27. Our Action Plan will initially run from December 2006 to December 2010. This will keep our timescales broadly in line with other public sector bodies. The Action Plan is based on evidence obtained from our engagement processes as well as legal and strategic drivers. It is designed, once implemented, to improve the experiences of people, whatever their origin or background.

28. Any additional costs of delivering our Action Plan will need to be fully worked out and built into our business plans over the next four years. We have identified those individuals within the MPS who will deliver the Scheme, it will be important for us to be able to show progress and also make sure the plan is delivered in full.

29. The Action Plan, when fully complete with all diversity strands added, will be divided into seven distinct sections, that is, the six diversity strands and common activity. Because it is important to show the links between the Scheme and the Equality Standard for local government (ESlg) framework, each individual element of the Plan contains a reference to one (or more) of the Standard’s sections, that is, Leadership, Service Delivery, Employment and Community Engagement.

30. Each element of the Action Plan has been assessed for the likely financial and resource implication to the Service. Many actions will not require additional funding but will require resource commitment to take forward both in terms of changes to our processes and also any related training delivery.

31. Each Action within the Equality Scheme, including the Gender section, has been assigned a named lead and a target date for completion. The relevant business groups are currently in the process of assessing how they will incorporate elements of previous action plans into the Equality Scheme. The Governance arrangements referred to in paragraphs 11 – 15, will be the mechanism by which the nominated lead owners will be held to account for delivery.

C. Race and equality impact

Equality and diversity is the subject of this report. There are significant diversity implications arising from the Equalities Scheme, notably in the elimination of discrimination, together with the promotion of equality of opportunity, good relations between different groups, positive attitudes towards others and the participation of all in public life. The Scheme will enable the MPS to deliver an ever-higher quality service to all Londoners.

D. Financial implications

The Scheme’s Action Plan sets out the scope of the activities that need to be delivered. Some of the activities are already in train, have funding allocated, and therefore require no new resources. A calculation of projected new costs shows around £300k per year for the first 4 years for this initial phase. It is unlikely that extra funds will be available and therefore this work will result in a realignment of existing resources. As other activities are included in relation to other diversity strands through 2007, extra, but as yet unquantifiable costs may be identified. The benefits of delivering the equalities agenda in terms of staff and community satisfaction and engagement are significant. Likewise, the implications of not delivering could be financially significant in terms of, for example, notices of non-compliance, employment tribunals, levels of complaint, missed recruitment opportunities and overall organisational performance.

E. Background papers

• MPS Equalities Scheme 2006-10

F. Contact details

Report author: Wendy Reeves, Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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