Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Human Resources Committee held on 3 April 2003 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Rachel Whittaker (Chair)
• Anthony Arbour
• Kirsten Hearn
• Nicholas Long

MPA Officers

• Catherine Crawford (Clerk)
• Ken Hunt (Deputy Treasurer)
• Alan Johnson (Head of Human Resources and Professional Standards)
• Simon Vile (Head of Secretariat)

MPS Officers

• Bernard Hogan-Howe (Assistant Commissioner, HR)
• Martin Tiplady (Director of HR)
• Neil Bayne (Interim Director of HR Selection)
• Shabir Hussain (Director, Training and Development)
• Denise Milani (Director, Development and Organisational Improvement Team)
• Mike Shurety (Director, HR Services)
• Craig Watkins (Head of Business Support, Finance)
• Chris Haselden (Head of HR Strategic Management)

Part 1

193. Apologies

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Jennette Arnold, Cindy Butts and Cecile Wright.

194. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were received.

195. Minutes of the Human Resources Committee – 6 February 2003

(Agenda item 3)

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2003. It was agreed to make the following amendments to the minutes:

• Item 183: third resolution to read ‘the Professional Standards and Complaints Committee were to receive a report on the service confidence procedure’
• Item 192: to substitute ‘inappropriate’ for ‘appropriate’ in the sixth line

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held on 6 February 2003 be confirmed and signed as a correct record, subject to the above amendments.

On matters arising, the Director of HR reported that he hoped to produce an ability profile of recruits by Easter, as a members’ briefing paper.

196. Minutes of the Remuneration Sub-committee – 27 February 2003

(Agenda item 4)

The Committee noted the minutes of the Remuneration Sub Committee held on 27 February 2003.

197. Chair’s, Members’, Clerk’s and Assistant Commissioner Human Resources’ updates (oral report)

(Agenda item 5)

The Clerk reported that the Deputy Clerk would start in post on 1 May.

The Assistant Commissioner tabled an update. He also reported on several other issues, including:

• police officer reservists on duty in Iraq
• the development of the MPS policy on the employment of transgender people as police officers – he agreed to circulate this policy as a briefing paper to members
• the launch of the Crime Academy on 31 March
• updates on Special Priority Payments and Threshold Payments
• negotiations with ATOC with regard to free rail travel for police officers – he would let members have information on the results of a survey showing the extent of intervention by off duty police officers travelling on trains as a result of free rail travel
• VEM recruitment and the recruitment taskforce, including the proposed ‘referring a friend’ initiative and the possibility of piloting community involvement in the selection process

Resolved – That the Chair’s, Members’, Clerk’s and Assistant Commissioner Human Resources’ oral updates be received.

198. Recruitment and retention

(Agenda item 6)

Members received the regular report to informing them of progress, and related issues, of police and civil staff recruitment and retention against budgeted workforce targets for 2002/2003.

The Director of HR reported that he expected the allocation of recruits to boroughs to be 300 short of the Resource Allocation Formula target at the end of March. However, all would be allocated by the end of April along with a further 60. The Chair asked for this to be reported to the full Authority, if possible on a borough by borough basis.

Members discussed proportionality issues around VEM and women police leavers and noted that the MPS was going to develop proposals to employ external consultants to explore the reasons for leaving. There was also discussion about changes to the PIRT test. Clarification was asked for in relation to the reference in paragraph 1.6.5 of the report to ‘a lower pass rate’, as it was not clear whether this meant that the standard was being raised or lowered.

With regard to application processing times, the Director of HR reported that whilst over the whole year this was approaching 51 weeks, the MPS was on track to reduce it to 25 weeks by the middle of the current financial year.

With regard to paragraph 3.2 of the report, the Chair asked that the next recruitment and retention monitoring report include an analysis of the results of the various advertising campaigns.

The Chair also requested a report to the next meeting of the Committee examining the retention strategy and, for instance, looking at the quality of recruits to assess whether any attrition was related to ability. The Director of the Development and Organisational Improvement Team commented that the report should also address any issues related to the culture of the organisation.

With regard to the High Potential Development Scheme, the Clerk was asked to write to Centrex expressing the Authority’s concern at the delay in introducing the Centrex courses. The MPS would also raise this at the next South East APA/ACPO group meeting.

The Chair asked for assurance that any PCSOs funded by local authorities would not be recruited until all the centrally funded PCSOs had been recruited. The Assistant Commissioner said that he would communicate this request for an assurance to the appropriate officer, together with the view that PCSO recruitment should focus on the relevant local communities.

Nicholas Long expressed concern that, as he had been told, Transport for London PCSOs would be receiving assisted transport costs, which would be a divisive move. The Assistant Commissioner said that he would ascertain the position.

Resolved - That the report be noted;

199. Work/life balance

(Agenda item 7)

A report was received providing details about the range of work/life balance opportunities currently available to MPS staff, the barriers that need to be overcome to derive maximum benefit for individuals and management and the way in which flexible working opportunities will be promoted.

In the discussion, Nicholas Long referred to the heavy demands placed on borough commanders. He asked about the report commissioned from Accenture on borough commands. The Assistant Commissioner understood that it was due to be considered by Management Board prior to discussion with the Authority, but would ascertain the current position.

Resolved - That the report be noted;

200. Police reform – police bonus payments scheme

(Agenda item 8)

Members received a report setting out details of the proposed scheme for Bonus Payments, effective from 1 April 2003, in accordance with the provisions of the PNB Agreement on Police Pay and Conditions.

Resolved - That

1. the proposed scheme be approved; and
2. a monitoring report be made to the Committee on an annual basis.

201. People strategy – progress update

(Agenda item 9)

Originally launched by the Commissioner in February 2000, the five-year People Strategy was reviewed in Autumn 2002 to take stock of the achievements so far, to bring it up to date with current developments, and to set the agenda for the remaining two years. A report was received describing recent achievements and looking forward to continuing progress with the updated strategy through the HR Business and Performance Plan 2003 – 04.

In relation to paragraph 5 of the report, the Chair asked that the Authority’s Planning & Performance Manager look at how the MPA could monitor implementation of Performance Development Reviews.

Resolved - That the report be noted;

202. MPS HR Directorate allocation, spend and forecast, 2002/3 and 2003/4

(Agenda item 10)

Members received a report providing information about the budget allocation to the HR Directorate for 2002-03 and forecast expenditure for the current year. At the request of the Committee, it provided specific information about the expenditure on recruitment activity costs that fall to HR Directorate and working assumptions for HR Directorate’s allocation for 2003-04.

With reference to paragraph 10 of the report, the Director of HR said that information about the average cost per recruit would be available for members by the following week.

Resolved – That

1. an analysis of occupational health budget to be reported to next meeting; and
2. as previously agreed, the intention is for this budget monitoring report to come to every second meeting of the committee.

203. Congestion charging

(Agenda item 11)

A report was received providing information about the arrangements put in hand to deal with staffing issues arising from the introduction of congestion charging on 17 February 2003.

The Assistant Commissioner reported orally that, as of 28 March, 395 civil staff and police officers had claimed reimbursement under the pilot scheme, with expenditure of nearly £10,000 to date.

Resolved - That the committee notes the arrangements put in place to deal with the impact on staff of congestion charging and endorses the continuance of the scheme, subject to a further review in October 2003.

204. HMIC inspection training matters – progress on recommendations

(Agenda item 12)

A report was received providing a regular six-monthly update to the Human Resources Committee on recommendations contained in Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) inspection report ‘Training Matters’. It was noted that in future HMIC progress reports would only show any changes to the previous report.

With regard to recommendation 6.15, the Director of Training and Development was asked to confirm whether Centrex trainers had to be qualified.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

205. Call out for service with the armed forces reserve

(Agenda item 13)

The committee received a report on the steps taken to deal with personnel issues, including pay and pension matters, for staff who are called up for service with the armed forces reserve.

Resolved - That

1. arrangements put in place to deal with the personnel issues arising from the call up of staff for service in the armed forces reserve be noted; and
2. the Clerk, in consultation with the Treasurer, be authorised to agree payment of funds to bridge the gap between Reservists Standard Award and occupational pay.

206. Name badges

(Agenda item 14)

At the meeting of the Co-ordination and Planning Committee on 24 January 2003, the MPA agreed that name badges should be introduced subject to further consideration and consultation. A report was received setting out the current position.

The Director of HR Services reported orally to the committee on the outcome of recent consultation. The civil staff unions opposed the introduction of name badges whilst other groups had some general concerns. Discussions would continue to allay these concerns although it was considered that some exceptions would be needed to comply with PACE. Consultation favoured option C, introducing name badges on a borough by borough basis.

A recent questionnaire issued by the Uniform Services Branch to 600 front line officers had elicited a 91% return rate. 84% of these supported the use of rank on the badge. Only 17% supported the use of first name.

Resolved - That the report be noted;

The meeting ended at 4.40 p.m.

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