Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Committee held on 21 September 2006 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Graham Tope, (Chair)
• Richard Sumray (Deputy Chair)
• Reshard Auladin
• Bob Neill
• Aneeta Prem
• Rachel Whittaker

Pursuant to Standing Order 2.4, the Deputy Chair, Richard Sumray, was in the Chair during consideration of agenda item 19.

MPA officers

• Ken Hunt (Treasurer)
• David Riddle, (Deputy Chief Executive)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS officers

• Steve House (Assistant Commissioner, Specialist Crime)
• Sharon Burd (Director of Finance)
• Karim Mahamdallie (Director of Business Support)
• Paul Stock (Director of Strategic Finance)
• Simon Hart (Director of Business Development)
• Ailsa Beaton (Director of Information)
• Anthony Doyle (Director of Procurement Services)
• Steve Ditchburn (Head of Vehicle Removal and Storage Service)
• Superintendent Alan Loxley
• Andrew Bundle (Commercial Services) attended for consideration of agenda item 11 and 14

17. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Richard Barnes and Elizabeth Howlett.

18. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

There were none.

19. Minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2006

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2006 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

20. Revenue and capital budget monitoring 2006/07- period 4

(Agenda item 4)

This report provided the revenue and capital budget forecast position for 2006/07 at period 4 (to the end of July). The revenue budget is forecast to overspend by £24.9m (0.9% of budget). These figures exclude any additional costs that will arise from Operation Overt. The capital programme as at period 4 (to the end of July) shows year to date total expenditure of £43.9m. This total represents 18.0% of the revised budget. The forecast for the year of £223.2m is £20.5m below the revised budget.

Members said it would be useful if future reports contained more information on the costs relating to capital property projects that have been aborted and actions being taken to address the current forecast overspend position in forensics and other areas.

Resolved – That

1. the year to date and forecast position for revenue and capital budgets be noted;
2. approval be given to the virement of savings of £1.5m relating to Airwave call charges to fund the implementation of the Management of Police Information system;
3. approval be given to the transfer to reserves of £3.6m in 2006/07 with regard to the suspension of the MetTime project;
4. the virement of £1.5m from police staff pay to PCSO pay relating to PCSO pension costs that are now identified separately be approved; and
5. further information be supplied on the action being taken to address areas of overspending.

21. Efficiency plan monitoring 1st quarter

(Agenda item 5)

This report provided an update on the monitoring of the MPA and MPS 2006/07 efficiency plan. Overall the forecast indicates an over-achievement against the Home Office’s efficiency target by £33.2m.

Resolved - That the position against the efficiency plan as at the end of June be noted.

22. Insurance renewals

(Agenda item 6)

This report described the insurance renewal programme for 2006/07 and sought approval to the re-letting. It also proposed delegation to the Chair in conjunction with the Treasurer to enable agreement for some outstanding insurance matters.

The Treasurer apologised for the fact that this report had not been available in time for the main agenda despatch and explained that this was because information was awaited from the Authority’s insurance broker. He said that there were two residual points where it was necessary to seek delegated authority - motor insurance and increased cost of working limit.

Resolved - That

1. the insurance policies be re-let in accordance with the terms outlined in the exempt report, with effect from 1 October 2006; and
2. the Chair, in conjunction with the Treasurer, be given delegated authority to finalise arrangements for two outstanding insurance matters as detailed in the linked exempt report.

23. Proceeds of Crime Act

(Agenda item 7)

A report was submitted concerning the disbursement of Proceeds of Crime Act incentivisation scheme monies.

With reference to the receipts of monies to be disbursed (paragraph 5) several members indicated that they had understood the position to be that the monies were for the MPA to disburse rather than the MPS and would welcome further guidance on this point. Assistant Commissioner House said that whilst his understanding was somewhat different, he would suggest that the terms in which the recommendations in his report were framed meant that there was little practical difference in these two approaches as the Authority was being asked to agree the allocations.

Referring to paragraph 10 the Deputy Chief Executive advised that a report was due to be considered at the Co-ordination and Policing Committee on 5 October concerning a funding application from the Safer London Foundation.

In reply to a further point from the Deputy Chief Executive, Assistant Commissioner House said he did not think it would be possible at this late stage to use the POCA monies to provide for funding the London Race Hate Crime Forum.

Richard Sumray said he thought it important to make representations to the Home Office concerning capacity building in order that maximum benefit was obtained from the scheme.

Resolved – That

1. subject to the above comment concerning the allocation to the Safer London Foundation the budget allocations and the associated budget virements as set out in Appendix 1 be agreed;
2. agreed to the transfer of unspent POCA receipts at the end of the financial year to balance sheet reserves; and
3. members be advised of the statutory background provisions concerning the receipt and disbursement of POCA monies.

24. Estate update

(Agenda item 8)

This report updated members on the latest information on Estate and Property Services matters.

Referring to paragraph 27 Richard Sumray asked to be sent the initial submission which had been sent to the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority).

Referring to paragraph 43, Aneeta Prem said it would be appropriate for the MPA/MPS property group to receive details of the property deals under consideration in the first instance so that they could be given proper attention. Rachel Whittaker felt it was important for relevant property information to be made available to all MPA members as it was useful for example in their work as a link member for a borough. The Director of Property Services indicated that this would be done.

Resolved – That

1. the information on current estate issues be noted; and
2. approval be given to the retention of the property at Penhryn Road, Kingston, for Initial Police Learning and Development Programme.

25. Request for authority to dispose of surplus site

(Agenda item 9)

A report was submitted which requested that authority for the disposal of the surplus site as referenced in exempt Appendix 1 be delegated to the Director of Property Services and the Clerk and Chief Executive of the MPA.

Resolved – That

1. authority be given to the Director of Property Services and the Chief Executive and Clerk of the MPA to dispose of the MPA's interest in the property referenced in exempt Appendix 1; and
2. the disposal be reported back to the MPA via the regular Estates update report to the Finance Committee post completion.

26. Application hosting 2 project

(Agenda item 10)

A report was submitted which sought the Committee’s approval to expenditure within this project to a value of £4.3 m (£3.2m capital; £1.1m revenue) in this financial year. This budget has been allocated for the Application Hosting 2 project and is fully available within the DoI within this financial year. The Application Hosting 2 is an enabling project, which underpins the DoI Programme of project work The MPS is committed to providing a modern Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Infrastructure capable of supporting its operational objectives. The Application Hosting 2 (AH2) project contributes to this by providing an MPS standard server and storage infrastructure that is used to host MPS-wide applications, allowing them to deliver services to end users.

Resolved - That

1. the report be noted and the aims of the Application Hosting 2 Project be endorsed; and
2. approval be given to the expenditure of £3.2M Capital and £1.1M Revenue, (which is within the agreed DoI budget for this financial year) for the procurement and installation of servers and storage devices. A formal competitive procurement procedure will be determined and managed by Procurement Services in order to achieve best value within the required timescales.

27. Vehicle Recovery Examination Service

(Agenda item 11)

A report was submitted which sets out the rationale for the MPS to seek approval to replace existing Service Level Agreements for the recovery and storage of vehicles and commence the Official Journal of European Union (OJEU) tender process (Invite Expression of Interest) to implement 5-year contracts by sector (cluster of boroughs) from 1 July 2007.

The Committee considered this matter in the exempt section of the meeting. The recommendations were deferred and the Committee requested that a further report be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee.

28. Routine Contracts programme

(Agenda item 12)

A report was considered which set out the latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme, and provided members with detail on the contracts above £1m that the MPS wishes to let over the next twelve months on a rolling programme as well as details of those contracts let since the last report. The programme only covers the known routine renewals and not the emergent requirements that will continue to be dealt with under the current arrangements and brought to Committee where required.

Resolved - That the latest version of the Routine Contracts Programme be approved and authorisation be given to place the OJEU advertisements as appropriate.

29. Exclusion of press and public

(Agenda item 13)

Resolved - That under section 100A(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 to the above Act.

Summary of decisions made on exempt items

Minute 30 agenda item 14 – Exempt Appendix to insurance and liability provision
Information noted.

Minute 31 agenda item 15 – exempt Appendix to estate update
Information noted.

Minute 32 agenda item 15 a Freehold purchase of property in Lillie Road
A report was tabled. Recommendations relating to the purchase of a property were adopted.

Minute 33 agenda item 16 – exempt Appendix to request for authority to dispose of surplus site.
Information noted.

Minute 34 agenda item 17 – exempt Appendix to vehicle recovery examination service
Information noted. Matter deferred to the next meeting of the Committee.

Minute 35 agenda item 18 – exempt Appendix to routine contracts programme
Information noted.

Minute 36 agenda item 19 outsource service programme –update report
Status of the programme noted.

Minute 37 agenda item 20 Command and control ICT services
Recommendations relating to the extension of this contract were adopted.

Minute 38 agenda item 21 MetTime project
Action taken endorsed. Further report to be submitted in due course.

Minute 39 agenda item 22 Active Directory
Agreed to renew the MPS Active Directory for a period of two years.

Minute 40 agenda item 23 - exempt minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2006
Agreed and signed as a correct record.

The meeting closed at 5.20 p.m.

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