Step Change Programme - supplementary report

Report: 09a - supplementary to report 9
Date: 20 November 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

Members will have already received a report for this Committee on the Step Change Programme (SCP). This supplementary paper, which should be read in conjunction with the earlier report, sets out the revised SCP costs recently approved by the MPS Management Board.

A. Recommendation

That the report be noted in connection with agenda item 9.

B. Supporting information

1. Appendix 1 sets out the revised SCP costs approved by the MPS Management Board on 17th November 2003. The revised costs reflect a major review by the MPS of the likely roll out of Step Change Programme following a meeting of the Budget Steering Group with the Mayor on 25 September 2003.

2. The major variations between the original and revised SCP costs are described below.

3. The total revenue costs of the SCP have been revised by £27.2m (7%) to £341.4m. The principal reasons for this change are:

• The MPA’s budget proposals are now based on a lower level of inflation allowance for future years for pay budgets (i.e. 3% rather than 3.5%). This has reduced total Step Change costs by £7.5m
• The original accommodation costs included provision for substantial expansion for the C3i and Central Telephone Information Bureaux programmes. These provisions have subsequently been removed following clarification of likely demand, and taken together with other changes, has lead to a capital expenditure reduction of £64.3m, and therefore a revenue financing reduction of £4.8m.
• Supporting services (e.g. accommodation, IS/IT, vehicles, communications equipment etc) are now able to more accurately quantify their infrastructure costs as operational needs are further clarified. This process will continue during the roll out of the SCP. The effect of this is a much greater accuracy of ‘step-change’ costs that were previously included in the ‘cost of an officer’. Hence the reduction in the police officer costs for the total programme of £7.9m
• All support service expansions are supported by very detailed spreadsheet calculations and assumptions that have been subject to rigorous challenge by the SCP Co-ordination Team. All police staff growth has been compared to a ‘growth model of reasonableness’, developed for this purpose, and growth outside of these parameters has been challenged for evidence and justification. This has reduced ‘step change’ costs by £7.1m.

4. The total revenue costs of the SCP in 2004/05 have been revised by £5.3m (16.6%) to £26.6m. The principal reasons for this change are:

• The 2004/05 step change cost revisions reflect, to a greater extent, the deferring of some step change costs to later years as a result of the smaller level of officer growth and Neighbourhood Teams now anticipated in year one (2004/05). Cost modifications for the different roll out options and ‘exemplifications’ previously reported to the SCP, MPA CoP and Mayor’s Budget Steering Groups have been very much a ‘desktop’ exercise. The revisions at Appendix A reflect a ‘bottom up’ review of all costs undertaken across all services, and so represent a greater level of refinement.
• All support functions were requested to ensure that their 2004/05 growth in their services would be able to fully support the proposed 96 neighbourhood teams i.e. they were NOT delaying essential growth until 2005/06.

C. Equality and diversity implications

See report 9.

D. Financial implications

See report 9.

E. Background papers

See report 9.

F. Contact details

Report author: Martin Chatfield, Step Change Programme Co-ordination Team, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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