The London Safety Camera Partnership

Report: 14
Date: 11 July 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides updated information on the proposed partnership with TfL and other agencies in regard to the recycling of fine income from driving offences captured by speed and traffic signal cameras.

A. Recommendations

Members are asked to formally agree the operating protocols set out in this report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. In December 1998, the then DETR, Home Office and Treasury agreed that fine income from speed and red light cameras could be used to fund additional camera enforcement. The main objective of the cost recovery scheme is to reduce the number of killed and seriously injured (KSI) as a result of road traffic accidents.

2. Eight geographical areas were selected to pilot the scheme and went live in April 2000. The pilot areas were considered to be successful in achieving the objectives and the DfT are now rolling out the scheme nationally over the next two years.

3. The proposal to enter into a partnership with a range of interested bodies in London to operate a scheme of speed camera enforcement was first reported to the Authority in September 2001 with a subsequent update in April 2002.

The London Partnership

4. The London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP) comprises eight partners:

• Core partners
  • Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) with the approval of the MPA
  • City of London Police Service (CoLP)
  • Association of London Government (ALG)
  • Greater London Magistrates Courts Authority (GLMCA)
  • Transport for London (TfL)
  • The Highways Agency (THA)
• Non-core partners
  • Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
  • National Health Service (NHS)

5. TfL has been designated the Lead Authority for the partnership and will provide project management, treasury management and accounting functions.

6. TfL in conjunction with the other partners have prepared an operational case providing detail of what the partnership is going to do and an estimate of income and expenditure over a five-year period. Table 1 provides a summary of both total income and expenditure and the anticipated expenditure to be incurred by the MPS.

Table 1 – Projected Income and Expenditure

Operating protocol

7. The attached operating protocol (Appendix 1) has been agreed by the partnership members and includes details of the responsibilities and accountabilities for each of the member organisations.

8. The operating protocol allows for full cost recovery of the MPS’s expenditure for the scheme, including pension and overhead costs.

9. Regular monitoring will take place to ensure that there will not be a deficit at the end of the five-year operational case period. If at any point projected revenue does not cover expenditure the partnership will review the enforcement strategy and make any revisions necessary to bring the operational case back into balance.

10. In the unlikely event that there is a deficit at the end of the five-year period it will be shared by each partner in line with the percentage of projected revenue expenditure incurred compared to projected total expenditure. In the case of the MPS the proposed percentage of any deficit is 61%.

11. The funding is ring-fenced and may only be used for expenditure as proposed within the operational case. The Treasury will retain any surplus at the end of the five-year period.

Current position

12. The operational case was submitted to the then DTLR National Cost Recovery Steering Group in January for approval. The partnership has been given approval to recover all camera enforcement costs incurred as from 1 April 2002 with the scheme being formally launched on Wednesday 17th April 2002.

13. An implementation plan for the partnership has been drafted and is currently with partners for comment. Once finalised a copy will be available to members.

14. The operating protocol has been drawn up by the partnership organisations and commented upon by the MPS (including the Department of Procurement). The protocol now requires formal agreement by the MPA. It should be noted that the Authority are only required to sign up to the Year 1 costs.

Subsequent year’s costs will be submitted to partnership members on an annual basis.

C. Financial implications

15. The projected expenditure for the MPS is £21.6 million over the five years with a total projected partnership surplus of £18.7 million over the same period. This would suggest that the risk of the scheme failing to recover its costs is minimal, as projected income would have to fall by over 33% before a deficit would be incurred, assuming expenditure remained as per the operational case.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

Report author: Craig Watkins, Head of Business Support, Finance, MPS.

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1: London Safety Camera Partnership

Operating Protocol

1. Intoduction

1.1. This Operating Protocol (OP) has been prepared and is endorsed by each of the core Partners for the proposed working arrangements for the London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP). All Partners have agreed that they will adhere to the content of this document. The core Partners are:

• Transport for London (TfL)
• Association of London Government (ALG)
• Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA)
• City of London Police (CoLP)
• Greater London Magistrates’ Courts Authority (GLMCA)
• Highways Agency (HA)

Non-core Partners are:

• London NHS Region (LNHS)
• Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

1.2. The Partnership will adhere to the criteria specified by the Department for Transport (DfT) (together with the Treasury, Home Office and other central government departments) that fine revenue from safety cameras can be used to fund the installation and ongoing enforcement through the process called ‘netting off’.

1.3. To ensure, where possible, that all activities are undertaken in accordance with the DfT’s publication Cost recovery system for additional speed and red light camera enforcement – Handbook for national rollout – Draft issued 19th February 2001 (The Handbook).

1.4. The DfT’s role, although not a member of the Partnership, is to ensure that all Partnerships are kept abreast of any changes to the netting off scheme and to be the recipient, either directly or through its agent, of any proposed enhancements or additions to the scheme.

1.5. The LSCP is ultimately working to the DfT as the administrators of the netting off scheme. The Partnership will seek advice and guidance from DfT for any issue arising, not already identified within this OP.

1.6. In embarking on this Partnership, the core partners will take into account the basic rules for allowable expenditure for camera activity as defined in Section 2.1 of the Handbook, where:

• This will improve performance against policy objectives
• Enforcement costs can be readily identified and apportioned
• Arrangements are in place to prevent abuse of the system
• Operational priorities are not distorted
• Revenues will always be sufficient to meet future costs
• Efficiency regimes are in place to control cost

2. Roles and responsibilities

2.1. The Roles and Responsibilities of All Partners.

• To ensure that essential monitoring of activities is in place to assure the Partnership and the DfT that value for money (VFM) has been provided.
• To submit accurate and timely data as required and at the frequencies specified by the DfT.
• To ensure that all data supplied for the purposes of cost recovery will be relevant to the capital and revenue expenditure directly attributable to speed and red-light camera enforcement.
• To assist the Project Manager in ensuring that all activities required of the Partner are undertaken, wherever practical, by the agreed target date and within the estimated cost provision.
• To maintain a comprehensive record of all time and materials that may be incurred in association with activities undertaken on behalf of the Partnership. The records should be maintained at a standard acceptable to the Partnership’s Treasurer for reimbursement purposes and should be made available on request to the Auditor appointed by the Audit Commission.
• To attend Project Board meetings as required

2.2. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to the Project Manager
Responsibility for this role has been designated to TfL, and Tom Duckham has been appointed as Project Manager, subject to the DfT‘s acceptance of LSCP’s operational case for the netting off scheme.

The Project Manager is responsible for:

• Project Management and co-ordination of activities in liaison with each core Partner at Project Board level and with each Partner’s representatives on the Project Working Team to ensure all necessary tasks are undertaken within the agreed timescale and budget.
• To report all activity of the Project Working Team to the Project Board.
• Financial Management and advice (obtaining estimates, preparing expenditure profiles, preparing orders, verifying invoices, maintaining records suitable for audit purposes) in conjunction with the appropriate Partner representative and the Lead Partner’s Treasurer.

2.3. Liaison with the DfT and its agent to ensure that, where possible, all activities are undertaken in accordance with the DfT’s publication Cost recovery system for additional speed and red light camera enforcement – Handbook for national rollout – Draft issued 19th February 2001 (The Handbook).

• To submit data to the DfT, or their agent, at the specified frequencies and in the format determined by the DfT.
• Site selection – to liaise with the relevant Partner to ensure that sites are identified in accordance with specified criteria, including obtaining formal agreement for precise location of street furniture from the police and local authority, as appropriate.
• Installation of fixed site equipment – to liaise with the relevant Partner to ensure that associated signing and secondary check markings comply with specified standards.

This item also includes liaising with the relevant Partner to ensure that an electrical supply is provided and that statutory consultations are undertaken, together with obtaining approvals from the DfT for advisory signing, as necessary.

• To liaise with the relevant Partners to ensure that equipment is maintained to the appropriate standard.
• To develop and maintain appropriate monitoring models to provide forecasting data for the Project Board.
• To develop and maintain success measurement models to provide data for the Project Board.
• To monitor benchmarking with other Partnerships including the pilot areas.

2.4. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to the PR Manager
Responsibility for this role has been designated to TfL and Alicia Griffiths has been nominated to be PR Manager. The PR Manager has responsibility:

• To implement the PR Strategy agreed by the Project Board.
• To liaise with the external PR & Media agency to ensure that all publicity material complies with the standards specified by the Project Board.
• To co-ordinate PR for the Partnership.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the PR Strategy by reviewing press reporting locally and nationally.
• To conduct public attitude surveys to gauge campaign awareness and changes in driver behaviour.
• To submit data to the Project Manager at the specified frequencies and in a format determined by the Project Working Team.

2.5. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to Metropolitan Police Authority & City of London Police

• To carry out the processing of offences in accordance with legislative requirements.
• To ensure that all enforcement and offence processing equipment is used in the most efficient manner possible.
• To ensure that the integrity of the camera enforcement equipment and system is maintained to the required standards.
• To ensure that the integrity of the VP/FPO system is maintained to the required standards to minimise unnecessary delay for the processing of COFPNs by MPA & CoLP and the GLMCA.
• To submit data to the Project Manager at the specified frequencies and in a format determined by the Project Working Team.

2.6. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to Treasurer
TfL will undertake this role for the lifetime of the Partnership and Elisabeth Hall has been nominated the Treasurer. The Treasurer has responsibility:

• To receive quarterly funding from the DfT in accordance with the rules of the scheme.
• To complete the end of year final account setting out the Partnership’s income and expenditure throughout the year.
• To ensure that financial systems, invoicing procedures, and accounting procedures are acceptable and in place prior to commencement and that they are open to scrutiny by auditors.
• To ensure that invoices relevant to the Scheme are paid to the Partners within a maximum of 30 days from receipt of invoice.
• To provide the Project Board with timely reports on all financial activity relevant to the Scheme.
• To submit data to the Project Manager at the specified frequencies and in a format determined by the Project Working Team.

2.7. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to the GLMCA

• To process the COFPNs within agreed timescales.
• To ensure that the processing of COFPNs meets the standards required by the Lord Chancellor’s Department’s (LCD) Management Assurance Programme (MAP) and the relevant audit guidelines.
• To ensure that income from COFPNs is banked daily.
• To ensure that LCD is advised monthly of COFPN payment activity using the LCD specified format.
• To ensure that performance monitoring measures are in place and are available to the Project Board.
• To report VP/FPO problems or faults to the MPA IT department as soon as is practical and in accordance with specified procedures.
• To submit data to the Project Manager at the specified frequencies and in a format determined by the Project Working Team.

2.8. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to Transport for London

• Site selection - to ensure that camera activity is directed to sites where there is historical data of speed related incidences.
• Installation of fixed site equipment – to ensure that associated signing and secondary check markings comply with specified standards.
• Electrical supply – to ensure that an electrical supply is provided and maintained.
• To ensure that statutory consultations are undertaken, together with obtaining approvals from the DfT for advisory signing, as necessary.
• To monitor camera activity monthly.
• To maintain a suitable database of road traffic accident and casualty data and review it in respect of the cameras’ “area of influence” at least quarterly.
• To submit data to the Project Manager at the specified frequencies and in a format determined by the Project Working Team.

2.9. Roles and Responsibilities Specific to the ALG

• To represent the interests of the 32 London Boroughs and the Corporation of London in the Partnership
• Site selection - to liaise with MPA, CoLP, and TFL to ensure that camera activity is directed to sites where there is historical data of speed related incidences.
• To ensure that statutory consultations are undertaken, together with obtaining approvals from the DfT for advisory signing, as necessary.
• To monitor camera activity monthly.
• To submit any data relevant to the Scheme to the Project Manager at the specified frequencies and in a format determined by the Project Working Team.

3. Services Provided By the Partners

3.1. The specific services supplied by each Partner are attached at Appendix A. This list is not exhaustive and is subject to review during the life of the Partnership.

4. Timescale for the Agreement

4.1. This Agreement shall remain in force for as long as the LSCP continues to exist.

4.2. All Partners agree to commit to the five-year timescale from the date of acceptance by the DfT to the netting off scheme. It is anticipated that DfT approval will be effective from 1st October 2001 and that the current operational case will run until 31st March 2006.

5. Basis of Cost Recovery

5.1. A key principle of the netting off scheme is that all income from payment of Conditional Offer Fixed Penalty Notices received on or after 1 October 2001 can be used to cover the cost of camera enforcement.

5.2. The basic principle of the funding mechanism is that the Partnership will receive from the DfT a grant in arrears each quarter on the expenditure predictions contained in the Partnership’s Operational Case. The Lead Partner will receive the first payment on 30 September 2001 (less 5% which is held by the DfT until after year-end). At each year-end, the Treasurer will account to DfT for grant received and actual expenditure, any difference being refunded to or funded by DfT in the following financial year.

5.3. The GLMCA will collect the fine revenue and transfer it to LCD, who in turn will pass funding based on the operational case to the DfT. The Treasurer will be funded by quarterly grant payment by DfT on the basis of the cashflow anticipated in the operational case.

5.4. MPA, CoLP and the GLMCA will submit monthly invoices, representing actual costs incurred, to the Treasurer who will return payment within 30 days.

5.5. It is proposed that the Partnership will carry out an internal audit on the operation of the Treasurer. Each Partner will observe their own financial regulations and internal audit review will ensure that there is no incompatibility between Partners’ financial regulations.

5.6. Regular monitoring of the fine income recovered and the rate of expenditure incurred by the Partnership will take place to ensure, as far as practical, there will not be a deficit at the end of the operational case period. If at any point throughout the period, projected revenue may not cover expenditure, the Partnership will review the enforcement strategy and make any revisions it feels are required to bring the operational case back into balance.

5.7. In the unlikely event that there is a deficit at the end of the 5-year Operational case period, it has been agreed within the Partnership that, with the exception of the GLMCA, CPS, and LNHS, the deficit will be shared by each of the Partners.

6. Scale of Cost Recovery

6.1. The Partnership Operational Case contains estimates of costs for each partner and it is the responsibility of each Partner to ensure that expenditure is maintained within those estimates.

6.2. If actual costs exceed the estimated levels, the Partners can agree to vary the budget in accordance with netting off rules.

6.3. If the costs increase significantly, and if the Partnership predicts a loss during the year, the DfT must be informed immediately.

6.4. The Partnership can approve revenue or capital expenditure up to a maximum of 10% of the operational case. Proposed expenditure above this level would require prior approval from the DfT.

7. Accounting Arrangements

7.1. Each partner will maintain records of expenditure for all activities relevant to the netting off scheme.

7.2. Each partner will arrange for separate cost codes to be set up within their own accounting arrangements to make identification of this expenditure easily identifiable.

7.3. Where partners incur direct expenditure, they will submit invoices to the Treasurer via the Project Manager.

7.4. The Treasurer will provide the Project Manager with a monthly report of all activity.

8. Billing Arrangements

8.1. All Partners will submit monthly invoices as appropriate.

9. Settling Disputes

9.1. In the unlikely event that minor disputes may occur which cannot be resolved by the Project Board, TfL who will nominate a senior manager not directly involved with the project will undertake arbitration.

9.2. If there is a significant dispute that cannot be resolved at local level then the dispute will be passed to the national Steering Group to resolve. The National Steering Group has representatives from the DfT, Home Office, ACPO, and LCD as well as other representatives.

10. Managing Risk

10.1. If at the end of each year, the actual expenditure incurred by the Partnership exceeds the netted off fine revenue collected by the GLMCA, the deficit will be shared proportionally amongst the Partners (excluding GLMCA, CPS, and LNHS). The proportions attributable to each Partner are given below.

10.2. To ensure that the fine revenue is protected, MPA and GLMCA will prepare and introduce a business continuity strategy which will include actions to be taken in the event of:

• Failure or loss of IT systems both hardware and software
• Switch failure
• Power failure
• Loss of telecommunication links
• Loss of accommodation caused by flood, fire, bomb, etc
• Staff shortage – through long term sickness, difficulty in recruiting, etc.

10.3. The Partnership will arrange for an all-risks insurance policy in respect of major items of revenue generating equipment (i.e. the cameras and other items of essential associated equipment) to minimise the risk of unexpected expenditure.

10.4. Data collated from public attitude surveys will be reported to the Project Board to enable decisions to be made in the event of adverse public reaction to camera enforcement activity. The PR Manager will agree with the Project Board articles and publicity material that focus on the key objectives of the scheme (i.e. reducing road casualties).

11. Notice Periods

11.1. All Partners are committed to the Project for a minimum period of one financial year from the date of commencement.

11.2. After the first year, Partners must give a period of six months notice if they wish to withdraw from the Partnership.

12. Partnership Liaison

12.1. The Project will be monitored by the Project Board, comprising managers at senior level in each organisation, will meet monthly to develop and refine the operational case. Once the Project is established, the Project Board may wish to revise this frequency but will meet at least quarterly.

12.2. The Project Working Team, comprising operational managers from each organisation, will meet at least monthly to plan and implement the detail of the scheme. The Project Working Team will report through the Project Manager to the Project Board.

12.3. Liaison with other Partnerships will be conducted through networking at the appropriate level as and when necessary.

12.4. Representatives from the Partnership will be nominated by the Project Board to attend national meetings when appropriate.

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