Anti Bureaucracy Taskforce

Report: 7
Date: 13 February 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

Progress report on the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Anti-Bureaucracy Unit (ABU).

A. Recommendation

That Members note the progress made within the MPS on reducing the burden of bureaucracy over the last 12 months.

B. Supporting information

1. This is an exception report. Listed below are the major changes that have occurred since the last update in July 2004.

National issues

Policing Bureaucracy Implementation Steering Group (PBISG)

2. The PBISG has now moved on from simply overseeing the implementation of the Bureaucracy Taskforce Recommendations, as many have been implemented and a significant number are under active development. These will now only come under active consideration by the Group at key moments during the implementation process. The PBISG now concentrates on the following seven key priorities to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy:

1. Crime reporting, including National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS) and administrative detections
2. Alternative disposals, including Police Notices for Disorder (PNDs) and street bail
3. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA)
4. Criminal justice issues, including arrest to court process
5. Workforce modernisation
6. Frontline policing measure
7. Mobile data and telephony

3. The MPS maintains a permanent presence on the steering group through the Anti Bureaucracy Unit (ABU).

Policing Bureaucracy Gateway

4. The Policing Bureaucracy Gateway has been re-launched, and since September 2004, has begun its new role in identifying, challenging and influencing new policies, legislation and procedure coming from the Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). The MPS, through the Policy Clearing House, Strategic Committees, the Forms Unit and the ABU, already has such a force process in place.

5. The MPS also maintains a permanent presence on the Policing Bureaucracy Gateway, through the ABU.

National Bureaucracy Advisor

6. The Home Office appoints an Acting Assistant Chief Constable (A/ACC) for six months to help investigate and tackle the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy and paperwork on front line officers. The current holder, A/ACC Jacqui Cheer has visited a number of forces in the country, and visited the MPS during January 2006. The key findings continue to mirror the seven key priorities under focus by the PBISG. In addition, an MPS suggestion for a telephone hotline for national bureaucracy issues has now been provided.

MPS issues

Signing on bail

7. Since 1978, the MPS has been struggling to control the number of persons signing on bail at police stations following a court appearance (Police Notice 4/8/78). In 2000, a survey found over 600 persons were signing on. In 2004, the ABU arranged another survey and found over 3,500 persons were now signing on, still with a negligible impact on crime figures and causing significant problems to our hard pressed Station Reception Officers.

8. The ABU has now persuaded Operation Emerald to support an initiative to seriously restrict ‘signing on’ as a condition of bail. This is fully supported by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). By the middle of January 2006 a letter, jointly signed by the London Head of the CPS and Assistant Commissioner Godwin, was sent to Lord Justice Thomas, Senior Presiding Judge for London. The letter stressed the problems with ‘signing on’ and invites judges and magistrates to consider more effective bail conditions.

9. Shortly afterwards a Police Notice, already written by the ABU, was published detailing the restrictions which will govern MPS officers seeking this bail condition.

10. The ABU estimate that this will save the MPS approx £6 million a year. Extended nationwide, savings of £30 million are provisionally estimated.

11. The ABU have now submitted this process as an entry into the 2005/6 national Policing Bureaucracy Awards Scheme.

Efficiency savings

12. In July 2005, the Home Office published a league table of police forces in England and Wales regarding efficiency savings which had been achieved as a result of tackling unnecessary bureaucracy over the last two years. Sadly, the MPS savings were listed as zero.

13. Using Home Office approved calculations, the ABU has now provisionally shown savings of some £27 million for last year, with over £36 million savings identified for this current year. Further savings are now under active consideration by Directorate of Resources, Financial Services.

14. Examples of savings this year include: over £4 million using Video Identification (ID) parades, over £5 million on the use of Penalty Notices for Disorder and estimated savings of over £14 million on the deployment of Police and Community Support Officers.

Stop and Searches

15. The MPS conducts some 20,000 stop and searches and 10,000 stop and accounts a month. Under current legislation, officers have to supply to the person stopped a written record of the stop out in the street. The ABU have now calculated the MPS spends approx £60,000 every month, simply completing these forms. As a result of concerns from the MPS and other forces, the Home Office are now considering changing the Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Codes of Practice, e.g. allowing posting of the completed form to the person stopped. Other options under active consideration include the use of digital pens and voice activated technology.

Criminal Justice

16. The National Strategy for Police Information Systems (NSPIS) Case and Custody system continues to be piloted at Newham Borough Operational Command Unit. Full MPS rollout is scheduled over the next eleven months. However, provisional estimates suggests it will be at least three years before the Crown Prosecution Service is fully linked into the system. There is no firm estimate as to when the Courts will be fully incorporated into the system.

Mobile data terminals (MDT)

17. Have now been rolled out to all MPS sites and BOCUs. On average, between 450 and 500 MDT vehicles are logged on at any one time in the MPS.

Forms

18. Since July 2004, the ABU has dealt with some 100 enquiries and reviews of new forms. Some 130 forms have abolished as a result of regular monthly reviews by the Forms Unit. Overall, the Forms Unit estimates a slight net gain in the numbers of new forms. (However, it must be remembered that the MPS class certain books, posters labels etc as ‘forms’, so any increase does not necessarily mean an increase in unnecessary bureaucracy).

19. After some pioneering work by staff in the Forms Unit, they have been able to devise a system whereby certain documents self populate with the author’s details. Although the time saving for most documents is measured in terms of 20 seconds to say two minutes, given the large numbers of these documents that are downloaded every month, the savings mount up. As an example, every month we download some 8000 annual leave request forms, (Form 410). Using the self-populating mechanism means that we can save some £42,000 a year. For all the current forms using the system, annual savings of around £350,000 are estimated.

20. This system has also been submitted for consideration as an entry into the 2005/6 national Policing Bureaucracy Awards Scheme. Implemented nationwide, annual savings of just under £2 million are envisaged.

Service Suggestion Scheme

21. Following a review by Internal Consultancy Group in November 2003, implementation of a new scheme still awaits final approval. In the interim, the ABU has run an ad-hoc scheme. Since July 2004 there have been over 90 suggestions submitted. Examples include the creation of an Intranet café at New Scotland Yard, a fraud database under consideration by a national working party and a computer programme to automatically create Fixed Penalty Notice statements with potential annual savings of £193,000.

Policing Bureaucracy Awards Scheme

22. Two MPS officers won second prizes of £500 in the national 2003/4 scheme. Their suggestion covered the bar coding of prisoners property. The key components of this suggestion will be fully incorporated into a proposed MPS Forensic Case Management and Tracking system, Project Metafor.

Street Bail

23. MPS take up has been slow, mainly because of street identification issues and the bureaucracy involved in reserving slots at custody suites. Operation Emerald is aware of these issues and working to address them. However, it remains a useful additional tool for patrolling officers.

Police Notices for Disorder (PNDs)

34. PNDs are now in place throughout the MPS. There has been a mixed take up, but a definite increase across the board. Operation Emerald, in conjunction with other forces and agencies, has been successful in extending the scheme to include shoplifting and other minor offences. Roughly 1200 to 1400 PNDs are being issued a month.

Officer/staff consultation

25. All 172 MPS Quality Assurance Officers have been sent anti bureaucracy posters; plus the ABU website and Special Interest Group site are continually updated with news and information. A number articles with an anti bureaucracy theme have also appeared in the internal MPS newspaper, ‘The Job’. Last year Hounslow Police and Community Consultative Group requested and received a presentation on bureaucracy issues. Feedback to date has been positive.

Anti Bureaucracy Unit

26. For some considerable time, the status and function of the ABU has been uncertain. Stephen Rimmer, Director of Strategy, Modernisation and Performance, is reviewing the existing arrangements, with a view to ensuring more sustained leadership in this important work at ACPO level. Changes to give effect to this will be announced shortly.

C. Race and equality impact

This is an update paper and there are no new equality or diversity implications at this time.

D. Financial implications

Financial information is included in the main body of the reportt.

E. Background papers

• Recommendations of the Policing Bureaucracy Taskforce.
• Recommendations of the Policing Bureaucracy Gateway.

F. Contact details

Report author: Inspector Ian Feachnie, Anti Bureaucracy Taskforce

For more information contact:

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

List of abbreviations

ABU

Anti Bureaucracy Taskforce

PBISG 

Policing Bureaucracy Implementation Steering Group

NCRS

National Crime Recording Standard

PND

Police Notice for Disorder

RIPA

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

ACPO

Association of Chief Police Officers

CPS

Crown Prosecution Service

ID

Identification

PACE

Police and Criminal Evidence Act

NSPIS 

National Strategy for Police Information Systems

MDT 

Mobile Data Terminal

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