The cost implications of public order events

Report: 05
Date: 17 July 2008
By: Director of Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report sets out the policing costs associated with major public order events between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008.

A. Recommendations

That the Committee notes the report.

B. Supporting information

Introduction

1. The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the cost of policing events from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) reports annually on costs associated with public order events requiring more than 300 police officer shifts.

2. The largest events during the reporting period included:

• State Opening of Parliament
• Notting Hill Carnival
• New Years Eve Celebrations
• London Marathon
• “Climate Camp” at Heathrow Airport
• Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEI) Arms Exhibition

Costing Methodology

3. In policing such events, resource requirements are assessed and requested by Public Order Branch and deployed through preparation of an Operational Policing Order. Typically, this document will set out the numbers of officers and support personnel to be deployed and will provide detailed operational instructions to govern their deployment. The operational policing order forms the basis of public order costs reported to this committee.

4. The costing information reported to this Committee is prepared using a standard costing methodology so that input factors, for example, hours worked by police officers assigned to the event, are costed at an average rate per unit of input. Actual costs incurred may differ marginally from the standard costs but based upon previous comparisons the overall effect has proved not significant.

5. In the table (see Appendix 1), the column entitled “Opportunity Costs” refers to those resources diverted from other policing activities to be deployed on Public Order duties. Members are asked to note that, with the exception of overtime and other additional costs, a large proportion of costs quoted do not represent additional costs to the MPS. Rather, the officers and other staff assigned to a given operation would be assigned to other policing duties or operations. “Additional Staff Costs” relate to overtime and allowances and “Additional Other Costs” refer to all other support costs and other expenditure (e.g. Transport, Air Support and Catering).

Regular annual events

6. It is difficult to compare the cost of policing between years because of the varied amount and type of events that occur. There are several events that occur annually and the following events have been included in the annual Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) reports each year:

• New Years Eve celebrations
• the London Marathon
• Mayday Demonstrations
• Trooping the Colour (the Queen’s Birthday Parade)
• the Notting Hill Carnival
• the Festival of Remembrance
• Remembrance Sunday
• the State Opening of Parliament.

Appendix 2 compares costs and the number of officers deployed between 2006 and 2007 in relation to the regular events listed above. Deployment levels are based upon the number of people expected to attend the event, historical information, the latest available intelligence and the potential risk of disorder. This can vary significantly from one year to the next.

Notting Hill Carnival

7. There has been a significant increase to policing costs this year. The cost of policing the event is £6.2m. This is approximately £1m more than was incurred in relation to the 2006 event, which cost £5.1m.

8. There was a large proactive operation to disrupt potential troublemakers in 2007 that incurred additional overtime costs of £0.6m. Increased communication related costs totalling £0.4m account for the majority of the remaining increase consisting of the purchase of additional Airwave capacity to ensure optimum functionality during the Carnival. Additional costs were incurred due to the need to provide, and test, communications equipment specifically installed at sites used by the MPS during the Carnival.

Trooping the Colour

9. In previous years, the cost of the policing operation in relation to the Major General’s Review and the Colonel’s Review has been included in this report. In 2007, the deployment for these events did not reach the 300 officer shift limit and so the cost of these events has not been included in this report. The Queen’s Birthday Parade was in line with deployment in previous years and is included in the report.

Abbreviations

DSEI

Defence Systems and Equipment International

MPA

Metropolitan Police Authority

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

PCSO

Police Community Support Officers

C. Race and equality impact

There are no issues which impact upon race and equality.

D. Financial implications

1. The MPS resources involved in the 64 public order / ceremonial events where 300 or more officer shifts were involved (recorded in Appendix 1), amount to 78,221 police officer and 3,801 police staff shifts at a total estimated cost of £28.1m. Police staff include PCSOs, traffic wardens, communication officers, catering staff, drivers, engineers etc.

2. The largest and most costly policing operations included:

• The Notting Hill Carnival at an estimated cost of £6.2m
• The “Climate Camp” at Heathrow Airport at an estimated cost of £6.3m
• The Tour De France at an estimated cost of £1.4m
• The DSEI Arms Exhibition at an estimated cost of £1.5m

Cost Recovery

3. A total of 42 commercial events were held between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008, which individually required the deployment of more than 300 police officer shifts. The estimated total cost of policing these events is £7.6m, of which the MPS recovered £3.2m. Cost recovery is allowed under Section 25 of the Police Act 1996 (Special Police Services). The discrepancy between costs incurred and costs recovered is mainly due to the cost recovery arrangements currently in place in relation to the policing of football matches. This is explained more fully in paragraph 4 below.

4. Under current arrangements the charges levied against football clubs are based upon the hourly rates for the special services of police as per Section 25 of the Police Act 1996. The costs recovered reflect the number of officers deployed inside of the stadium on match days. Under current arrangements with the football clubs, the MPS cannot claim reimbursement for officers deployed outside of the stadium.

5. The approach to cost recovery outside stadia is being considered as one of the recommendations adopted by the Full MPA Committee at its meeting on the 20 December 2007. This Committee had considered a report from Assistant Commissioner Central Operations that made a number of recommendations as part of a review of the Metropolitan Police Authority policy on charging for events.

6. The recommendations included the MPA moving to a position where the organisers of commercial events in stadia will be required to meet the costs of all policing associated with their event. There will need to be discussion with key stakeholders in Government and sporting bodies to progress these aims.

Legal cost Implications

7. The MPS Directorate of Legal Services has confirmed that no damages were paid in relation to the policing of public order events between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008.

E. Background papers

• Full Authority 20 December 2007 Report Number 9 (A review of the Metropolitan Police Authority policy on charging for events).

F. Contact details

Report author(s): 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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