Annual review of the schedule of fees and charges

Report: 06
Date: 21 February 2008
By: Director of Finance Services

Summary

This report sets out information on Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) fees and charges. It also provides details of charges for the special services of police. There is also an explanation in respect of the current status of charging for the detention of prisoners in MPS cell accommodation.

A. Recommendations

That the Committee:

1. Review the attached schedule of fees and charges;

2. Endorse the proposal to increase specific charges for copy documentation that are significantly higher than those recommended by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO);

3. Endorse the proposal that increases for specific charges for copy documentation that are significantly higher than those recommended by ACPO be phased in over three years to mitigate the impact upon third parties.

B. Supporting information

General Fees and Charges (Background)

1. The schedule of general fees and charges for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) can be classified under a number of specific categories. They are:

• MPS calculated fees and charges;
• Fees as advised by other Agencies;
• Fees and charges as detailed within statute or legislation.

2. The range of fees/charges under the category of MPS calculated fees/charges include charges for the provision of copy documents, videotapes etc. required for civil proceedings.

3. There are a number of charges, which are advised by other agencies such as charges for the taking of fingerprints of the public in relation to visa applications as advised by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) National Fingerprint Board.

4. Additionally, the Schedule includes charges set by statute or legislation such as the fee to be paid for the issue of a pedlars’ certificate as stated within the Pedlars’ Certificates (Variation of Fee) Order 1985.

5. Appendix 1 to this report provides a comprehensive list of the fees and charges as per the above categories. The charges will be effective from 1 April 2008 unless otherwise stated due to the impact of legislation.

Review of Charges for 2008 - 2009

6. A full review of the cost to the MPS of reproducing copy documentation for civil proceedings has been undertaken by MPS Finance Services. This has involved consultation with the Traffic Criminal Justice Operational Command Unit (OCU), who manage all MPS traffic summons prosecution work, and a number of Criminal Justice Units at Borough Operational Command Units (BOCUs).

7. The purpose of the review was to establish whether the current MPS charges, which have marked time over recent years to maintain currency with ACPO recommended charges, are truly reflective of the true cost to the MPS of providing copy documentation. Table 1 provides a summary of the charges for copy documentation identified through the aforementioned review. ACPO have yet to determine the proposed rates for copy documentation etc. for 2008/09. Their decision in respect of 2008/09 rates has yet to be decided as at the date of this report.

(2007 Charges in brackets)

Table1: Charges for common items – Comparative figures

8. Table 1 identifies specific charges identified by our review that are significantly higher than current ACPO charges in respect of the provision of copy documentation etc. for civil proceedings. These charges are emboldened in Table 1. The MPS charges are reflective of the general higher costs and overheads in London. It is therefore proposed to increase charges for copy documentation and request approval for that action.

9. It may appear from the significant differences between the proposed MPS charges and those recommended by ACPO that the MPS processes in respect of providing copy documentation, video tapes, audio tapes etc. are less efficient or more cost heavy than those recommended by ACPO. This is not the case. ACPO have not undertaken the extensive review that the MPS has undertaken which is reflected in their lower charges. It is ACPO’s intention to recommend such a review to all ACPO forces as part of the revised ACPO guidance on charging for police services which is due to be published during 2008/09.

10. In order to mitigate the impact upon third parties and to maintain appropriate deference to ACPO’s position for harmonisation across forces for common items, it is recommended that the higher charges are phased in over a period of three years with the first year reflecting a two third abatement; year two a one third abatement with the full impact commencing in year three. The charges will be increased in line with inflation during the phasing in period to maintain their currency.

11. The remaining charges have been increased in line with inflation with effect from 1 April 2008, an approach recommended by ACPO. Our review has established that in respect of these charges, the recommended ACPO charges are at a level that accommodates the higher costs and overheads in London.

Charges for Special Services of Police

12. On many occasions, the MPS provide policing services within private premises, such as sporting stadia and also in the provision of assistance for activities including filmmaking and traffic surveys. These policing services fall within the remit of Section 25 of the Police Act 1996, which allows the costs of such special services to be recovered from the party receiving the services.

13. The MPS make charges for these special services, which are calculated to recover full costs. The charges include daily rates and hourly rates for police ranks up to and including Assistant Commissioner rank. There are additional charges in relation to other resources utilised on such events such as daily costs for police staff, including drivers, communication officers, daily costs for police horses, dogs and vehicle costs.

14. They incorporate a general administrative overhead recovery charge to recover non-pay and overhead costs and an overtime premium to reflect, that on many occasions, the policing resource is in addition to the normal duty time resource required to police the community.

15. Table 2 and Table 3 provides a comparison between current hourly charges for special services of police for Sergeants and Constables and proposed charges from 1 April 2008 under specific circumstances.

Table 2: Charges for special services of police - Constable

Table 3: Charges for special services of police - Sergeant

16. Appendix 2 to this report details the full schedule of charges for the special services of police to be introduced on the 1 April 2008 once approved by the MPA Finance Committee on 21 February 2008.

Charges for Detention of Prisoners in MPS Cell Accommodation

17. There are currently a number of bases for charges for the detention of prisoners in MPS cell accommodation. These include long standing arrangements in place to deal with the cost recovery in respect of the use by the Prison Service of MPS cell accommodation namely:

• ACPO Police/Prison Service Overnight Accommodation protocol (lockouts )
• Operation Safeguard Protocols - Reimbursement of Costs of Holding Prisoners in Police Cells

18. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) requires the use of MPS cell accommodation. The use of MPS cell accommodation features as part of more wide-ranging discussions that Specialist Crime Directorate have had with SOCA to develop a charging protocol that can be adapted into a Memorandum of Understanding. The work to develop the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has continued and the current information is that this work will be concluded during 2008/09.

19. In respect of the arrangements for charging the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) (previously Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND)) for the use of cell accommodation, it was reported in the annual review of the schedule of fees and charges report to Finance Committee on the 18 January 2007 that ACPO had been working with BIA to develop a national protocol for the use of police cells by BIA. Discussions are ongoing between BIA and ACPO and they are at an advanced stage.

20. ACPO’s proposals with reference to above arrangements with BIA are to have a non-bureaucratic charging structure based upon a flat rate recharge with the benefits of being simple to administer and pragmatic in its approach. It will avoid the complex formulae that are currently used in many forces. It is intended to incentivise BIA to manage their detainees more efficiently and will retain the flexibility to allow for a force to charge above and beyond the flat rate recharge where there is demonstrable additionality in respect of a specific operation to that Force.

21. In light of these protracted discussions, the MPS has maintained current charges upon BIA, effective from 1 April 2004. Once the ACPO discussions are concluded, the charges for the use of cell accommodation by BIA will be revisited and adjusted accordingly subject to the adoption of revised charges by Finance Committee.

Charges as advised by other agencies

22. There is no intention to increase the cost of the fee for intruder alarm registration in 2008/09.

Charges that are set by statute or legislation

23. Finance Services has approached the Home Office and other Government Departments to establish if the various fees/charges set by legislation are still current. The Ministry of Justice have advised that there have been increases in the level of witness allowances for attendance at court as set out within the allowances payable under Part V of the Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986. The specific reference to witness allowances has been amended in Appendix 1 to this report.

24. The Home Office are reviewing the statutory charges for the removal, storage and disposal of vehicles. The Home Office issued a consultation paper in May 2007 to interested parties to comment on proposed amendments to the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles (Prescribed Sums and Charges etc) Regulations 1989. The Home Office have published responses to the Consultation Paper as of the 21 December 2007. The Home Office are considering all of the responses and are engaged in further work to refine them. The Home Office are looking to lay the new Regulations before Parliament in the first half of 2008. MPS Charges will be amended in due course in light of the revised legislation.

25 The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (defra) have advised that as of the 6 April 2008, local authorities in England and Wales will become solely responsible for dealing with stray dogs. This change in practice is as a result of Section 68 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. It removes from legislation any references to the police seizing stray dogs and the duty to accept any that are brought to them. Accordingly, there will be no requirement for a charge to be made for the restoration of a stray dog. The police will remain responsible with regard to dealing with dangerous dogs and dogs found worrying livestock. Appendix 1 is reflective of this legislative change

Next Steps

26. Once approved by the MPA Finance Committee, Finance Services will ensure the schedule of fees and charges is promulgated throughout the MPS using a range of media. An electronic version will be published via the MPS intranet, on the MPS Website on the Publication Scheme.

Abbreviations

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

BIA

Border and Immigration Agency

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

C/ARB

Collision/Accident Report Book

DEFRA

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

DVLA

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

EAB

Evidence and Actions Book

HO

Home Office

IND

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

MOU

Memorandum of Understanding

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

OCU

Operational Command Unit

SOCA

Serious and Organised Crime Agency

C. Race and equality impact

There are no issues, which impact upon equality or diversity.

D. Financial implications

he estimated 2008/09 income generated from the fees and charges are fully reflected in Table 4 as advised by budget holders.

Table 4: Income from Fees and Charges 2008/09

2. It should be noted that the income generated from the fees and charges may be higher or lower than the above estimates due to demand fluctuations as illustrated within the estimated income in respect of charges for the use of cell accommodation. There is no current indication that Operation Safeguard will be revoked during this financial year. The forecast income from Operation Safeguard is £12.7m for 2007/08. To this needs to be added the income received from the detention of detainees from the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA). The current annual forecast for 2007/08 for this income is £3.5m.

3. Discussions with Territorial Policing Emerald indicate that currently, the expectation is that Operation Safeguard will continue throughout 2008/09 and that usage of MPS cell accommodation will be maintained at current volumes (50 cells per night). If this trend is realised, similar levels of income could be achieved in 2008/09 as forecast for 2007/08, this has both expenditure and income budget implications which will need to be incorporated in the Medium Term Financial Plans.

4. It should be noted that any movement toward an ACPO/BIA flat rate recharges for the detention of BIA detainees during 2008/09 would reduce the £16.2m quoted in Table 4. There are no firm indications as to the level of decrease as it is dependent upon volume of detainees and the length of detention.

5. It should also be noted that the income quoted in respect of charges for special services of police is likely to increase as a result of a review of the MPA policy on charging for events. The review is being undertaken by Assistant Commissioner Central Operations on behalf of the Commissioner. The purpose of the review is to ensure that organisers of commercial events meet the full cost of policing them so that the MPA is not subsidising these events to the detriment of communities. Assistant Commissioner Central Operations presented a report to Full Authority on 20 December 2007 where approval was given for the MPA policy to be re-launched.

6. Research for this report has revealed that charges for policing are currently levied in approximately 77% of commercial events. This percentage will be increased to approximately 85% on the re-launch of the MPA policy as funfairs have been identified as an area, where there is an opportunity to charge for the policing deployed at these events. The level of increase in the income generated could be in the region of £0.3m.

7. The remaining 15% were events that took place inside stadia or arenas. In most of these cases, there were no police officers deployed inside the stadia and so no charges could be levied albeit there was policing outside of the venues. The current legislative framework does not allow the MPS to demand payment for the policing outside of stadia/arenas although the MPA will be lobbying the Government to enact legislation to give a legal basis for charge for the policing outside of events.

E. Background papers

• Report number 5 of the 18 January 2007 meeting of the MPA Finance Committee (Annual review of the schedule of fees and charges).
• Report number 12 of the 19 July 2007 meeting of the MPA Finance Committee (Annual review of the schedule of fees and charges – update report).
• Report number 9 of the 20 December 2007 meeting of the MPA Full Authority (A review of the Metropolitan Police Authority policy on charging for events).
  Abbreviations

F. Contact details

Report author: Simon Hart, Acting Director of Finance Services, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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