MPS Progress on the implementation of the police race and diversity learning and development programme

Report: 8
Date: 6 December 2007
By: Deputy Assistant Commissioner Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report details progress on MPS implementation of the Police Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme produced by the Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of Police Authorities in November 2004.

A. Recommendations

That Members note the report and the work in progress.

B. Supporting information

Strategy for Improving Police Performance in Race and Diversity

1. The strategy for improving police performance in race and diversity covers the race and diversity learning and development needs of the police service in England and Wales. As well as officers at all ranks, it applies to all police staff and the wider police family, including Police Community Support Officers and Special Constables.

2. The Police Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme (RDLDP) seeks to fulfil the aim of the Government’s Police Reform Programme:

“to provide a citizen-focused service that responds to the needs of individuals and communities and inspires confidence in the police.”

3. National implementation of the PRDLDP is governed by an executive group comprised of the Home Office, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Association of Police Authorities (APA), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) and a Programme Board chaired by R. David Muir, with representation from the National Black Police Association (NBPA) the Gay Police Association (GPA), the British Association of Women Police (BAWP) the Police Federation, the Superintendents Association, Unison, Skills for Justice and independent community members (including former Lawrence Steering Group members).

4. This is a major programme aimed at improving police performance in race and diversity (across the six primary diversity strands of age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief and sexual orientation), with an emphasis on making race and diversity learning and development relevant to the role performed, leading to improved performance at an individual, team, force and service-wide level.

5. One of the key aims of the programme is that by the end of 2010 everyone in the police service is assessed as competent against the Race and Diversity National Occupational Standards (NOS)  [1]  AA1 “Promote equality and value diversity” (see Appendix 1) and that the standards are maintained thereafter through the Professional Development Review (PDR) process.

6. There is a requirement to submit a return of personnel assessed against NOS AA1 as part of the Home Office Annual Data Return (ADR), and PRDLDP progress is also part of the HMIC Baseline Assessment.

Governance: MPS Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme Board, Working Group and Challenge Panel

7. Implementation of the MPS Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme is co-ordinated by a Strategic Programme Board chaired by the Director of the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate. The Board is supported by a Working Group (which includes representation from Business Area Senior Training Managers) and a Challenge Panel (with representation from MPS Staff Support Associations and MPS Independent Advisory Groups).

8. During 2007 the Programme Board has met on 3 occasions and has been primarily concerned with the development and implementation of the Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard Assessment Programme. The Programme Working Group is convened on an as-required basis to progress work commissioned by the Programme Board.

Challenge Panel

9. The early incarnation of the Challenge Panel was instrumental in agreeing the Programme Board / Working Group structure to support the MPS implementation of the PRDLDP. This was prior to the DCFD Independent Advisory Group Review which resulted in a comprehensive range of recommendations intended to influence the conduct of all MPS advisory group processes and the RDLDP Challenge Panel processes will be subject to review and change as a result.

Day-to-day co-ordination and implementation and key programmes of work

10. The Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate: Diversity Learning and Development Branch is responsible for co-ordinating the implementation of the Strategy and Programme.

11. Key programmes of work for 2007-08 include the Race and Diversity Occupational Standard Assessment Programme; integration of race and diversity learning resources into the PCSO Foundation Course and the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme and other key MPS training programmes; co-ordinating the delivery of the RRAA (2000) and Disability Discrimination Act E-Learning programmes.

12. Other programmes of work (which are not explicitly linked to the Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme but co-ordinated by the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate: Diversity Learning and Development Branch) include the key encounter programme (to support the MPS Citizen Focus Quality of Service Principles) ongoing development of the MPS Diversity Online Intranet Resource and the delivery of the Equality Impact Assessment programme for policy developers.

Update on MPS implementation of the Police Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme (PRDLDP)

Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard Assessment

13 To test the MPS approach to NOS assessment the MPS Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard Assessment Trial was launched in July 07.

14. Following feedback on the trial Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate submitted a proposal to the Commissioner’s SMT. The proposals included a recommendation to use the current Personal Development Review (PDR) process to assess NOS AA1 through the existing Integrated Competency Framework (ICF), instead of the “Respect for Diversity” behaviour. The existing requirement for assessors and assessees to gather evidence would remain the same as current PDR practice, with the additional benefit of the NOS AA1 performance criteria being more explicit i.e. providing evidence of “acting in ways that acknowledge and recognise individuals background and beliefs”.

15. Commissioner’s SMT recommended that in light of the national timescales, the proposed recommendations should be progressed as quickly as possible.

16. At the MPS RDLDP Board in Oct it was proposed that for the MPS to be fully prepared for Race and Diversity NOS assessment, the process should run through the April 2008 – March 2009 Professional Development Review cycle – with appropriate support for managers and staff as required. This support would be provided from within existing DCFD resources and include an intranet-based race and diversity support resource, a help-line, briefings and workshops as appropriate.

17. The intention is to also build on the existing competence supervisors have in assessment and to develop and support them to assess race and diversity performance to more of an A1 [2]  Assessor Standard “Assessing candidates using a range of methods” standard.
18. The MPS Race and Diversity NOS assessment approach was communicated to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) in September 07, in response to a questionnaire: PRDLDP update on Force Assessment Strategies

19. The questionnaire requested information about the MPS Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard assessment approach, with returns collated from all forces to inform a national perspective on PRDLDP Force Assessment Strategies.

20. The MPS approach to assessment through the PDR process is fully supported by the NPIA PRDLDP Executive.

Monitoring and Quality Assurance

21. Monitoring and quality assurance of MPS Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard assessment will be undertaken by the Diversity and Citizen Focus Advisors as part of their role, where they will dip sample PDRs to examine whether the race and diversity evidence provided:

• Meets the required standard of the performance criteria of NOS AA1 “Promote equality and value diversity”.
• Meets the required standard of the performance criteria of NOS A1 “Assessing candidates using a range of methods”.

22. The DCFD advisors will be supported as required, in their development by the Diversity Learning and Development Branch (DLDB)

23. The existing HR quality assurance processes for PDRs apply equally to police officers and police staff. If there is insufficient evidence to support a rating or if the PDR has been incorrectly completed it will be returned to the countersigning manager and additional evidence will need to be provided by the assessee.

The National Learning Requirement: Integration of Race and Diversity Learning Resources into MPS Training

24. A key element of the National Race and Diversity Learning and Development Strategy is the implementation of the National Learning Requirement (NLR). Implementation of the NLR is being co-ordinated by the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate: Diversity Learning and Development Branch.

25. At the heart of the learning requirement are two distinct strands, which are to be incorporated into all police service race and diversity learning and development.

26. The first part of the requirement is:
STRAND 1: Generic Race and Diversity Learning and Development. Needs for the service based on the following areas:

• Race (primary focus).
• Gender.
• Disability.
• Age.
• Sexual orientation.
• Religion and beliefs.

27. Knowledge and understanding in each of these six areas will incorporate the service's responsibilities under various strands of equality legislation awareness for example the Race Relations (Amendment) Act RR(A)A) and Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). This is not to underplay the significance of any other diversity issue, the local context (based on an individual’s role or working environment) and the need to support any knowledge with practical workplace application

28. The local context is addressed through the second strand of the learning requirement.

STRAND 2 :Contextual Race and Diversity Learning and Development

29. For this strand the generic curriculum is embedded in an understanding of the context of the individual's role and work environment.

National Learning Requirement: Race and Diversity Learning and Development Resources

30. The National Learning Requirement is supported through the delivery of learning resources developed by the National Police Improvement Agency. [3] The resources have been designed to provide the ‘under-pinning’ knowledge required to support the assessment of competence against the Race and Diversity Occupational Standards and can be used as part of a blended learning programme in the form of text-based and E-Learning modules. See Appendix 2 for an example of the learning objectives contained in the Race and the Police Module.

31. The modules are blended in that they are interlinked and mutually supporting or can be used as stand alone products. The programme builds upon a generic diversity module, with additional modules across the 6 primary diversity areas of age, disability, gender, faith/religion race and sexual orientation. The Disability and Sexual Orientation modules were developed with significant input from the MPS. The MPS is also responsible for the annual revision of the Race and the Police and Sexual Orientation and the Police learning resources.

Integrating Race and Diversity into MPS training

32. The DCFD: Diversity Learning and Development Branch (DLDB) is currently working with the Extended Police Family School, Recruit School, the Leadership Academy and the Learning Development Unit (responsible for Trainer Development) to embed national race and diversity learning and development resources into their respective programmes and courses. This process includes:

• An introduction to Strand 1 of the Race and Diversity National Learning Requirement (through a generic understanding of the 6 primary race and diversity strands either as E-Learning or through the completion of a workbook)
• consolidation of the generic race and diversity understanding, through facilitated discussion with community participants from the relevant perspectives.
• Contextualisation within specific lessons. For example in the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme the Domestic Violence lesson learning objective reads - "What issues would you consider if you were investigating a same-sex domestic violence incident involving a same-sex couple?". This module may also involve community participants from the relevant perspective.
• This work is supported by around 200 community contributors representing a diverse range of communities and groups and work is currently underway to supplement this resource with increased representation from members of the disabled and LGBT communities.

33. Although the main focus of recent work has been to integrate race and diversity issues into programmes for new joiners to the MPS (principally Trainee PCSOs and Student Officers discussions are currently underway between DCFD: DLDB, Human Resources Directorate of Training and Development and the Leadership Academy to ensure that citizen focus considerations and the requirements of PRDLDP are both designed into and delivered through, all MPS training. This will mean that strategic relationships (between Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate and the Directorate of Training and Development) are formalised so that citizen focus considerations and the requirements of PRDLDP on contextualisation are both designed into and delivered through, all MPS training, and where appropriate and relevant that communities are also involved in this.

Issues affecting the implementation of the MPS Race and Diversity Learning and Development Programme

Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard Assessment

34. Support from business groups for the implementation of the MPS Race and Diversity NOS Assessment Programme has to date, been good, although it is of the utmost importance that this support continues as the full impact on supervisors (as assessors) and personnel (as assessees) working with the Race and Diversity National Occupational Standards as part of the Professional Development Review process is realised.

Integration of Race and Diversity into MPS Training and Training Design Processes

35. The integration of race and diversity issues into MPS training is essential and the requirements of the PRDLDP will need to be reflected in HR Directorate of Training and Development policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Mechanisms have yet to be developed to ensure that these policies and SOPs are adhered to, and business group leads will need to be held accountable to appropriate internal and external governance processes.

36. By having robust processes in place with governance and sanction, the possible scenario of a business group developing training outside of HR DTD policies (and therefore not reflecting the requirements of the PRDLDP) will also be avoided.

Diversity Learning and Development for Officers and Staff Transferring to a different location or performing a different role

37. Where officers are performing the same role (i.e. patrol constable) and posted to a different geographical location understanding of local differences i.e. around ethnic groups, religious groups and cultural considerations should form part of an officer’s induction to a new area and be part of their ongoing professional development. Where officers are posted to a different geographical location and are performing a different role, specific activity will need be tailored to take account of their new responsibilities. In reality this is not always consistently applied MPS-wide and Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate Diversity Learning and Development Branch has identified this as a priority area of work for the forthcoming 2008-2009 DCFD Business Plan. However responsibility also needs to be driven by line managers as part of the professional development for staff new to a role.

MPS E-Learning

38. The use of E-Learning in the MPS is currently under review by Training Management Board. The MPS Modernising Learning Programme Board has responsibility for the strategic implementation of learning technology on behalf of TMB and commissioned the MPS Managed Learning Unit to undertake a usability project to assess the issues affecting the implementation of E-learning across the MPS. Initial findings indicate that there are many benefits to E-learning. It is flexible, produces cost reductions in training accommodation and travelling time and enables standardised learning to be delivered quickly to large groups. From an equality and diversity perspective E-learning has created greater opportunity for staff to access training and the ability to undertake corporate training at the workplace, or away from the workplace, has enabled access to those that are often unable to attend training for example part-time staff, those with mobility difficulties, those on secondment, those on maternity/paternity leave, those with caring responsibilities or on a career break. E-learning has also been shown to provide greater flexibility for learners to progress at their own speed, thus enabling learning for those with different levels of ability.

39. However, it is acknowledged that there has been cultural resistance within the MPS based on previous experience and these barriers will need to be addressed (following the review) to develop E-learning as a viable learning solution. The review once complete will be presented to Training Management Board together with an E-Learning Improvement Plan.

Race Relations Amendment Act (2000)
Disability Discrimination Act (2005) (and Disability Equality Duty Codes of Practice 2006 for the public sector)

40. In August 2007 MPS Training Management Board approved the allocation of protected learning time for the delivery of the Race and the Police and Disability and the Police E-Learning modules to police officers and police staff. However, in October 2007, TMB recommended that this decision be reviewed following an announcement by the National Police Improvement Agency that it would be developing a new generic race and diversity E-Learning module to meet the service-wide requirement to provide training on the promotion of good relations across the 6 primary diversity strands. The new module will require significantly less protected learning time to deliver (compared to the 6-8 hours required for the separate race and disability modules) and will be available at the beginning of January 2008. The MPS Head of Diversity Learning and Development has been tasked by Training Management Board to liaise with NPIA so that the content of the module will meet MPS requirements.

41. Learning and development to directly support the RRAA (2000) and the Disability Discrimination Act (2005) have already been incorporated into the revised PCSO Programme and the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme.

C. Race and equality impact

Implementation of the Strategy for Improving Police Performance in Race and Diversity will have major implications for all future MPS learning and development programmes across each of the six primary diversity strands. The new diversity learning and development resources are currently being integrated into a number of key MPS training programmes, including the PCSO foundation course and Recruit Programme and the requirement that all MPS staff are assessed as competent against the Race and Diversity National Occupational Standards by the end of 2010 has the potential to make a real impact on improving race and diversity performance across the MPS.

D. Financial implications

The initial costs associated with the Race and Diversity National Occupational Standard Assessment Programme will be met from within existing Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate budgets.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Shaun Kennedy, Head of Diversity Learning and Development Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate

For more information contact:

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

Abbreviations

ACPO

 Association of Chief Police Officers

ADR

Annual Data Return

APA

Association of Police Authorities

BAWP

British Association of Women Police

DCFD

Diversity & Citizen Focus Directorate

DDA

Disability Discrimination Act

DLDB

Diversity Learning & Development Branch

DTD

Directorate of Training & Development

GPA

Gay Police Association

HMIC

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary

ICF

 Integrated Competency Framework

NBPA

National Black Police Association

NLR

National Learning Requirement

NPIA

National Police Improvement Agency

PCSO

Police Community Support Officer

PDR

Professional Development Review

PRDLPD

Police Race & Diversity Learning & Development Programme

RRAA

Race Relations (Amendment) Act

SMT

Senior Management Team

SOPs

Standard Operating Procedures

TMB

Training Management Board

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