Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee held on 08 November 2001 at Romney House, Westminster, London SW1 at 2.00pm.

Present:

• Graham Tope (Chair)
• Reshard Auladin (Deputy Chair)
• Nicholas Long (Deputy Chair)
• Elizabeth Howlett
• Eric Ollerenshaw
• Sir John Quinton
• Richard Sumray
• Rachel Whittaker

MPA staff:

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Peter Martin (Treasurer)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS staff:

• Tarique Ghaffur (Assistant Commissioner)
• Commander Alan Given (Fleet Manager )
• Keith Luck (Director of Resources)
• Ailsa Beaton (Director of Information)
• Dick Fedorcio

Also attended: Mr David Smith

Also present: 25 members of the press/media and public and other staff members from the MPA and MPS.

Part 1

233. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were submitted by John Biggs and Cecile Lothian.

234. Minutes - 4 and 16 October 2001

(Agenda item 2)

Resolved: That the minutes of the meetings held on 4 and 16 October 2001 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

235. Chair and member's update

(Agenda item 3)

Nicholas Long advised that he would be attending a meeting in Lambeth on 19 November in connection with the Resource Allocation Formula review.

236. Policing and Performance Plan 2002/03

(Agenda item 4)

A report was submitted which updated the Committee on the corporate strategy and the policing priorities for 2002/03.

Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur reported that he would be meeting the Clerk later that day to discuss how to progress the emerging findings of the corporate strategy.

Resolved: That the position be noted.

237. Best value update

(Agenda item 5)

A report was considered which updated the Committee on issues related to best value and sought nominations for a member to sit on the project board for the best value review of records management.

Referring to paragraph 4 the Clerk reported that a white paper would be published in December. The indications were that there would be more scope for flexibility.

Resolved: That

1. that the position be noted.
2. Graham Tope be nominated as the lead member for the best value review of records management.

238. MPS fleet strategy

(Agenda item 6)

In November 2001 TRL Ltd was commissioned to produce a strategy for the MPS vehicle fleet. The report outlined the recommendations from the review which had been considered by the MPS Management Board.

In reply to questions Commander Given said he felt that the strategy should work well with the transport review carried out by Accenture. Although the strategy was "cost neutral" he was confident that in practice the operation of the new strategy would result in some savings. Because these could not be quantified in advance they had not been included in the budget calculations for next year. The Treasurer said that any savings were more likely to be capital rather than revenue.

Commander Given advised that the precise impact of an extra 1000 officers in the police establishment on all areas including the fleet was currently being assessed. He felt it did not follow that there would necessarily be a commensurate increase in the number of vehicles required as the new formula for allocating vehicles would ensure a better usage pattern of existing vehicles.

Resolved - That the decisions reached by the MPS Management Board be noted.

239. Integrating financial management with service management in the MPS

(Agenda item 7)

This report highlighted progress being made to move the MPS toward an integrated financial and service management regime.

Referring to the conclusions in paragraph 19 of the report Members indicated that the anticipated completion dated for the process needed to be made more explicit and there needed to be more emphasis on introducing nominated budget holders.

Resolved- That the current activities and future plans to integrate financial and service planning and management be noted .

240. Progress report on implementation of Glidewell report

(Agenda item 8)

No report submitted.

241. Capital programme monitoring 2001/02 - second quarter

(Agenda item 9)

A report was submitted which provided forecasts of capital expenditure and receipts for the current financial year as at the end of the second quarter together with other information on the capital programme.

Recommendation 3 was amended to delete the reference to the reduction in the capital allocation for property services.

In reply to a question the Director of Resources reported that the sale of cars, as was the case with other assets, would only count as a capital receipt if the sum involved exceeded the de minimus limit of £6000 for the sale of equipment.

Resolved: That

1. it be noted that based on results to the end of the second quarter, capital expenditure in 2001/02 is forecast to underspend by £4.1m (4.6%) against the revised capital budget of £88.5m.
2. the revised capital budget 2001/02 of £88.5m be noted.
3. the intention to finance additions to the capital programme in 2001/02 from the capital receipts pool be noted. This proposal to be accommodated when final approval is sought for the capital programme for 2002/03 to 2005/06 in January 2002.
4. it be noted that £10m allocated to the C3i Project as a contingency sum will only be partially utilised during the financial year and that it is intended that £4.0m will be sought to be carried forward to 2002/03 as part of the overall funding of the C3i Project
5. approval be given to the inclusion within the capital programme of the implementation and development of the National Intelligence Model. This project to be funded by way of a specific grant of £1m already received from the Home Office.
6. it be noted that the corrective actions to be taken to redress the forecast overspend on the revenue budget 2001/02 may impact upon forecast capital expenditure.
7. it be noted that expenditure to the end of the second quarter amounts to £23.9m against a profiled budget of £36.5m

242. Revenue budget monitoring

(Agenda item 10)

Details were submitted of the financial position for the first six months of 2001/02 and forecast the outturn position. The report also outlined specific management action to ensure the budget stays within balance.

Resolved: That

1. the financial position and latest forecast overspend of £13m before further, corporate action be noted.
2. the management action underway to ensure the budget remains in balance this year be noted.

243. Treasury management - half year review

(Agenda item 11)

Details were submitted of the half-year review of treasury management for the six months ended 30 September 2001 together with estimates for the remainder of the financial year.

The Treasurer advised that it appeared that the indications were that there would be an extended period of lower interest rates – indeed, a further reduction in the base rate had been announced earlier in the day. The estimated income from this source for next year had been reduced from £10M to £ 8M and this would have to be reflected in the budget for 2002/03.

Resolved - That the review and the budgetary implications be noted.

244. Efficiency and effectiveness review programme

(Agenda item 12)

This report contained details of the final report by Accenture on the Transport Review and made various recommendations on the way forward.

Resolved- That

1. the recommendations made by Accenture be noted;
2. the identified savings be part of the wider MPA/MPS budget savings exercise both in this and the next financial year;
3. further consideration be given to savings opportunities for hire charges in other Operational Command Units (OCUs) across Special Operations, Deputy Commissioner's Command and Pan-London Territorial Policing and that the MPS brings a further report to this Committee in due course;
4. the Project Board monitor implementation of the proposals and a report be brought back to this Committee outlining detailed implementation plans to achieve the proposed savings; and
5. it be noted that the Project Board has endorsed in principle that Accenture continue for the remainder of the tranche 1 programme.

245. Transfer of civil staff pensions to the civil service scheme - transitional costs

(Agenda item 13)

A report was submitted which outlined recent developments on the transfer of the civil staff pensions to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme which was agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 15 May 2001.

Reshard Auladin reported that the Chair of the Human Resources Committee had spoken to him about concerns which had been raised by staff associations in receiving information about the new arrangements from Capita.

The Treasurer assured the Committee that part of the remit for Capita was to keep members of staff advised of the details of the new arrangements.

Resolved: That Capita be commissioned to carry out the work necessary for the transfer of the Metropolitan Civil Staff Superannuation Scheme to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.

246. Provision of airwave radio equipment for specialist operations

(Agenda item 14)

A request was submitted for the Authority to purchase through the radio outsource arrangement, Airwave radio equipment for Specialist Operations (SO) officers operating in forces which will be migrating to the Airwave service.

In reply to questions the Director of Information said that she was not aware of the details of the agreements for allocating the cost of policing the Commonwealth Games between the various forces involved. A member of SO advised the Committee that whilst the number of radios required appeared high it was of vital importance that each officer had a radio.

In reply to questions the Treasurer reported that purchases of physical assets were being undertaken as part of a major system development could be classified as capital expenditure. The Director of Information confirmed that this arrangement would be appropriate in this case with the capital expenditure taking place in the current financial year and with grant due to be received in the in the following year.

Resolved: that Airwave equipment for use by Specialist Operation officers be purchased through the radio outsource contractor on the basis that this is classified as capital expenditure.

247. Digital photocopiers

(Agenda item 15)

A report was submitted concerning the replacement of the existing self-user photocopiers within the police service with digital photocopiers.

The Committee considered that there was not sufficient information in the report to make a decision. It was agreed that the report (and the linked exempt item) be deferred. In particular the Committee wished to be advised on how the expenditure related to the current expenditure, and for information on the advantages of using digital machines.

Resolved: That the report be deferred.

248. Recruitment and DPA advertising contract

(Agenda item 16)

A report was submitted which reported the results of a formal competitive exercise for contract for the provision of recruitment advertising and publicity media buying services.

The Committee noted that payments under the contract for creative services would only be made when work was commissioned.

Rachel Whittaker stated that she was a member of the evaluation panel for this contract. She had some concerns about the details of the evaluation process and indeed would question whether it was appropriate for members to be involved at that stage in any case.

Relevant Members commented that in local government it was not normal practice for Councillors to be involved in the initial evaluation process of tenders and their remit was usually to consider recommendations from officers at the conclusion of the evaluation process. The Chair said that it was important that the role of Members in the tender process was clearly defined and was distinct from that of the officers. Therefore, whilst the Committee could not bind what happened elsewhere in the Authority, as far as this Committee was concerned it would be appropriate to follow local authority practice. The Clerk suggested that the Standards Committee could consider this issue on a pan Authority basis.

Resolved: That -

1. TMP Worldwide be appointed to undertake the creative services and Mediacom the media buying contract for a period of three years with a possible two-year extension on the terms set out in the exempt report.
2. the role of Members in the tender process for tenders being considered by the Finance, Planning and Best Value Committee be limited to considering recommendations from officers on the outcome of the evaluation process.
3. a report on Member involvement in the tender process across the Authority be submitted to the Standards Committee.

249. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 17)

Resolved: That under section 100 A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved disclosure of exempt information as detailed in paragraphs 8 and 9 of Schedule 12A of the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

Agenda Item 18 Digital photocopiers
Deferred.

Agenda item 19 Recruitment and DPA Advertising Contract
Exempt information in support of the decision in minute 130 noted.

Agenda item 20 Vehicle removal contract
The report was noted.

Agenda item 21 Vehicle maintenance contract
Recommendations relating to this contract were agreed.

Agenda item 22 Exempt minutes of the meeting held on 4 October
The minutes were agreed as a correct record.

The meeting ended at 4.05 p.m.

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