Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Human Resources Committee held at 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1H 0NY, on 25 July 2002.

Present

Members

• Rachel Whittaker (Chair)
• Anthony Arbour
• Jennette Arnold
• Cindy Butts
• Kirsten Hearn
• Nicholas Long (present for item 11 onwards)

MPA staff

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Ken Hunt (Deputy Treasurer)
• Alan Johnson (Head of Human Resources)
• John Crompton (Committee Services)

MPS staff

• Jenny Deere (Director HR Selection)
• Chris Haselden (Head of HR Strategic Management)
• Bernard Hogan-Howe (Assistant Commissioner, HR)
• Denise Milani (Director, Development and Organisational Improvement Team)
• Mike Shurety (Director, HR Services)
• Mike Tarry (Chief Inspector)
• Martin Tiplady (Director, HR)
• Craig Watkins (Head of Business Support (Finance)

Part 1

126. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Abdal Ullah and Cecile Wright, and for late arrival from Nicholas Long.

127. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

There were none.

128. Minutes: 2 May 2002

(Agenda item 3)

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 May 2002 were agreed.

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 May 2002 be confirmed and signed as a correct record, and the decisions made when the Committee had been inquorate ratified.

129. Draft minutes of the special meeting of the Human Resources Committee: 21 May 2002

(Agenda item 4)

Resolved - That the minutes of the special meeting of the Committee be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Arising -
Cindy Butts to be provided with a draft of the report on forfeiture of pensions, to be submitted to the Committee on 3 October.

130. Chair’s Members’ and Clerk’s update

(Agenda item 5)

The Chair reported on an APA meeting she had attended. She also reported that she had attended a meeting of the Police Advisory Board (PAB) on behalf of Jennette Arnold. The PAB had agreed the guidelines for appeals to police authorities in respect of business interests. The meeting had noted that the Home Office was not pursuing drug testing as had been recommended. APA and ACPO were to write to the Home Office separately to express disappointment. Jennette Arnold asked that details of items to be considered at the PAB meetings be sent to Members of the Committee and that any comments be submitted to the Head of Human Resources.

The Clerk reported that MPA staff had received a 4.3% pay increase, subject to a review of the staffing arrangements now the Secretariat and Internal Audit were co-located.

Resolved – that the oral update be noted and details of PAB meetings be circulated to Members at the earliest opportunity.

“Current items of interest in Human Resources Directorate”

Members had before them a briefing paper that contained an update on a number of items. The following points arose: -

Police Reform: The Committee was advised (i) that the Police Reform Act had received Royal Assent on 24 July and would come into effect in stages, and (ii) it was intended to submit reports on the financial implications of the agreement and the various working parties to subsequent meetings. The Assistant Commissioner, HR said he would discuss with the Chair the question of whether to issue invitations to the APA or to individual police authorities for the national conference that the MPS was organising for police force heads of HR.

Recruit training: A Member raised a question concerning of the amount of time allotted to physical exercise in the Hendon syllabus. Another requested more information on any issues in connection with women recruits with young children. The Assistant Commissioner, HR undertook to write to Members.

131. Membership of the Remuneration Sub-committee

(Agenda item 6)

Members received a report concerning the membership of the Remuneration Sub-Committee. It was noted that Richard Barnes had indicated his willingness to serve as an appointed member of the Sub-Committee.

Resolved – that

1. the membership of the Remuneration Sub-Committee be confirmed as Anthony Arbour, Richard Barnes, Toby Harris, Rachel Whittaker and Cecile Wright; and
2. Rachel Whittaker be re-appointed as Chair and Cecile Wright as Deputy Chair.

132. MPS retention strategy

(Agenda item 7)

The Committee received for endorsement the revised retention strategy for the MPS. The Director HR amended the strategy by the addition of a new item 10 in the section on the medium term proposals to: “Ensure that the full provisions of the new fairness at work procedures are implemented with care and diligence.”

Resolved - that

1. the proposed strategy, as amended, be endorsed; and
2. progress reports be submitted twice a year to the Committee.

133. Recruitment and retention

(Agenda item 8)

Members received a report providing information on police and civil staff recruitment and retention against targets for 2002/03. The Committee requested the next report include a breakdown of the timetable, information on each stage of the recruitment process, the reasons why applicants dropped out at various stages of the process, progress on implementing the proposals in the retention strategy and the impact of asking potential recruits to meet the cost of the medical.

In connection with this item, the Clerk reported that, at a meeting held earlier in the day, the Authority had agreed to set up a Diversity Recruitment Taskforce to be chaired by R David Muir with the following Members: Jennette Arnold, Cindy Butts, Kirsten Hearn, Peter Herbert, Abdal Ullah and Cecile Wright. The taskforce would submit its recommendations to the Authority and would also report to the Human Resources (HR) Committee and the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board.

Resolved - that the report be noted.

134. Civil staff pay and grading – update of final appeals

(Agenda item 9)

A report was received updating the Committee on the restructuring of civil staff pay and grading, and the current position in relation to appeals from staff about their assimilation into the new pay band structure. The Director, HR reported that since the report had been prepared there had been some further appeals and the position as of 25 July was as follows: a total of 635 cases had been considered, covering 2150 jobholders. 190 appeals had been upheld, covering 915 jobholders. The Director confirmed that the remaining appeals would be dealt with by the end of July.

Resolved – that the report be noted and a final report on the outcome of the process, including diversity data, be provided to Members.

135. Best value review of training

(Agenda item 10)

A report was received detailing changes to the Project Initiation Document for the best value review of training and updating Members on the review’s progress. The Committee was advised that a letter had been sent to HMIC about the inclusion of probationer training, despite the fact that it had been the subject of recent inspection. The current best value review would look at implementation of the earlier inspection.

The Director, HR undertook to circulate a briefing note detailing the reasons why recruits left the training programme.

Resolved – that

1. the changes to the Project Initiation Document be approved;
2. the progress of the review be noted; and
3. a report be submitted to the next meeting on the draft findings and improvement plan of the MPS best value review of training.

136. Police negotiating body agreement on police pay and conditions

(Agenda item 11)

Members received a report on the recent agreement on police pay and conditions, together with some discussion on the role of police authorities in ensuring implementation. Further to paragraph 4, the Committee was advised that the funds to be provided centrally did not cover National Insurance contributions.

Resolved– that

1. the report be noted;
2. the role outlined at paragraphs 4 and 5 be adopted; and
3. regular updates be submitted to meetings of the Human Resources Committee.

137. Health and safety

(Agenda item 12)

A report was received providing an update in respect of health and safety within the MPS and the response to the Improvement Notices issued by the Health and Safety Executive on the Commissioner. The Clerk reported that she had attended an initial meeting at the Home Office to discuss the new responsibilities placed on the Authority by the Police Reform Act.

Resolved - that the report be noted and a more detailed report on the new statutory provisions be submitted to a future meeting.

138. Review of MPS grievance procedure - progress update

(Agenda item 13)

Members considered a report providing an update on the new grievance procedure (now renamed the fairness at work procedure) and outlining the process for implementation. Further to paragraph 3 in appendix 1, the Committee was advised that it had been decided to give members of staff who had already lodged a grievance under the existing scheme the option of transferring into the new scheme at the same stage in the process. The Committee was also advised that the wording in the policy would be checked for clarity before it was issued. In reply to a question from a Member, the Director, HR Services advised that the monitoring arrangements for the new procedure included a full review after 12 months, which would include the timeliness of procedures and the analysis required under the Race Equality Scheme.

Resolved - that the report be noted.

139. Analysis of sickness

(Agenda item 14)

A report was received providing information on sickness and an analysis of sickness data covering the period April 2001 to March 2002. In reply to a question from a Member, the Chair requested that a briefing paper be circulated to the Committee with details of Regulation 46 which governed the payments made to police officers on long term sick leave.

Resolved - that the report be noted and a briefing note circulated to Members on how Regulation 46 operated.

140. Long term sickness

(Agenda item 15)

This report provided additional information on long-term sickness in support of the preceding report

Resolved – That the report and the position paper submitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee be noted.

141. Civil staff poor performance procedures

(Agenda item 16)

This report had been requested by the Committee at an earlier meeting. It set out details of the poor performance procedure for civil staff.

Resolved – That the current procedures and the content of the report be noted.

142. Best value review of managing people

(Agenda item 17)

A report was received setting out the scope of a best value review of managing people. The Committee felt that the review should look at retention. Referring to the second recommendation, Jennette Arnold indicated that she would be willing to undertake the role of lead member on the project board.

Resolved - that

1. retention be the scope of a best value review; and
2. Jennette Arnold be nominated as the lead member on the project board.

143. Monitoring of MPA activities

(Agenda item 18)

A report was submitted providing details of recent MPA staffing and recruitment issues. A Member requested that a report on disability employment issues be submitted to a future meeting. The Clerk pointed out that this issue was also within the purview of the EODB. It was agreed a report would be submitted to the HR Committee addressing human resource aspects, whilst a report to the EODB would concentrate on the service delivery aspect of disability employment.

Resolved – that-

1. the MPA HR officers would work closely with other Members of the GLA Group to enable greater co-ordination of HR initiatives, the sharing and developing of good practice and joint projects and the influencing and developing of HR strategies within the MPA; and
2. HR officers work to improve under-representation in the workforce and the success or lack of parity of under-represented groups in its staffing processes. In particular, this should include under-representation of staff with disabilities.

Meeting closed at 4.40 p.m.

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