Minutes

Minutes of the meeting of the Human Resources Committee held on 2 February 2006 at 10 Dean Farrar Street, SW1H 0NY.

Present

Members

• Rachel Whittaker (Chair)
• Jennette Arnold (Deputy Chair) (Chair for items 1 to 7)
• Anthony Arbour
• Damian Hockney
• 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)
• Claire Hunt (Head of Strategic HR)
• Paul Madge (Acting Director, People Development)
• Simon Marshall (Director, HR Recruitment)
• Steve Roberts (Deputy Director, HR) (item 9 to 14)
• Martin Tiplady (Director of HR)

28. Apologies for absence

(Agenda item 1)

Apologies for absence were received Kirsten Hearn.

29. Declarations of interests

(Agenda item 2)

No declarations of interest were received.

30. Minutes of the Human Resources Committee - for approval: 15 December 2005

(Agenda item 3)

Resolved - That the minutes of the meeting (Part 1) held on 15 December 2005 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

31. Minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub-committee (part 1) - to note: 1 December 2005 and 9 January 2006

(Agenda item 4)

Resolved - That the minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub Committees (Parts 1) held on 1 December 2005 and 9 January 2006 be noted.

32. Minutes of the Remuneration Sub-committee (part 1) - to note: 12 December 2005

(Agenda item 5)

The meeting scheduled for 12 December 2005 did not take place, so there were no minutes.

33. Chair’s, Members’, Clerk’s and MPS update (oral report)

(Agenda item 6)

John Roberts reported that he had attended the launch of the MPS’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month at New Scotland Yard. He congratulated the HR Directorate on its input.

The Director of HR reported continuing progress in reducing absenteeism and attrition. Attrition of female and black and minority ethnic (BME) officers was lower than that of than of male and white officers for the first time ever. Absenteeism stood at 7.1 days for police officers, and 9.3 for police staff, 11.4 days (from 13.5) for police community support officers (PCSOs) and 13.5 days (from 20) for traffic wardens.

The Director of HR stated that the MPS had held, in collaboration with the Police Federation, its first substance misuse test on 20 serving officers. There had been no positive results. Testing would be repeated at different locations chosen either at random or as the result of intelligence. The Director of HR stated that saliva samples were taken, which could be backed up by urine tests. The cost of the tests was a limiting factor in what could be tested for. He added that new recruits were now tested as matter routine.

A new Fairness at Work procedure is to be introduced shortly and the police staff disciplinary process has been reviewed. The new processes were simpler and devolved greater decision making to line management. A report to the MPA’s Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board had reassured members that preparation for legislation around age discrimination was well advanced. The Leadership Academy would open at Hendon in April. A report would be submitted to the MPA in due course. In answer to questions about occupational health, the Director of HR reported that the Home Office funding that had enabled the MPS to run its health campaigns would be lost next year. The MPS would therefore have to look for different ways of raising awareness in future.

Members asked if the formation of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) was impacting upon the MPS, as MPS officers would be joining the Agency. The Director of HR reported that 115 officers had so far transferred, however only ten of these were not already on secondment to National Criminal Intelligence Service or the National Crime Squad. He assured the Committee that his Directorate was monitoring the situation. It was also noted that the MPS had insisted that officers who transferred had no automatic right of return to the MPS, although SOCA had originally wanted transferring officers to retain this right for three years.

Resolved – That the update be received.

34. The role and work of Occupational Health services in the MPS

(Agenda item 7)

Members received a report on attendance management issues; recuperative and restricted duties (with reference to the Disability Discrimination Act); audio testing arrangements for the Notting Hill Carnival; updates on work with vulnerable groups, the Spend to Save Scheme, and Health Promotion activity.

In answer to questions, members were informed that amongst the reasons for leaving given by PCSOs were difficulties in dealing with some members of with the public, physical demands and shift patterns. The HR Directorate was addressing these issues in their recruitment procedures. The HR Directorate had embarked on a case review of each officer on recuperative or restricted duties. The number of officers on recuperative duties had now fallen from 1600 to 1100 and the number of officers on restricted duties had also been reduced.

Resolved - That members acknowledge and support the work of Occupational Health in the MPS.

35. Morris Inquiry: national issues

(Agenda item 8)

A report was received providing an update on HR issues identified within the Morris Inquiry report, namely

• 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 MPS officers and staff
• the use of conciliation/arbitration in industrial disputes
• delaying attestation until an officer has satisfactorily completed his/her initial training.

The Director of HR explained that since the majority of these were national issues, discussions were taking place with the Police Negotiating Board and Police Advisory Board. The Director of HR Services stated that delaying attestation and putting officers initially on a short-term contract would enable the employment of failing officers to be terminated more easily. However, since the report had been written it had been decided not to pursue this at the present time.

Resolved - That the report be noted.

36. HR business plan 2006/7

(Agenda item 9)

Becoming an employer of choice, releasing potential, developing leaders and managers and using people effectively were strategic objectives agreed by the HR Committee in 2005/06; and detailed in the HR ‘Enabling People Strategy’. Members received a report detailing some of the key emerging themes affecting the HR function as the Directorate entered into the second year of the strategy. As the reports had been circulated with less than five clear working days notice, the committee accepted the report as urgent under the provisions of Section 100B 4b) of the Local Government Act 1972, as the Chair had requested further information be included in the report.

Questions were asked about HR modernisation and the intention to review the current configuration of HR service delivery across the MPS. Members were informed that there were two aspects to HR delivery, high level people management and transactional activities such as the processing of pay, etc. It was envisaged that the high-level people management would remain on OCU, but the lower level activities would be organised and delivered in a different way. A business case was being prepared for the MPS’s Investment Board and, in due course, a report would be presented to the MPA. Members were concerned that this work would run separately from MetHR and the Chief Executive felt there was a need for the related work for the finance functions to run in tandem. The Director of HR outlined the proposed model of HR delivery but agreed that work remained to be done on MetHR data. He added that the Finance and HR Directorates were working together on these proposals though to slightly different models.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

37. Recruitment and retention

(Agenda item 10)

The Committee received a report updating members on police officer targets, recruit retention rates, numbers of PCSOs, recruitment and retention activity for the Metropolitan Special Constabulary and volunteers, and the Met Careers office and the recruitment bus.

Members were informed that 51% of PCSO attrition was due to PCSOs becoming police officers. Questions were asked as to why PCSOs were not being recruited locally as originally envisaged and whether they were able to serve on the borough of choice. The Director of HR said it was planned to move to local recruitment, but the MPS needed to recruit 1,400 PCSOs within the next eight months for the full Safer Neighbourhood roll out and replace PCSOs who were leaving. It would be uneconomic and ineffective to recruit at this rate locally. The Directorate was hoping to reach recruitment targets for PCSOs of 35% for BME candidates and 40% for women. 85% of PCSO recruits were able to work in their first choice of borough and all were employed in their first or second choice of borough.

At a previous meeting the HR Directorate had high-lighted disproportionality in the police recruits failing their initial training, which Centrex and the Home Office had attributed to recruits having English as a second language. Appendix 2 to the report showed that this disproportionality was disappearing. This was attributed to the higher standard of recruits, who were now being recruited using the national recruitment standard.

Resolved – That the HR Selection and People Management Directorates be congratulated on this work on recruitment and retention rates.

38. Exclusion of the press and public

(Agenda item 11)

A resolution was put to exclude the press and public from the meeting during items 12 and 14 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 12 -14.

39. Minutes of the Human Resources Committee - for approval: 15 December 2005n (part 2)

(Agenda item 12)

Resolved - That the exempt minutes (part 2) of the meeting held on 15 December 2005 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

40. Minutes of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub-committee (part 2) - to note: 1 December 2005 and 9 January 2006

(Agenda item 13)

Resolved - That the exempt minutes (part 2) of the Police Pension Forfeiture Sub Committees held on 1 December 2005 and 9 January 2006 be noted.

41. Minutes of the Remuneration Sub-committee (part 2) - to note: 12 December 2005

The meeting scheduled for 12 December 2005 did not take place, so there were no minutes.

The meeting ended at 3.25 p.m.

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