Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Committee held on 7 December 2004 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Graham Tope (Chair), Reshard Auladin, Richard Barnes Elizabeth Howlett, Murad Qureshi, Richard Sumray and Rachel Whittaker

MPA officers

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk), Peter Martin (Treasurer) and John Crompton (Committee Services). David Riddle (Deputy Clerk) attended for consideration of agenda item

MPS officers

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Bryan, (Planning and Performance), Keith Luck (Director of Resources), Sharon Burd (Director of Finance), Terry Price (Director of Strategic Finance), Alan Croney (Director of Property Services) Jane Bond (Property Services), Stuart Middleton (Director of Transport Services), Ailsa Beaton (Director of Information), Anthony Doyle (Director of Category Management) and Nick Chown (Head of Risk Management).

Part 1

85. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

No apologies for absence were submitted.

86. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

Graham Tope, Richard Barnes, Elizabeth Howlett and Murad Qureshi made a declaration of a personal interest in respect of agenda item 19 as Members of Councils which were in corporate membership of the ALG.

87. Minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2004

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2004 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

88. Chair and Members’ update

(Agenda item 4)

On behalf of the Committee, the Chair congratulated the Director of Resources who had been awarded the title 'Business Leader of the Year' at the recent Chartered Institute of Management Accountancy and Financial Management Awards.

89. Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2004/05

(Agenda item 5)

A report was submitted which provided an update on the performance against the revenue budget as at the end of October. The overall year to date position is an underspend against budget of £4.7m. and a forecast underspend at year end of £2.8M. Expenditure on capital to date totals £52.5M. The forecast for the year is £4.0M. above budget.

In reply to a question, it was noted that the new practices for management of staff overtime in the Specialist Crime Directorate would be one of the matters to be reported to the next meeting of the Budget and Police Overtime Review group.

Resolved – That

1. the revenue and capital performance against budget to date and the latest revenue and capital forecasts for the year be noted; and
2. a report be submitted to a future meeting on the treatment of assets recovered as proceeds of crime.

90. Personal insurance indemnity policy

(Agenda item 6)

A report was submitted concerning MPS personnel being indemnified by the MPA in certain tightly defined situations where their own personal life and accident insurances do not provide an indemnity. This includes situations where life and accident insurances are invalidated through non-disclosure of material information relating to high-risk duties that cannot be disclosed to their insurers for operational security reasons. The indemnity policy does not cover terrorist events where the potential financial liabilities could far exceed MPA self-insurance limits. Recommendations were made to address this position

The Treasurer advised that he fully supported the proposals.

The Head of Risk Management undertook to let Rachel Whittaker have a note on the tax implications of the proposals.

Members felt that as it was difficult to estimate how many times the indemnity might come into play it would be prudent to review the operation of the arrangements in a year’s time. Accordingly, it was

Resolved - That

1. approval be given to an indemnity to MPS police officers and police staff engaged in high-risk duties as set out in the Personal Insurance Indemnity Policy Statement at Appendix 1 subject to review in a year’s time;
2. it be noted that a potential solution to the exclusion of terrorist events from the indemnity policy is under consideration; and
3. it be noted that a communications exercise will be undertaken to bring the indemnity policy to the attention of all personnel.

91. Efficiency Plan monitoring as at 2nd Quarter 2004/05

(Agenda item 7)

A report was submitted which set out the forecast position against the MPS’s efficiency plan as at the end of the second quarter.

The Director of Strategic Finance advised that a report on the plan for 2005/06 would be submitted to the February meeting.

Resolved – That the position be noted.

92. 2005/06 revenue budget

(Agenda item 8)

Considered in conjunction with a Supplementary Report (Agenda item 8a), which was tabled.

The reports provided additional information since the Authority agreed the budget submission at its meeting on 28 October and details of the provisional grant settlement for 2005/06 and the impact on the precept requirement.

Resolved - That.

1. the inclusion in the draft budget for 2005/06 of reductions totalling £20M. as set out in appendix 1 to agenda item 8 be endorsed; and
2. the supplementary agenda item 8a be noted.

93. Estates update

(Agenda item 9)

This report updates members on the latest information on Estate and Property Services matters and includes specific proposals to reinstate the sale and purchase of residential units to facilitate sound property management given the time needed to bring forward a new residential strategy.

The Director of Property Services advised that it would no longer be necessary for him to report on interim changes to financial management outsourced contracts (paragraph 7)

Resolved – That

1. the information on current estate issues be noted; and
2. approval be given to the new, interim, delegated power to the Director of Property Services to reinvest residential sale proceeds in “block purchases” to replace disposed of historic stock based upon a “unit” cost rather than “block” cost assessment (paragraphs 10-15). This interim delegated power is dependent upon committee receiving the residential estate strategy and is therefore proposed to be for 6 months terminating 30 June 2005.

94. Naming of new buildings

(Agenda item 10)

Three major buildings have recently been constructed at Bow, Hendon and Lambeth for the C3i Metcall centres. A report was submitted which sought approval to the naming of these new buildings.

The Committee felt that as a general rule titles and decorations should not be used in the names of buildings but it was appropriate to include first names. On that basis, the Committee would support the Bow building being named the “The Paul Condon Centre” and the Hendon building “The John Stevens Centre”.

The view was expressed that as a matter of principle it was not appropriate for a building to be named after currently serving police officers or MPA members. It was therefore felt that it would not appropriate that the Lambeth building be named after Toby Harris.

The Clerk advised that the rationale behind the inclusion of Toby Harris in this particular set of naming proposals was to recognise the importance of the MPA in enabling the C3i project to come to fruition and Toby Harris had been the Chair of the Authority for its first four years.

The Committee considered that there were MPS officers who had served with particular distinction but who had not yet had a building named after them. Richard Barnes suggested that the building be named after Charles Pope who had been awarded a Victoria Cross in the First World War. It was also felt that it might be appropriate that buildings be named after former MPA members or retired political figures.

After discussion, it was felt that the matter should be referred to the full Authority to enable a wider range of views to be taken into consideration.

In relation to the comment under the “Race and Equality Impact” heading of the report several members considered that any review of the practice for naming buildings should take place now and there was no reason why this was being delayed to some unspecified point in the future.

On a related point the Committee was advised that a consultation exercise was being carried out about a possible re-naming of the Empress State Building where many police departments are to be located and that members will be involved in this process.

Resolved – That

1. the Authority be asked to concur in the suggestion that the Bow building be named “The Paul Condon Centre” and the Hendon building be named “The John Stevens Centre”; and
2. the Authority gives further consideration to the naming of the Lambeth building at its meeting on 16 December.

95. Accessibility to police station front offices by disabled members of the community

(Agenda item 11)

A report was submitted which set out the status of front offices to provide access to the disabled in accordance with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and outlined future works to further enhance accessibility.

Resolved – That the Committee notes

1. the progress made by Property Services in providing access for the disabled to front offices;
2. the present status of accessibility as set out at Appendix 1; and
3. the proposed future programme of works including the front office refurbishment programme as set out at Appendix 2.

96. Environmental Strategy 2005/10

(Agenda item 12)

The Environmental Strategy for 2000/05 is due to close and therefore it is necessary to develop a new strategy for the next five years. The strategy has been developed based on intensive consultation through a series of workshops and interviews with key MPS/MPA employees and the GLA Environment Team. Consultation and endorsement of senior members of MPS staff and Environment Panel members has been obtained for each strategic objective to produce a final draft of the Strategy.

The Environmental Strategy is a strategy for the Metropolitan Police Service to be supported and monitored by the MPA. It is intended that a separate MPA Environmental Policy be developed which commits to supporting and monitoring the strategy.

Members requested that before the strategy is published there be a further check for the correct usage of “MPA” and “MPS”.

Resolved - That the Environmental Strategy be approved for publication.

97. Former Bromley Police Station

(Agenda item 13)

A report was submitted which sought the Committee’s approval to the sale of the MPA’s interest in this property.

Resolved - That approval be given to the unconditional sale of the MPA’s interest in the former Bromley police station house to the highest named bidder as shown in the linked exempt report.

98. Transport Services Strategy

(Agenda item 14)

A report was submitted which outlined the principles upon which the Transport Services’ Strategy is based and included two specific changes to the Strategy which the MPA had previously agreed to improve local fleet availability.

In reply to a question, the Director of Transport Services advised that bicycles were not included in the strategy and that purchasing decisions were made at Operational Command Unit level.

At the request of a member it was agreed that a briefing paper be submitted on the success of the incident data recorders installed in police vehicles.

Resolved - That the revised MPA Transport Services’ Strategy be endorsed.

99. NSPIS custody and case preparation business case

(Agenda item 15)

The NSPIS Custody & Case Preparation project is the start point for electronic case file information in Criminal Justice (CJ) business environment, will improve victim, witness and offender management and will facilitate streamline working between Criminal Justice partners. A report was submitted which sought the commitment of the MPA to the expenditure required to progress the Force Wide Rollout of the NSPIS Custody and Case Preparation system and its associated business change.

Resolved - That the MPA commits to the required investment relating to this business case as detailed in the linked exempt report.

100. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 16)

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 7 and 8 and 9 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

• Minute 101 agenda item 17 –Former Bromley former police station
  Agreed to the unconditional sale to the highest bidder.
• Minute 102 agenda item 18 – Appendix to NSPIS custody and case preparation business case
  The information was noted.
• Minute 103 agenda item 19 – settlement of claim made by the Association of London Government
  Agreed to make a payment of £100,000 in respect of a claim arising from the Tow Away Removals and Clamping Enquiry Service.
• Minute 104 agenda item 20 - exempt minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2004

The minutes were agreed and signed as a correct record.

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