Workforce modernisation

Report: 9
Date: 19 May 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report covers progress of Workforce Modernisation within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) specifically in relation to the Bexley Project. Bexley is the one Borough within the MPS that is involved in a Home Office funded project currently being conducted across the country. The project is looking at modernising the workforce in order to improve the service currently provided.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. The Workforce Modernisation Programme is a programme of work that progresses the Police Reform agenda. The programme aims to reconfigure the workforce through a review of systems of organising work and the introduction of approximately 43 new police staff roles. These new police staff roles will be funded through the reduction of about 25 police officer roles and will be largely customer-facing, leading to an overall increase in service capacity. This will address the strategic aims of the programme:

• To improve service delivery to the communities served by Bexley borough
• To provide evidence of increased performance across all areas of activity to inform service delivery locally and nationally.
• To increase the visibility and accessibility of policing services within the community.

2. A briefing paper was submitted to members of the Human Resources Committee in March 2005, outlining plans for workforce modernisation within Business Groups for years 2005-6 and 2006-7. For ease of reference, this briefing paper is attached at Appendix 1. This matter was also the subject of correspondence between MPS Director HR and MPA Chief Executive and Clerk on 21 March 2005.

Consultation

3. Internal and external communications have been managed through a Stakeholder Communication Strategy. This has tailored the particular response (e.g. face to face meetings, focus groups, presentations, printed media etc.) to the needs of that group or individual including consultative groups, statutory partners and elected members. The elected members were from Bexley Council (party group leaders, those with cabinet responsibilities for partnership and community safety issues and other members addressed at meetings) and Members of Parliament. Presentations were given to partnership groups and consultative groups in advance of the public announcement of changes. Staff were involved throughout by their participation in focus groups (which helped to devise solutions) and through a cycle of twice yearly presentations by the Borough Commander to all staff. The MPA is represented at member and officer level on the Workforce Modernisation Programme Board.

Gaps identified in the service provided

4. The methodology of the programme involved the participation of staff from all teams in focus groups. This involved the creation of process maps, which were then critically debriefed by the staff to highlight areas for improvement. The most significant areas for attention were the investigative function, the station office, the custody function and the answering of calls for service from the public.

Make-up of the Bexley workforce and changes made

5. Prior to the implementation of the changes, the staff breakdown of Bexley OCU (figures taken from June 2004) was as follows:

• Police officers: 59% (equates to 323 police officers)
• Police staff: 19% (equates to 104 police staff)
• PCSO: 6% (equates to 33 PCSOs)
• MSC: 10% (equates to 55 MSC)
• Volunteers: 7% (equates to 38 volunteers)

Accordingly, the target strength for April 2006 is as follows:

• Police officers: 49.6% (equates to 315 police officers)
• Police staff: 13.2% (equates to 126 police staff)
• PCSO/DDO: 6.8% (equates to 56 PCSO/DDO)
• MSC: 12.9% (equates to 100 MSC)
• Volunteers: 5.6% (equates to 38 volunteers)

N.B. Due to Safer Neighbourhoods growth, the actual workforce target (AWT) for PCSOs and PCs is growing, and the comparison is not as simple as subtracting police officer posts.

6. Following the implementation of all the projects outlined later in this report, it is anticipated that there will be a cost-neutral exchange of approximately 25 police officers for about 43 police staff posts. This change will focus on officer roles that are not ‘front-line’, i.e. not routinely relying on the powers and training of a police officer. The capacity of the MPS to meet the demands of citizens will be enhanced by greater staffing numbers and in particular the use of police staff in customer-facing roles.

New police staff

7. New police staff investigators (Investigative Support Officers), Designated Detention Officers and Police Community Support Officers working on response teams in a Deployment Support role have all been introduced to address gaps on service delivery. It is important to note that they are not simply replacing whole posts. Their use supports and enhances the work of police officers, increasing service capacity. For example, a reconfigured mixed workforce in an investigation team allows tasks to be more effectively divided between detectives, designated police staff and administrative support functions.

Police officers activities

8. Some police officers were previously undertaking non-operational activities. For example, there was a high proportion of time spent in purely administrative activities such as arranging identification parades or making appointments for interviews. Examples were given of whole days being spent on such activities.

Organisational structure

9. The programme examined internal structures and has made changes in order to align management accountability to functional responsibility and to reduce multiple tiers of line management.

Lessons learned and how these will be applied to the rest of the Service

10. The project team are currently awaiting the outcomes of the experiment, which is being independently evaluated by the Institute of Employment Studies. Once the learning points are known, consideration will be given to promulgating the findings across the MPS.

11. As these changes have only recently been implemented (February to April 2005), it is too early to draw conclusions about their service wide application. However, it is anticipated that early improvements to performance in investigation can be maintained and improved. This would include reductions in the length of investigations and greater opportunities for investigative leads, in turn leading to better detection rates and customer satisfaction.

12. There is considerable interest in the programme both nationally and within the MPS. The programme team have shared their findings with the MPS Service Review and the National Centre for Policing Excellence.

Detailed costings

13. The programme is one of ten programmes nationally funded through the Home Office Workforce Modernisation Implementation Fund. It has granted £1.2M to the MPS for use in 2004/05 and a further £1.2M for 2005/06 (total £2.4M). Staffing changes are being made gradually throughout 2005/06 to ensure resilience and transfer of skills.

14. The programme currently has a £623k under-spend. This is largely due to delays in introducing staff into the new roles, due to corporate constraints on the availability of training courses and vetting results. This budget will also support other work committed in 2004/05 but not yet charged (e.g. building works and consultancy). The Home Office has previously indicated that there are no restrictions on carrying forward any under-spend, and it has been kept updated throughout the project. Please see Appendix 2 for more detailed costings.

Policing outcomes and other benefits

15. The individual projects within the Bexley Workforce Modernisation Programme have been selected and developed because of their potential to meet the objectives of the MPS Workforce Modernisation Programme, namely:

• To improve service delivery to the communities served by Bexley BOCU
• To provide evidence of increased performance across all areas of activity to inform service delivery locally and nationally.
• To increase the visibility and accessibility of policing services within the community.

16. The following paragraphs give a summary of each project within the programme including the potential benefits.

Investigate and manage crime

17. This Bexley Investigation Model utilises mixed investigative teams (a mixed team of detectives, PCs and police staff) that carries out actions on behalf of officers on strategic focus desks. Earlier research indicates that this will reduce the length of investigations, thereby improving public satisfaction and investigative opportunities. The crux of this is the “action-based” investigation system. Rather than a particular detective constable owning everything to do with an investigation, regardless of whether it is a highly-skilled task (e.g. interview of a vulnerable witness) or a task requiring a lower skill level (e.g. arranging a minibus to get witnesses to an identification parade), an action based system allocates tasks among a team of people according to their skills and training. This is more efficient and ensures that people with specialist skills concentrate on using those skills. Office layout changes will improve communication among the staff who lead on investigations, intelligence and proactivity. This project will introduce 10 Investigative Support Officers working in reconfigured teams.

Answer calls from the public

18. A new type of Police Community Support Officer - “Deployment Support” will work with response teams to lead on the significant proportion of calls to police (approximately 33%) that do not require a warranted officer but nevertheless require a service response (e.g. bail enquiries, abandoned vehicles). They will use mobile data terminals and drive PCSO-liveried vehicles. This will increase police capacity to respond to calls and investigate incidents thoroughly. This project will introduce 10 Deployment Support PCSOs.

Assist callers to the station

19. A triage system is proposed, using PCSOs or Specials during the busiest periods to identify priority cases and give people information regarding reporting options and likely waiting times. Environmental changes such as signage and interactive terminals will provide a better service to visitors and display reassurance messages. An appointment system will help to manage demand around lengthy enquiries.

Deal with prisoners

20. The reception of new prisoners will be separated from that of bail-to-return prisoners, creating a bail desk. Designated Detention Officers (DDOs) will take on administrative duties from Sergeants (e.g. custody computer inputting), freeing up the Sergeants to concentrate on their managerial duties. This will increase custody capacity and mean that officers return to their duties without delay, benefiting CID and response teams. This project will introduce six DDOs.

Manage the criminal justice process

21. A new police staff role of Criminal Justice Unit Manager will take responsibility for all business from the receipt of case papers onwards. Joint work with the Crown Prosecution Service and Court Service around business improvement will identify common areas of interest and joint service delivery e.g. case worker co-location.

Further engage with the community

22. New police staff roles will be created of Active Communities Manager to manage volunteer and MSC coordination, Schools Citizenship Officer and Crime Prevention Advisor. These will expand police influence in the partnership field. There are opportunities to fund posts in partnership organisations as well as embedding MPS staff within their departments. The use of partner staff in a multi-disciplinary Safer Neighbourhood Team will also be explored.

Train, develop and look after our staff

23. New police staff roles within the training unit will release police officers. This will include a new role of Borough Safety Officer, with responsibility for training and managing safety related matters such as risk assessments and safety training. A locally deployed Occupational Health Advisor will proactively address health, fitness and welfare issues. Staff in new police staff roles have received training according to their roles. Deployment Support PCSOs have received one week local training around the particular requirements of the role. DDOs have received the corporate training package. Investigative Support Officers (ISOs) have received an individual review of their skills and then received additional training according to their development needs. This has been delivered by the Crime Academy and additional local training (for example, Initial Action at Crime Scenes courses and domestic violence training seminar). Where there are specific technical skills for the role (e.g. crime prevention and design), this is given through MPS or Centrex courses. It should be noted that police officers are also receiving training, e.g. Initial Action at Crime Scenes for uniform response team officers. As part of the cultural change work on the Borough, all managers of Band D, Inspector and Sergeant level will receive leadership training based on the successful Commissioners Leadership Training.

C. Race and equality impact

1. This work will increase career pathways into and within the MPS. New police staff roles offer greater opportunities to join the MPS family, and for existing police staff to seek promotion and lateral development into management and customer-facing roles. The experience of the MPS is that this helps to increase the diversity of the MPS for example through the recruitment of Police Community Safety Officers and Designated Detention Officers who better mirror the diversity of London, and also allowing individuals whose disabilities might prevent them from becoming police officers to nevertheless serve the community in a police staff role.

2. In addition to the traditional role of paid employment, these changes expand the capacity of the MPS to engage communities through the recruitment of volunteers and offering citizen-focused local services such as enhancements to Safer Neighbourhood Teams. This supports the recruitment of a more diverse workforce, widening the skills base and increasing community confidence.

D. Financial implications

1. The programme of work at Bexley is completely funded through the Home Office Workforce Modernisation Implementation Fund. This includes staffing and recruitment costs, equipment, building works and support services. This work will be cost-neutral by 1 April 2006, so that Bexley BOCU will operate entirely within mainstream MPA/MPS budgets. Part of the evaluation will assess the role that additional funding plays within the programme as this is of direct relevance to assessing the potential to replicate this work at other sites.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Christopher Davers Bexley Borough, Clare Mehlman, HR Directorate and Ellie Ryan, HR Directorate.

For more information contact:

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

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback