Minutes - draft

Please note these minutes are currently draft and are subject to committee approval.

Minutes of the meeting of the Human Resources Committee held on 15 December 2005 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Rachel Whittaker (Chair)
• Jennette Arnold (Deputy Chair) (items 1- 12)
• Anthony Arbour
• Aneeta Prem
• John Roberts

MPA officers

• Annabel Adams (Deputy Treasurer)
• Catherine Crawford (Chief Executive and Clerk)
• Alan Johnson (Head of Human Resources)
• Doug Lewins (Policy Development Officer, Race and Diversity)
• Ruth Hastings Iqball (Committee Section)

MPS officers

• Claire Appleby (Director, HR Services)
• Kevin Courtney (Head of Pay and Benefits)
• Paul Madge (Acting Director, People Development)
• Simon Marshall (Director, HR Recruitment)
• Denise Milani (Deputy Director, Diversity and Citizen Focus)
• Martin Tiplady (Director of HR).

16. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received from Kirsten Hearn and Damian Hockney.

17. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were received.

18. Minutes of the Human Resources Committee - for approval: 20 October 2005

(Agenda item 3)

Members were informed that MPS Careers Office would open at Empress State Building in the new year.

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2005 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

19. Minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub Committee (part 1) - to note: 20 October 2005

(Agenda item 4)

Resolved - That the minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub Committee (Parts 1) held on 20 October 2005 be noted.

20. Chair’s, members’, Clerk’s and MPS update (oral report)

(Agenda item 5)

The Chair informed the committee that she had attended the MPS’s second Human Resources Conference for its HR practitioners to discuss the Service Review and the possible restructuring of the HR function. The Chair felt the Authority should at a point in the future have a presentation on the proposed restructuring, but she was informed that it had yet to be agreed by Management Board.

The Chair reminded members that they had received briefing notes on ‘The strategic themes of ‘recruitment and progression’ and ‘support for staff’; ‘MPS graduate recruitment strategy’; ‘MPS recruitment strategy 2005-2009’, ‘Police Negotiating Board equal pay review in the police service’ and ‘Advancing equality for men and women: Government’s proposals for a gender duty’.

In addition to attending Police Negotiating Board meetings, the Chair had attended a briefing about a Government Green Paper, which proposed that compensation paid by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to police officers injured on duty be replaced by payment by their police authority. It was noted that the Association of Police Authorities was opposed to the proposal and had written to the Home Office to that effect.

Tony Arbour reported that he had attended two functions involving the volunteer cadet corps in his link boroughs. Although the cadet corps had long waiting lists to join, he felt they were under resourced, particularly in terms of accommodation. He asked if the police officers who run the groups were rewarded, and was informed that Special Priority Payments and bonuses did not apply to this kind of work. He felt that HR should regard value police cadets groups as a recruiting tool. The Director of HR reminded members that Territorial Policing provided the lead for cadets, which were run by BOCUs; it was not a significant source of recruits.

Jeanette Arnold spoke of the ‘Chicago style’ street briefing initiative and asked if police officers and PCSOs had insurance cover if they entered premises uninvited. She was informed that they were covered by employer’s liability if they entered a building in the course of their business.

The Deputy Director, Diversity and Citizen Focus, reported on the restructuring of her Directorate into four teams covering citizen focus, diversity, learning and development, diversity and equalities and organisational learning. Members felt BOCUs needed more support from the Directorate and the difficulty in getting response to an enquiry from the Directorate about ‘flagging‘ offences against the disabled was raised. Further updates were promised on how the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate was supporting boroughs. Questions were also asked about the inappropriate placing of officers on restricted duty when they had lost a specific skill (i.e. firearms officers who had a hearing impairment). The Acting Director, People Development, said he would make enquiries and respond to this issue outside the meeting.

The Director of HR reported that there would shortly be 1,430 special constables, although recruitment was being slowed by difficulties with vetting. Planning for police officer recruitment was also difficult, as the financial position in the coming year was not yet finalised. Black and minority ethnic recruitment of police officers had reached 19% and 33% of recruits were women. Black and minority ethnic recruitment of PCSOs had reached 29%, with 45% of recruits women. People expressing an interest in becoming a police officer were referred to the next intranet event, of which 8-10 a year would be held. The Director of HR added that Home Office workforce targets for police officer recruitment were unrealistic and, as previously reported, would not be achieved.

Retention rates had continued to improve with little difference between the retention of white, black and minority ethnic staff both for PCSOs and police recruits. Levels of absenteeism had also continued to improve, with 7.1 days for police officers (down from 10 days two years ago, thus generating non cash savings of circa £30 million). It was hoped to get this figure to 6.8 days by the end of the financial year. 9.4 days were lost by police staff (with a target of 9.2 days by the end of the year), 12 days by PCSOs and 14.7 days by traffic wardens (from a high of 20 days). Hot-spotting was continuing to be used to target problem areas.

Members asked for a note on recruitment numbers, put into the context of improvement since the inception of the Authority. They felt the Home Office’s challenging targets had had a positive effect, even if the targets had not been achieved. It was also requested that the note reflect the philosophy of diversity and the influence of the Stephen Lawrence Report, Positive Action Teams and initiatives and the role of staff associations. Members congratulated the MPS on the excellent work that had been done on recruitment, retention and sickness levels.

The Director of HR informed members of the extended mobilisation plan whereby police staff had been invited to volunteer for tasks in the event of a major emergency. The response had been overwhelming. In such circumstances, police staff who were special constables would perform that role permanently.

He informed members that the police officer promotion procedure was being revised to remove the application form and place greater significance on Personal Development Reviews (Appraisal) process, which he hoped in future, would include a promotion recommendation. This would be piloted with the inspector to chief inspector promotion round in 2006. An appeals process would replace external assessment. The Police Federation and Superintendents Association supported this change.

Finally, and in answer to questions, the Director of HR informed members that the MPS was piloting a 5-week initial training course for PCSOs and police recruits where there was mutual learning. The pilot would be assessed in April. The MPS were still supportive of the proposals to delay attestation and were seeking the Authority’s support for this approach.

Resolved - That the update be received.

21. Morris Inquiry - recruitment and progression

(Agenda item 6)

Members received a report providing an update on multi-point entry for officers to the MPS and the development of career pathways, including timescales for new pathways. This would include the setting of minimum standards. The report also included an update on monitoring and evaluating the workforce profiles of specialist units to ensure they were representative and the development of an exit survey processes to identify underlying causes for voluntary resignations and transfers.

In answer to questions, Members were informed that the HR Directorate did not feel the setting of targets would change the workforce profiles of specialist units because of the narrow pools from which candidates could be selected. The Chair asked if ‘hotspots’ for voluntary resignations and transfers were identified. She was assured that they were, and brought to the attention of senior manages. Members were informed that the Home Office had recommended that all police services use a single exit process, but this was inferior to the one already developed within the MPS. The HR Directorate would be meeting the Home Office to discuss this further.

Resolved - That the report be agreed.

22. Workforce diversity profile

(Agenda item 7)

Members received a report updating them on the MPS’s Recruitment Strategy, planned campaigns for 2005-6 focusing on under-represented groups, the use of targeted advertising and marketing, the graduate recruitment strategy, PCSO/MSC recruitment and vetting times. The report also included updates from the Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate on internal activities highlighting gender, LGBT, race and disability issues

Members noted that vetting times had increased. The Chair requested that a letter be written to the Chair of the Professional Standards Committee, copied to the Directorate of Professional Standards, drawing the Committee’s attention to the lack of improvement and the impact on recruitment target.

Members felt that the universities mentioned in the report were not where the best graduates would be found. The Director of HR explained that parallel to this activity the Directorate had been hosting events at the most prestigious universities for targeted individuals. These had been invited to observe day-to-day police work in different OCUs for a week. Members suggested quantifying the ‘yield’ from different universities,

A member stated that on his link borough special constables were being lost because of the time vetting took. He also stated that special constables were having their training cancelled at short notice and had to share equipment. The Director of HR undertook to pass this comment to Territorial Policing and the Borough Commander.

Resolved - That the report be received.

23. Employment infrastructure

(Agenda item 8)

A report was received providing a summary of progress relating to the Code of Ethics (a professional standards framework governing the personal and professional behaviour of all MPS personnel), a review of the existing ‘early departure’ provisions, the development of HR practice across the MPS and flexible and voluntary benefits – including childcare strategy.

Members agreed that topics covered by this report had already been discussed in item 7.

Resolved - That the update be considered.

24. Workforce modernisation (oral update)

(Agenda item 9)

Members were informed that the Director of HR was deputy head of ACPO’s workforce modernisation group. The group’s findings would in due course be presented to the Home Office. The Director of HR then highlighted the areas of change being considered in the MPS.

Resolved - That the update be considered.

Exclusion of the press and public

(Agenda item 10)

A resolution was put to exclude the press and public from the meeting during items 11 and 12 as they were likely to disclose exempt information as defined in Part 1 Schedule 12(a) (1) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

Resolved – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting during discussion of agenda items 11 -12.

Part 2

26. Exempt minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub Committee (part 2) - to note: 20 October 2005

(Agenda item 11)

The exempt minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub Committee (Parts 1) held on 20 October 2005 were noted.

27. Pay and practice modernisation

(Agenda item 12)

Members received a report summarising a new approach for developing a coherent medium-term reward strategy for police staff. Members supported the ‘direction of travel’ in respect of police staff pay; and requested further oral report given at it Human Resources Committee.

The meeting ended at 12.30 p.m.

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