Minutes - draft

Please note these minutes are currently draft and are subject to committee approval.

Minutes of the meeting of the Equal Opportunity & Diversity Board held on 4 October 2007 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

•  Kirsten Hearn (Chair),
• Aneeta Prem (Deputy Chair)
• Cindy Butts
• Lee Jasper (co-opted member)

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive)
• Annabel Adams (Deputy Treasurer)
• Laurence Gouldbourne (Head of Equality and Diversity)
• Julliett Fearon-Knott (Policy Development Officer, Equality and Diversity Unit)
• Douglas Lewins, (Policy Development Officer, Equality and Diversity Unit)
• Bennett Obong (Project Manager. Race Hate Crime Forum)
• Melissa Wagstaff (Planning and Performance)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alfred Hitchcock (Diversity and Citizen Focus),.
• Chief Superintendent Ed Bateman

Focus item

• Gordon Russell –(Property Services)
• Dave Haynes – (Directorate of Information)
• Chief Supt Martin Greenslade – Territorial Policing
• Sue Gilson and Michelle Hickman (Human Resources)
• Gary Fryer
• Graham Manfield (Custody Directorate)

Recommendations from Disability Resilience conference

• Chief Superintendent Simon Lewis, Central Operations
• Alan Gibson Transport Operational Command Unit
• Joe Royle Transport Operational Command Unit 
• Phil Kaye. Serious Violent Crime
• Gerry Campbell Serious Violent Crime
• David Skelton, Budget and Equalities (Diversity and Citizen Focus)

Also present:

• Aileen Quinton DANDA
• Ann Novis, Co-Chair Disability Independent Advisory Group
• Brenda Wrightman MPS
• Dennis Bartholomew, London Borough of Sutton
• Ernest Obumselu, London Borough of Merton
• Fred Ellis – Haringey Community and Police Consultative Group
• Helen Buckley, Lewisham CPCG
• Herbert Klein,
• Huma Khan, People First
• Ibukun Olashore, Organisation of Black African Caribbeans
• James Oaten, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
• Jim South ,Wandsworth Hard of Hearing Group
• Julie-Jaye Charles, Chief Executive Equalities National Council
• Karen Carter, Hillingdon People First
• Katharine Quarmby, Disability Now
• Kevin Bainborough, Safety First
• Linda Allchorne, Disability Advisory Group
• Nathalie Stewart, Westminster Human Rights, Equalities and Race Group
• Pascal Johnson, London Borough of Camden
• Peter Collier, Waddon Safer Neighbourhood
• Roger Hewitt, UK Council on Deafness
• Pascal Johnson, London Borough of Camden
• Paizah Neave, Millennium Disability Agency
• Roger Hewitt, U K Council on Deafness
• Ruth Bashall, Co-Chair Disability Independent Advisory Group

16. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

(Agenda item 1)

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

17. DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS

(Agenda item 2)

No interests were declared.

18. MINUTES – 12 JULY 2007

(Agenda item 3)

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2007 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

19. FOLLOW UP TO THE MEETING ON 12 JULY 2007

(Agenda item 4)

Nothing to report.

20. CHAIR AND MEMBER’S UPDATE

(Agenda item 5

No items.

21. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

(Agenda items 6)

The MPA management information report gave details on the focus item and other equality and diversity information for hate crime, strength, recruitment and MPA staff figures.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

22. REPORT ON FOCUS ITEM –DISABLED PEOPLE AND THE POLICE – A NEW RELATIONSHIP?

(Agenda item 7)

This report provided an update to the MPA Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board on MPS progress in response to the 48 recommendations contained within the MPA report “Disabled People and the Police – a new relationship?” The MPS’s ongoing response to the recommendations has been periodically reviewed by the MPA Disability Oversight Group, a time limited scrutiny panel supported by MPS business groups and the GLA. The group’s work programme was completed in October 2006 and this is the first report on activity and progress since the group was stood down. Responsibility for implementing the recommendations remains with the MPS. It is being overseen and monitored by the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate supported by the MPS Equalities Scheme framework.

In introducing the report Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hitchcock said that there were a number of officers from various disciplines present at the meeting who could answer questions on particular points. If it was not possible to provide an answer during the meeting then one would be provided subsequently. (There were also opportunities for officers to speak to members of the public during a break in the meeting.)

After discussion - see agenda 10 - it was

RESOLVED –

members note MPS activity and progress in response to the MPA report ‘Disabled People and the Police – a new relationship? ’be noted

23. SUBMISSION BY DISABLED STAFF ASSOCIATION

(Agenda item 8)

This was included at Appendix 2 of agenda item 7.

RESOLVED - That the submission be noted.

24. CONCURRENT REPORT BY MPA ON THE FOCUS ITEM

(Agenda item 9)

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

RESOLVED - That

1. the report and the action taken by the MPA as outlined in Appendix 1 be noted; and

2. a progress report from the MPS be submitted within the next 12 months on the progress against the recommendations contained within the MPA report “Disabled People and the Police - a new relationship?”

25. DISCUSSION ON AGENDA ITEMS 6 TO 9

(Agenda item 10)

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

General points

In reply to a question from Dennis Bartholmew, London Borough of Sutton Aneeta Prem, who is the MPA lead member on the subject, confirmed that there was an instruction that so called honour crimes should be referred to as dishonour crimes. She would be disappointed to learn that the term honour killing had been used in any of the reports under consideration at the meeting, but it might be the case that it was used in relation to one of the partner organisations who continued to use the term.

Ruth Bashall Co-Chair, Disability Independent Advisory Group said that the IAG would acknowledge that there had been progress by the organisation. However, there remained the overriding concern that the approach to disabled people continued to be based on the medical rather than social model of disability.

Chief Superintendent Bateman said that rolling out the social mobility of disability was a significant challenge in such a large organisation but the Equality Scheme would assist.

The Head of Equality and Diversity, MPA felt that there was still a challenge for the learning which had undoubtedly taken place to be fully assimilated throughout the organisation.

Lee Jasper said that although the MPS was saying that the social model of disability was being followed it was clear from what some of the speakers had said that this did not yet seem to be the case in every part of the organisation.

Ruth Bashall also raised points on a number of issues which are included below.

Oversight

Ruth Bashall Co-Chair, Disability Independent Advisory Group asked what was being done to encourage more boroughs to have a Borough Diversity Board?.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hitchcock explained that the Diversity Board, which met quarterly, required each part of the MPS to give an account of progress made on developing and implementing its policies. As the Board met only quarterly an Equalities Scheme Steering Group had been set up which would meet more frequently. A key aspect of its work was to examine the action plans for the equalities scheme. It was important that the action plans were deliverable.

Access to buildings

Ruth Bashall Co-Chair, Disability Independent Advisory Group said that this remained a concern for the Group.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hitchcock explained that many police buildings were built at a time when the question of access was not deemed to be important in public buildings generally. There was a policy of having at least two buildings in each borough which were accessible and this had already been achieved but the MPS readily accepted that there were significant challenges for other buildings both in this regard and also in the general experience for those visiting police stations. Initiatives were being introduced to improve the service provided including a triage system which would hopefully reduce the waiting time.

Safer Neighbourhood panels

Ruth Bashall Co-Chair, Disability Independent Advisory Group as there any monitoring from the centre to ensure that deaf and disabled people were on the ward panels? There was also the issue of whether members of the panel were just representative of themselves.

The Chair said that similar points had been made at a recent conference she had attended.

Martin Greenslade confirmed that members of the Key Individuals Network which were identified by the ward teams could be invited to attend the ward panel meetings. The make up of ward panels was something which should be monitored by the Safer Neighbourhood team Sergeants and Borough Commanders. The borough diversity panels which were being established would also have a role in ensuring that the ward panels were representative. Borough Commanders could also appoint disabled individuals to the borough IAG.

Cindy Butts, MPA member said that the Safer Neighbourhood panels were key in delivering local priorities and she was not entirely satisfied with the answer which had been given about the role of borough Commanders.

Lee Jasper asked whether there was not a proactive role for the centre for ensuring that that the panels were fully representative.

Hate crime and Third party reporting

DAC Hitchcock outlined the establishment of the Violent Crime Directorate and explained that this Directorate handled all reports of domestic violence including third party reporting in conjunction with boroughs. However, responsibility for policy development on third party reporting currently lay within the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate. The quality of third party reporting varied with that relating to disability perceived as not as being as good as that for race hate crime hate or especially sexual orientation.

In reply to a point from Ann Novis, DCI Campbell said that domestic violence and hate crime operating procedures were being developed.

Training

Lee Jasper some concern that e training was being used, as there had been a very slow uptake for e-training as regards race. To what extent would the e-training be mandatory?

Chief Superintendent Bateman explained that the Training Board had just agreed to give protected time for the disability e-training for police officers and police staff. The e-training package had been developed nationally by Centrex. The intention was to give the training to senior personnel first before it was rolled out to all employees. Specialist trainers had been used to develop the packages and were also on occasion used for the delivery of training on disability issues, but there was also the argument that this perhaps ran contrary to the declared intention of disability issues being mainstreamed throughout the organisation.

The Chair stated that the focus for the next meeting would be training when it would be possible to explore these aspects in more detail.

DAC Hitchcock confirmed that disability was incorporated in initial training, supervisory and specialist areas such as firearms.

Monitoring and reporting

In response to a question from Lee Jasper on the robustness of figures in the report DAC Hitchcock said that it was generally accepted that there was under-reporting. The MPS was putting in place processes to better flag and assess incidents.

Cindy Butts stressed that better ways of bringing third party reporting up to the standard for race hate and sexual orientation must be found.

Paizah Neave, Millennium Disability Agency, reported that her Agency worked with deaf and disabled people at a grass roots level including housing issues. There were instances where deaf and disabled people took the trouble to approach their housing association about harassment from other tenants and were told to go their local police station. This they did only in turn to be then advised that it was a civil matter. She felt that the officers at the front desk should treat people in such cases with more respect and at least give them a crime reference number.

DAC Hitchcock said he would be pleased to discuss the specifics of this case with the individual outside the meeting but he would stress that under the Citizen Focus agenda attention was being paid to the experience being experienced by members of the public. This covered, for example, issues around the first contact with the organisation such as telephony, front counters both in terms of accessibility and then the service received. A triage to identify needs earlier, similar to that in a hospital Accident and Emergency Unit, was being trailed in two boroughs. A system of quality call back where the police contacted people following an incident was also in place and there was a monitoring system to ensure this took place

Borough liaison officers

In response to a question DAC Hitchcock undertook to supply Lee Jasper with a list of those boroughs which had liaison officers for disability matters.

Communications policy

Lee Jasper asked whether there was a communications strategy and whether it was working satisfactorily.

Policy development work with other parts of the GLA family and other partners

Lee Jasper asked whether there was in which the MPS could work with TfL on the work that organisation was doing and he could provide the contact details of the relevant officers

DAC Hitchcock confirmed that he would take up the offer which had been made.

Julie-Jaye Charles Chief Executive Equalities National Council said that her organisation would be able to pleased to be consulted further in connection with the development of policies especially as they related to members of the BME community.

DAC Hitchcock said that a generic Equality Scheme was being introduced the remit for which covered compound discrimination and the way in which service were delivered. Equality Impact Assessments covered all the equality areas. He felt there was a general understanding in the organisation that people were multi-faceted and that they could be liable to multiple discrimination. The Citizen Focus agenda was all about delivering a service which met an individual’s needs. He was grateful to the offer made by Julie-Jaye and confirmed that the offer would be followed up.

Domestic Violence.

Cindy Butts –were the number of incidents involving deaf and disabled people being fully captured – especially in the case of carers. From discussions at the MPA Domestic Violence Board which she chairs it was clear that the questions of confidence in being able to report were paramount and this was especially the case in reporting crimes against carers.
DAC Hitchcock said that he would agree that reporting was a challenge.

Disabled staff

In reply to a question from Cindy Butts DAC Hitchcock said that HR would be able to supply a written update.

DAC Hitchcock said that the methodology was around a steering group and action plans. EIA were in place right across the organisation. There was still some way to go on accountability.

Other points

In reply to a question from Peter Collier Waddon Safer Neighbourhood, DAC Hitchcock confirmed that the DVD on bullying in schools could be made available to third parties and confirmed that his team will be contacting Fred Ellis about the scheme he wishes to set up.

Summing up

DAC Hitchcock said that he felt that there was reason to be proud with the work which had been done and whilst there remained much to do it was very gratifying that so many organisations were offering help and assistance to achieve this.

The Chair thanked the representatives of the community organisations and members of the public for attending and also to those who had provided the extra support for the meeting such as the signers. A summary of what had been said would be made available in due course in the minutes of the meeting.

26. MPS RESPONSE TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MPA/TRANSPORT FOR LONDON (TfL) EMERGENCY PLANNING (RESILIENCE) CONFERENCE 2006

(Agenda item 11)

In March 2006 the MPA/TfL Emergency Planning (Resilience) Conference was held, resulting in 53 multi-agency recommendations for the inclusion of issues relating to Deaf and disabled people into emergency planning procedures. This report provides the MPS response to those recommendations.

Chief Superintendent Lewis said he would stress that emergency planning was multi-agency and this was reflected in the governance arrangements. The London Regional Resilience Forum had representatives of relevant agencies with Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur and Bob Broadhurst representing the MPS.Under this Forum is the London which meets monthly and where he was the MPS representative. There were seven task and finish groups which reported to the Forum. As stated in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the report a new task and finish group dealing specifically with deaf and disability issues had been set up and was due to hold its first meeting in late November. Part of the remit of the group would be to consider the remaining multi-agency recommendations from the Resilience Conference by developing work programmes and identifying funding issues and to develop EIAs. Reports from that group could be submitted to the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board.

RESOLVED that

1. MPS progress against the Resilience Conference recommendations be noted;

2. the MPS/LRT (London Resilience Team) initiative to engage partner agencies to address those recommendations be supported; and

3. the long-term approach advocated beyond the completion of those recommendations, towards the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games be noted.

27. CONCURRENT REPORT BY THE MPA ON MPS RESPONSE TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MPA/TRANSPORT FOR LONDON (TfL) EMERGENCY PLANNING (RESILIENCE) CONFERENCE 2006

(Agenda item 12)

This purpose of this report is to outline some of the key challenges and concerns from a range of equality and diversity perspectives as they relate to the Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) response to the MPA/Transport for London (TfL) London Resilience (Emergency Planning) Conference 2006.

RESOLVED That-

1. a progress report be received within the next 12 months on the steps taken by the MPS Emergency Preparedness Operational Command Unit (CO3) to respond to the 16 recommendations, which already form part of the MPS Equality Scheme;

2. the MPS Emergency Preparedness Operational Command Unit be Invited to work with key Operational Command Units such as (but not limited to) Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate (DCFD), Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA) and Training; and

3. CO3 be asked to demonstrate that it has actively involved members of the Deaf and disabled communities in its planning, organising and delivery of emergency planning.

28. DISCUSSION ON AGENDA ITEMS 11 AND 12

(Agenda item 13)

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

Anne Novis Co-Chair of the Disability IAG referred to the slow progress made since the conference and specifically in implementing the recommendations. She welcomed the report and the setting up of the task and finish group. Although concerns had been raised initially with specific reference to the events of July 2005 in London there was clearly a need for the needs of deaf and disabled people to be taken into consideration in dealing with events happening throughout the country and indeed internationally.
Anne explained that the motto of the group was “Nothing about us without us” because deaf and disabled people had the experience and expertise to guide the work. She wished to know about the date of the first meeting of the task and finish and she also sought an assurance that deaf and disabled people would always be involved in similar work.

Chief Superintendent Simon Lewis confirmed that the first meeting was scheduled for the last week of November. He would give an assurance that the right people wren in attendance and also that the London Resilience Programme Board had given an assurance that deaf and disabled people would be involved in all future work.

Estate issues

Aneeta Prem asked what groups were consulted on these aspects such as the DIAG.

DAC Hitchcock confirmed that all new builds were Disability Discrimination Act compliant. Gordon Russell from Property Services confirmed that his Directorate did talk to groups about new builds and refurbishments and the views of disabled people were sought by Borough Commanders and taken on board as far as possible. A strategy had been agreed with the MPA where two buildings in each borough were accessible and this had been achieved last year. When it was known that disabled people would be occupying premises then any specific adaptation works would be carried out.

Ruth Co-Chair of the Disability IAG – I do not think that anybody had sought the views of the IAG on estate issues for a couple of years. At borough level it was more of a chicken and egg situation and if deaf and disabled people were not involved in the groups which a borough Commander normally consulted then steps must be taken to involve local deaf and disabled groups. She also asked whether there was there a specific budget for the task and finish group to involve disabled people.

Chief Superintendent Lewis said that whilst there was no specific budget for the group but there was the option of pooling resources of the partner organisations.

Olympic and Paralympic Games

Peter Collier Waddon Safer Neighbourhood referred the meeting to the section of the report on the Olympic Games. He reminded the meeting that from 2008 onwards each borough would be holding cultural events. He would also be interested in hearing whether visits were being made to other cities which had held the Olympic Games in order to ensue that good proactive was followed learning was being followed, especially with regard to points which affected disabled people.

Chief Superintend Lewis explained that the Olympic and PARALYMPIC games came under Central Operations under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Bryan. He confirmed that there had already been visits to other countries to bring back best practice. There was liaison with both the police and Borough Council emergency planning officers concerning the borough events which the questioner had referred to.

29. UPDATE ON MPS VIOLENT HATE CRIME STRATEGY

(Agenda item 14)

A report was submitted which focused on the domestic violence and hate crime elements of the MPS (Draft) Serious Violence Strategy, progress made to date and how these elements of the strategy will be advanced. Appended to the report was a paper which outlined the current position with regard to the MPS (Draft) Serious Violence Strategy.

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

Ann Novis Co-Chair of the Disability IAG asked for more information on the consultation events referred to in paragraph 27.

DCI Campbell work on the wider strategy started in June 2006 with five focus groups followed by two days of multi-agency partner planning. The DIAG were part of that consultation process. A draft review document was produced following that process. Amongst the finding was that the pan London partnership should not be owned and led by the MPS and the position was that the partners had yet to decide which agency was to lead. There was a need to conduct a pan-London audit of where we were on crime amongst the partners. Although the pan-London work had stalled the MPS was continuing to develop its own strategy.

The Chair asked whether the MPS was satisfied that all strands of Project Umbra are fully representative.

DCI Campbell reported that the MPS leads on two strands and felt that together the 6 equality groups were represented on the strands.

In reply to a question from Aneeta Prem DCI Campbell stated the Project Umbra review report would be submitted to the London Criminal Justice Board and it is likely that it would be submitted to the MPA Domestic Violence Board in November.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

30. UPDATE FROM TRANSPORT OPERATIONAL COMMAND UNIT

(Agenda item 15)

A report was submitted which proved a progress update to a report considered by the Board on 20 July 2006 relating to the Transport Operational Command Unit (TOCU). It updates on the issues of TOCU demographics, of work in progress to ensure equal opportunities and address under representation. It also updates on how TOCU manages enforcement activity in relation to disproportionality, particularly where young people are involved, and informs of its community engagement activity. Additional information is presented on TOCU activity in relation to disability issues.

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

Chief Superintendent Royle stated that he had been in post 2 months and the OCU was in the process of change. He would therefore welcome any suggestions for improvement.

Lee Jasper asked for an explanation the figures for stop and search and arrests included at Appendix 1 of the report which showed that the percentage of arrests for nearly all groups appeared to be considerably higher than that for the MPS generally.

Inspector Alan Gibson –said there were bespoke training courses for officers in the Command Unit and officers were encouraged to be more selective in who they actually search. Reporting mechanisms had also been tightened up ensure that .there was greater confidence that the figures were accurate.

Inspector Gibson said that it was not possible to comment on proportionality as we do not have full information on the profile of who uses buses.

The Chair suggested that the MPA Stop and Search review group be asked to look at these points in more details .

Ruth Bashall, Co Chair Disability Independent Advisory Group, said that one recurring issue was reports of bullying on buses – particularly from people with learning difficulties at times when children were leaving schools.

Chief Superintendent Royle confirmed that work was done with officers which would allow them to deal with this type of incident.

Chief Superintendent Royle reported that during the break in the meeting he had spoken to Dennis Bartholomew from Sutton and will arrange to visit his group. Officers from TOCU were always willing to attend other groups.

The Chair reported that Transport for London has a Disability Independent Advisory Group and felt it might be useful for the officers to find out more about its work in view of the shared operational areas. The Chair also referred to the suggestion that the TOCU sets up its own IAG and felt it was important that consideration be given to avoiding duplication with existing groups such as the main IAG and local IAGs.

RESOLVED - That the report be noted.

31. MPS DRAFT EQUALITIES PRIORITIES AND BUDGET 2008-09

(Agenda item 16)

A report was submitted which asked members to agree the draft MPS equalities priorities for 2008-09 to be included in the draft budget submission for 2008-09 to 2010-11 as requested by the Greater London Authority. In line with the two-stage budget process, an indication of equalities related expenditure and further information on the equalities priorities will be presented as part of the full budget submission.

RESOLVED – That-

1. the draft equalities priorities as outlined in paragraph 7 of the report for inclusion in the main draft budget submission be endorsed; and.

2. it be noted that a more detailed Equalities and Budget return, including costings, will be presented to members at the November Full Authority meeting as part of the full budget submission.

32. MPA INITIAL BUDGET AND EQUALITIES PRIORITIES AND BUDGET 2007 – 2008 AND BUSINESS PLANNING 2008 - 2009

(Agenda item 17)

This report provides an overview of the MPA’s Budget and Equalities Report for 2007 – 08 and business plan 2008 – 2009 as requested by the Greater London Authority (GLA). In line with the two-stage budget process, an indication of equalities-related expenditure and further information on the equalities priorities will be presented as part of the full budget submission.

RESOLVED – That

1. the content of the report to the Greater London Authority (GLA) be agreed.

2. a more detailed submission of the MPA’s Budget & Equalities submission to the GLA at full Authority by November 2007 be received and referred.

The meeting closed at 4.31 p.m.

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