Morris Inquiry: national issues

Report: 8
Date: 2 February 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides a summary update on the following issues identified within the Report of the Morris Inquiry (hereafter referred to as The Morris Report):

• Extending Employment Law to cover the office of Constable
• Negotiating Terms and Conditions for Police Officers
• The Introduction of a Code of Conduct for all Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers and staff
• The Use of conciliation/arbitration in industrial disputes
• That Attestation is delayed until the officer has satisfactorily completed his /her initial training.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

Extending Employment Law

1. Members will be aware that police officer terms and conditions are governed by Police Regulations and are determined at national level through the Police Negotiating Board. The Regulations are set within a statutory framework.

2. Police officers have recourse to the Employment Tribunals in relation to all anti discrimination legislation e.g. race, gender, disability; sexual orientation etc. Officers are not entitled to make unfair dismissal claims through the Tribunals.

3. Members should also be aware that the ‘Review of Police Disciplinary Arrangements’ led by William Taylor, reviewed key recommendations arising from Morris and concluded that:

‘‘Policing is an area that is too important to be left to the uncertainty of changes to and the case precedent decisions of mainstream 'employment law. Conduct arrangements must be capable of control and shaping and this is best achieved by regulation. This will help secure a high level of democratic accountability, drive national consistency and, in the context of complaints by members of the public, ensure the system is citizen-focused."

4. As such there will be no further action undertaken by the MPS to consider or to effect statutory change in the locus of employment law as suggested by the Morris Report.

5. The MPS does act to ensure parity in the interpretation and application of key changes in employment law as a basis for ensuring equality of access to internal support and complaints procedures. For example, the recent Disputes Resolution Regulations introduced in October 2004 provided a basis for revisions to the Fairness at Work Procedure and both officers and staff have equal access to this procedure.

6. The Fairness at Work procedure has been comprehensively reviewed based on the findings of the Morris report, and has been the subject of extensive consultation across the MPS. A revised procedure has now been recommended for approval, and includes greater procedural emphasis on early resolution, and mediation.

Negotiating terms and conditions for police officers

7. Outline proposals have been considered by the Home Office in partnership with Association of Chief Police Officer’s (ACPO) and these have been presented to the national Police Negotiating Board regarding the introduction of revised structures governing the roles and responsibilities of police officers, and associated pay, terms and conditions.

8. Management proposals are predicated on the need to enable some flexibility in the application of any revised frameworks according to the needs and circumstances of individual forces, and the terms of local enabling agreements should also be determined at national level.

9. The proposals remain at an early stage and negotiations are predicted to continue throughout the coming year.

The introduction of a code of conduct for all MPS personnel

10. A draft Code of Ethics was developed within the context of the MPS Professional Standards Strategic Committee on 8 February 2005 and was re-titled ‘Professional Standards Framework’. The draft framework was presented to the MPA Professional Standards Committee on 10 February 2005. A copy of this draft was included as part of the report titled ‘Employment Infrastructure’ noted at the Human Resources (HR) Committee on 15 December 2005.

11. The proposal suggested the MPS framework provide a vehicle through which personnel could be made aware of their responsibility to act in a manner consistent with the standards and principles set out in the document, at all times. It should provide a clear messaging and reinforcement framework to prospective and existing officers and staff, to key partners and to our citizens, in relation to the standards of professional and personal behaviour expected of MPS personnel.

12. The Framework was not intended to provide comprehensive guidance on how personnel should behave in any particular circumstance; but it should compliment relevant operational, financial, HR and other policies and procedures already in place across the MPS.

13. Members should be aware that a statutory Code of Conduct is already in place for police officers and the police staff disciplinary procedure (subject to comprehensive recent review) includes examples of behaviours which if substantiated would constitute misconduct/gross misconduct.

14. At a meeting of the Professional Standards Strategic Committee held in February 2005, it was agreed that application and promulgation of the framework should be considered within the context of the Taylor review, and a copy of the draft was forwarded to the Taylor working group at Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies (HMIC).

15. The Home Office is in the process of developing a national code of conduct, which will replace the existing MPS Code of Conduct. This document will absorb the principles set out in the draft Professional Standards Framework (PSF). A copy of the MPS PSF has already been forwarded to the Home Office. A revised national code of conduct is expected to be produced by no later than April 2006.

The use of conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes

16. An internal disputes procedure governing police staff already has provision for formal referral to an external body – all disputes resolution mechanisms (arbitration, conciliation; and mediation) would be considered as appropriate.

17. A similar disputes procedure does not exist for police officers. Historically this may have been based on statutory exclusion of the right to withdraw labour. Historically, any collective grievances (disputes) amongst police officer groups have been resolved through direct management action, or through agreements reached through the recognised police staff associations.

18. The police staff associations meet monthly with Management Board and with the Director of Human Resources, based on an open agenda through which the associations may raise and discuss any concerns.

19. The MPS is committed to resolving disputes from police officers and staff at the earliest opportunity and as close to the point of origin as possible. In the event that internal resolution was not possible, the MPS would not hesitate to engage the support of an external body for the purposes of arbitration, conciliation or mediation as appropriate.

Delayed attestation

20. At the present time, candidates join the MPS as police officers and are attested immediately. They are therefore subject to Police Regulations from the date they join the MPS. They are attested as police officers in week one of the Foundation Course (on day one).

21. Management Board have agreed for further consideration the proposal that candidates join the MPS as police staff in effect on a five week fixed term contract. Should candidates successfully complete the training in these first five weeks then on day one of week six of the Foundation Course they will cease to be police staff, become police officers and be attested as such. It will therefore not be until this point that they become subject to Police Regulations.

22. The five-week option was selected in order to ensure fairness across the two parallel Training Delivery Programmes – the validated, established programme, and the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP). The first module of the foundation course is five weeks long and is common to both programmes. Further delays in attestation would result in disparate attestation arrangements across the group.

23. The terms and conditions governing this five-week pre-attestation period are in the process of being drafted, along with the contracts of police staff transferring direct in to police officer training. A report is being drafted and will be submitted to the Director of Human Resources as a prelude to further discussion at Management Board at the end of February.

C. Race and equality impact

All HR policies are fully assessed in terms of equalities and diversity impact. The Morris Inquiry and the subsequent report primarily focused on the policies, procedures and practices of the MPS when dealing with professional standards. This in turn raises various equality and diversity implications, which the MPS will continue to monitor, as it works towards implementing the inquiry’s recommendations.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications associated with the developments set out in this report

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Claire Appleby, Director HR Services.

For more information contact:

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

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