Criminal Justice Update

Report: 10
Date: 13 December 2007
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the work being carried out by the Department of Criminal Justice with the ultimate aim of bringing more offences to justice.

A. Recommendation

That members note the contents of the report.

B. Supporting information

Performance

Sanction Detections

1. The Sanction Detection rate for the performance year to date (April to September 2007) is 24% against the target of 24%. There is a range between Boroughs in respect of overall TNO SD performance from Haringey at 28.8% to Wandsworth at 19.3%.

Analysis

2. Examination of each Borough’s contribution to the overall MPS SD performance continues to highlight some disparity, which is reflected in the breakdown of the five detection types of: Charge, Caution, Offences Taken into Consideration, Cannabis Formal Warnings & Penalty Notices for Disorder. An examination of this data is conducted monthly by the TP Command Team, who use the MPS average to assess performance of the SD range and outliers in performance across each detection type are highlighted and tasked to the Link Commanders for use at the Link performance meetings.

3. There are, however, many factors that affect the delivery of each disposal type and must be taken into account when examining this performance such as:

• the differing crime profiles,
• the differing priorities set by the local Crime Reduction Partnerships,
• the Safer Neighbourhood Teams local priorities, over a quarter of which have a priority relating to addressing drug use and dealing. This naturally means that SNT officers are dealing with offences relating to the most commonly available drug in London, which is Cannabis,
• the proactive operational activity that is undertaken by means of patrols within high crime and priority crime areas,
• the availability of investigative resources,
• the crime screening rates,
• the demographic and diverse make up of each borough.

4. When comparing borough SD breakdowns, two Boroughs may have a similar number of notifiable offences committed, but the first borough may have a higher percentage charge rate when compared to the second borough because the first one may be disposing of less offences by way of Cautions, Cannabis Warnings or PNDs. However the second borough may actually be disposing of offences with a greater number of Charges, but because the second borough are also giving more Cautions, Cannabis Warnings and PNDs than the first borough, then their percentage charge rate may be less.

5. In essence, the difference in percentage charge rates between boroughs reflects the differing impactive factors mentioned above and does not necessarily mean that one borough is worse than another. A high percentage charge rate is an indication that they may not be utilising other forms of disposal and is not necessarily indicative of either good or poor performance.

6. The proposed APACS measures are likely to provide a more effective assessment of performance against different crime types rather than the overall SD measure.

OBTJ – MPS 07/08

7. The MPS gained 16,321 OBTJs in Sep 2007, the monthly target being 16,433. This gives a rolling 12-month figure of 210,715 against the year-end target of 197,200 and 107,909 for the performance year to date (target 98,598). Table 1 shows how these are broken down for the rolling 12 months:

Table 1 - MPS OBTJs (rolling 12 months as at September 07)

OBTJ – London 07/08

8. London (incl. City of London Police and other agencies) achieved an estimated 16,853 OBTJs for Sep 07 against the monthly target of 16, 667. This gives a rolling 12-month figure of 217,512. The 07/08 target is 200,000.

Persistent Young Offenders (PYOs)

9. The latest arrest to sentence data is from July 2007. This showed MPS related cases at 69.1 days, giving a 3-month (May to July 07) average of 71 days against the Pledge of 71 days.

10. The MPS average arrest to charge time for the period May – July 07 is 7.5 days against the target set by LCJB under the Phoenix Initiative for an average of 5 days.

11. No up to date or accurate information is available of how our partner agencies are performing against their Core Components of Phoenix.

Youth Justice

12. The LCJB have set up a Youth Working Group whose initial membership will cover the core criminal justice agencies. It is anticipated that the membership will be extended at a later date to include representation from practitioners within the boroughs/DJs/IAG/young people. Their role will be to:

• Develop a pan-London youth CJS strategy, which it is anticipated will accord with the Youth Justice strand of the MPS Youth Strategy
• Identify a work programme and agree priorities
• Ensure activity delivers by holding workstreams to account
• Ensure good practice from the pilot boroughs is shared across London
• Ensure the strategy is aligned with the work of the London Youth Crime Prevention Board and national partners

13. There will be four workstreams which will focus on the following areas:

• What does success look like (performance)
• Risk Assessment; focusing on the following components:
  • Youth Toolkit
  • Triage
  • PPOs
• Court process – safety – speed – impact; focusing on the following components:
  • CJSSS at Balham:
  • Safe Courts:
  • Special Measures
  • Extending Court Hours
  • Court experience
• Positive Engagement; focusing on the following components:
  • London Inside Justice Week:
  • Safer Schools Partnerships
  • GLA Peer Outreach and links to London Youth Crime Prevention Board
  • Youth Juries (community justice)

14. The proposal is that two boroughs will be identified to test all the new approaches as soon as they come on stream. This will include the OCJR proposal for new ways of working. The preferred boroughs for the pilot are Greenwich and Lewisham feeding into Camberwell Youth Court. This also provides a link to the MPS Five Borough Gang Project.

Effective Outcomes Within an Agreed Timescale

15. This is a new measure of Efficiency and Effectiveness for Criminal Case Management from the OCJR Operational Board.

16. 2007/08 is a transition year and no targets have been set by OCJR. However, LCJB have given local targets for Ineffective Trial Rates of 19% in Magistrates Courts and 14% in Crown Courts (Table 2). Also, to achieve an average waiting time of less than 10 weeks for listed trials in Magistrates Courts. All will be assessed on a performance year to date basis rather than quarterly.

*Source; London Criminal Justice Board. (New data set, no comparative data available)

Table 2 - Effective/Ineffective Trial Rates PYTD 07/08 (to Sep)

Warrants

17. The numeric end of year target for owned Fail to Appear & Bench warrants has been met and the number of residing warrants is still declining on a trajectory that will achieve the target by March 2008. Execution rates, particularly of Category A, remain an issue. TP Emerald is engaging with BOCUs and partner agencies to improve performance. The rate by which Fail To Appear and Bench warrants are being reduced has started to slow. This reflects the excellent work that has taken place over the last two years in reducing the volume into a manageable amount.

18. The current official number of warrants held is 6,660. This represents a 64% reduction over the August 2004 figure of 18,500. The end of year report indicates that we officially achieved a reduction down to 6,720 FTA warrants against a target of 8,500. Daily management of the warrants system indicates we currently hold 6100 as of 13 November 2007. This years target has been set at 5,517.

Licence Recalls

19. This is a new target, which will ensure all agencies are accountable for performance on the timeliness of recall action.

20. The purpose of this initiative is to accelerate enforcement action in those cases where such action is considered to be appropriate. It is not intended to prompt recall in cases where the risk of re-offending can be effectively managed in the community.

21. These measures will be based on an end-to-end timescale for cases, measured from the decision point by the Probation Offender Manager to the arrest of the offender. For Standard cases:

• the probation service complete the revocation request within 24 hours of the decision to recall;
• the Release and Recall Section (RRS) issue the revocation notice to the police within 24 hours (or reject the request); and
• the police arrest the offender within 96 hours in 80% of cases.

22. For high risk of harm cases the end-to-end timescale would be reduced to three days and two hours, i.e.

• Probation service initiating recall within 24 hours (as above);
• RRS processing the recall within 2 hours; and
• Police arrest the offender within 48 hours in 75% of cases.

23. The MPS performance must be set against the fact that Standard Operating Procedures etc. on this matter are still awaiting approval and publication. Also, the data provided at present by the Home Office is not broken down by Borough. These factors make it difficult to address any shortcomings. TP Emerald has, however, been working with the National Identification Service and Home Office Recall team in order to improve the process. This went live on the 1st November with the Emerald warrants management System being used to support performance and measure activity. Whilst this assists in managing national performance it gives, for the first time, an opportunity for the MPS to measure borough performance.

National Enforcement Service

24. The National Enforcement Service has completed the ‘Elaboration Stage’ of the introduction of a National Warrants Handling System. As the result of a review held in September options are being considered as to whether this project can continue.

Asset Recovery

25. 06/07 year end performance for London was 369 confiscation orders against a target of 455. The LCJB Performance Board has produced a new chart for 2007/08. For the month of April, 48 confiscation orders were obtained. This is ahead of profile to achieve the target of 468 by March 2008. This is a financial year target and not a target for the rolling 12 months. Table 3  shows the volume of confiscation orders 07/08  (see Appendix 1)

26. Confiscation is just part of the overall asset confiscation process and police will use the most appropriate legislation to deprive criminals of their assets. During 2006/7, 354 asset recovery orders were obtained by the MPS using other legislation, the confiscation-only target is of limited value. Table 4 shows the value of confiscation secured 07/08 (see Appendix 1)

27. Although the volume of confiscation orders made did not achieve the target, the value of orders secured during 2006/07 was surpassed by more than 7% with £18,319,000 being secured against a target of £17,082,979. Table 4 indicates that the value of orders made in April 07 this is ahead of trajectory and therefore at this early stage is on course to secure value of confiscation orders of £17,083,000 by March 2008. This is a financial year target and not a target for the rolling 12 months.

28. The London Criminal Justice Performance Board have started a new chart for financial year 2007/08 to indicate the value of money collected through confiscation orders. This exceeded £7m in the first month. Caution is required with these figures as they refer to total money collected on confiscation orders some of which are 6 years old.  Table 5  shows themMoney collected from confiscation orders 07/08. (see Appendix 1)

Confiscation Enforcement Team

29. Using incentivisation money, the MPS have set up a small confiscation enforcement team to work in partnership with the HMCS Central Accounting Unit. In six months, they have arrested 68 persons who owe a total of £3.4m in Confiscation Orders. Courts have secured £56k of this amount but also secured a further 12 years in default sentences for seven offenders.

POCA Implementation Team (POCIT)

30. Since April 2006 the MPS POCIT has encouraged the use of asset recovery in the MPS, focusing on the police activities at the beginning of the process, these take place an average of three years prior to the issue of confiscation orders. In the first six months of 2007/8, the MPS made 737 cash seizures and obtained 94 restraint orders. Overall MPS performance has risen by 96% in the first six months of 2007/8 compared to the same period the previous year. This is measured by a basket of indicators known as the Payback Index, which includes current activity as well as confiscation orders.

Victim Focus Units (VFUs)

31. Currently there are 32 established Victim Focus Units with a further four Units scheduled to go live. The recruitment campaign is continuing but interest and applications for the new role remains strong.

32. Initial feedback reports good contact and support being offered to victims of crime. Investigators are gaining the benefit of greater contact details and preferred methods of contact, leading to improved partnership working with Victim Support.

Integrated Prosecution Teams

33. Hackney and Tower Hamlets BOCUs went live on 23 April 2007 and Waltham Forest BOCU on 21 May. The Emerald central team have continued to work closely with the three sites to monitor performance and ensure that all processes are embedded into the Criminal Justice System. The MPS provisional evaluation of the IPTs in June 2007 identified consolidation activity at all three sites in order to achieve business as usual status. Further evaluations to confirm business as usual status will take place at the three pilot sites in November, with official sign off scheduled for:

• 7 December at Hackney
• 2 December at Tower Hamlets
• 8 December at Waltham Forest

34. Governance of the IPT project transferred to the LCJB in September 2007, the business change will be delivered to London through the London Reform Programme.

35. To achieve business as usual status each pilot site must satisfy all corporate IPT business processes. Quality of information, staff resilience and the robustness of the single file process will be tested across the whole range of activities performed by CPS and MPS as an integrated team. Staff morale will be assessed and any learning captured through focus groups with practitioners employed within the new business environment.

36. The consolidation activity conducted has identified improvements to the Case Builder role, which have improved the impact of this role in pre charge case file preparation.

37. The joint project team have revised the implementation strategy in light of the lessons learned at the pilot sites. A corporate IPT package has been designed for potential delivery to all MPS BOCUs and will be tested on the extended pilot sites at Barnet, Bexley and Westminster once approval to proceed is authorised.

LCJB update

Virtual Courts

38. London Virtual Courts operated as a prototype from 29 May 2007 until 17 August 2007. The aim of the prototype was to test the concept, namely the operation of Video Conferencing facilities between the police station and the court for first hearings only.

39. Equalities Impact Assessment and the 62 point Evaluation Plan are now complete.

40. The London Virtual Courts Team have compiled an Outline Business Case (OBC) that has been before the LCJB Exec Group and will be put before the London Criminal Justice Board, November meeting.

41. The Outline business case outlines a cost of £51.5m across the agencies for the establishment and operation of Virtual Courts over a 10-year period. The model sees Virtual Courts established across 39 Custody charging sites feeding into two first hearing centres operating 8am-10pm Mon-Fri and 9am-3pm Sat.

42. The Outline Business Case once approved will then be followed by a detailed business case to be submitted to OCJR in January 2008 for funding. A separate business case is being prepared for MPS Investment Board requesting £3m capital plus £1m resource. This is to support the capital outlay for IT, which is estimated to be £3.93m.

43. From November 2007 to January 2008 work will commence on the Business ready Model and business processes. To support this consideration is being given to establishment of a Project Board and a Users Group.

44. The PPRC report in January will outline the timescales and activities in greater detail once the outline business case has been approved, the business ready model agreed and the business change processes agreed.

Simple, Speedy, Summary Justice (CJSSS)

45. London rollout of CJSSS has continued and a consistent approach to implementation has been adopted. Multi-agency LIT teams across London have produced documentation in terms of a Gap Analysis, and carried out ‘health checks’ prior to implementation.

46. 15 Boroughs have now gone live. It is anticipated that CJSSS will be in operation across London by the end of 2007, in line with the target date.

47. The following remaining Boroughs will go-live throughout November 2007:

• Brent (19 Nov)
• Enfield and Haringey (19 Nov)
• Greenwich and Lewisham (19 Nov)
• Hillingdon and Heathrow (19 Nov)
• Hounslow (19 Nov)
• Kingston (19 Nov)
• Camden and Islington (20 Nov)
• Westminster and BTP (26 Nov)
• Harrow (26 Nov)

48. The following remaining Boroughs will go-live throughout December 2007:

• Ealing (4 Dec)
• Richmond (10 Dec)
• Hammersmith and Fulham (11 Dec)
• Kensington and Chelsea (11 Dec)
• Merton (11 Dec)
• Wandsworth (11 Dec)

49. In 2008 the CJSSS Implementation Team of the London Criminal Justice Board will conduct reviews of the CJSSS schemes, at periods of 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 4 weeks (10 weeks in total per area) to monitor, review and evaluate the impact of CJSSS on working practices and court outcomes. The target date for completion of all post-implementation reviews across London is 21 March 2008.

Directors Guidance Quick Process (DGQP)

50. The need to reduce bureaucracy and ensure proportionality of case file build has been a recurrent theme of recent presentations delivered by The Commissioner and AC Godwin. Recommendation 10 of Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s interim report, The Review of Policing, recommends that ACPO and the CPS should jointly look to find ways of implementing the principles of DGQP nationally, building on the early work of the two pilots (in London and Gloucestershire).

51. The MPS piloted DGQP at four sites in 2007, namely, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth and Southwark. A subsequent evaluation by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform demonstrated timesavings to the police in terms of the time taken for officers to complete case files and no adverse effect on court outcomes.

52. On 18 October 2007, the Programme Board of the London Criminal Justice Board agreed to rollout the DGQP across London commencing in January 2008.

53. A national team is currently refining the process, designing a national form for use and issuing new guidance from the Director of Public Prosecutions. This will ensure that case papers being built for magistrates’ court cases will be built in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and the likely plea, reducing unnecessary paperwork.

54. A project team from TP Emerald has been formed to develop the product, which will be known as the Summary Process (SP), and implement the use of the new form and proportionality of file build, commencing in January 2008. A PID, Project Plan, Communications Strategy and Training Needs Analysis are being completed.

55. It is intended to implement the new procedures on clusters of Boroughs feeding into the same courts incrementally from January through to May. This means that a court will receive the same quality product from whichever Borough feeds into it. The proposed Borough rollout will be discussed at a meeting of the London Criminal Justice Board Executive Group on 15 November.

56. Key to success of the project will be engagement of the judiciary and defence. It is intended to use the LITs established for the implementation of CJSSS to manage the transition to the new procedures of the Summary Process.

London Beacon Update

57. The London CJB is working with Westminster (our case study area) in a way that promotes synergy between the national programme and our pre-existing pan-London programme of change.

60. There is strong ownership of the Beacon activity in Westminster. A sub-group of their BCJG, chaired by Commander Steve Allen, meets monthly to oversee the change activity. A delivery plan has been produced and is being actively managed. Of the six projects required by the national team, two are already live, Conditional Cautioning (implementation in July 2007), and CJSSS, which went live on 26 November.

61. The London CJB has produced a first version of the ‘waterfall’, the analytical tool that the Beacon approach advocates. This was shared with the London CJB executive group on the 15 November and with the Westminster group on the 26. Work is now under way to produce a change model for Westminster, which will then inform a predictive waterfall. This will assist the Westminster team in ascertaining what impact the individual projects are likely to have on local performance and identifying outstanding performance concerns which can then be addressed through local business improvement projects.

Custody update

National Guidance on Safer Detention

62. Recruitment of the final member of the national guidance co-ordination team is still ongoing.

63. The National Police Improvement Agency will be conducting their Peer Review on the 16 November. They have been provided with details of our current position in relation to absorption of the recommendations made within the guidance into MPS practices and procedures.

64. An inaugural project board has been set for 21 November, where the project governance and terms of reference will be agreed. The next steps will be the re-assessment of the level of risk posed by any identified areas for development and the continued formulation of our project plan.

Operation Safeguard - Current and future demands

65. The MPS has continued to provide approximately 50 cells per day and the intention is to maintain the present level of provision.

66. NOMS have stated that new additional Prison Service accommodation coming on line is not sufficient to meet growing demands and Operation Safeguard will continue into 2008.

Short Term Holding Facility (STHF)

67. MPS Property Services are currently in the process of appointing the multi-disciplinary design consultant for the project. Quantity Surveyors have also been appointed and Heads of Terms of Agreement has been reached with directors of the retail establishment. At present, it is anticipated that the facility could be completed towards the end of 2008.

Project Herald

68. The project has now been renamed. It consists of three separate strands, DDO Inputters, Forensics and Medical Provision.

KF – Forest Gate DDO inputters

69. The pilot has now reached the six-month stage. Staff satisfaction surveys have been conducted; early indications are extremely positive. The final stage of this evaluation involves asking all custody users to complete a brief on-line survey so that development of the staffing model can be finalised. A further three DDOs have recently completed their foundation training and have been posted to the borough.

JC – Chingford DDO inputters

70. Building work to accommodate the model is planned and recruitment of new staff is underway. Six new recruits have so far been selected. This will allow the pilot to be fully implemented across two of the four operational response teams.

Roll out across MPS

71. Investment Board have agreed the funding for this project and MPA Finance Committee on 19 November supported this in principle but required further financial information. This information is being provided and it will be taken back to finance committee in January 2008. A feasibility study of all custody suites will then be undertaken to examine the suitability of implementing the staffing model into each suite as currently configured, highlighting required building works as required. This will then inform the rollout programme.

Forensic Pilot

72. A partial pilot commenced on Monday 1 October 2007 in Colindale and numbers of officers contacting a member of forensic staff regarding the specific trigger offences are increasing week on week. A full pilot will begin at this borough once NSPIS has been embedded at the borough for a reasonable period of time. The final benefits realisation workshop is due to take place this month.

Nurses

73. The provision of 24/7 Forensic Medical Practitioners – a nurse/doctor mix - is currently being planned for implementation across all BOCUs. This aspect is also subject to final sign-off by MPA Finance Committee. The proposed order of priority will be based on geographical location and levels of demand with particular consideration to the progress of the Borough Based Custody Centres. The recruitment for phase 1 is scheduled to commence in January 2008, with training and deployment in September / October 2008.

FMEs

74. Following the agreement in principle with FMEs to amend contracts, negotiations on proposed changes will commence in mid November, following Legal Services review. It is anticipated the new conditions of contract will be effective from April 2008. The revised contracts will have emphasis on sessional rates for services and can accommodate the phased introduction of the nursing service.

Borough Based Custody Centres (BBCC)

75. Merton received its planning permission in October but commencement of works is dependant on a suitable patrol base being in place. Deer Park Road has been identified as a suitable venue and Investment Board has agreed funding, which was tabled at MPA Finance Committee 19 November and received approval. Haringey is anticipated to be submitted for planning December 2007 following minor emendations to the plans regarding access and egress points to be in keeping with current façade. Hillingdon is also progressing well and Barking and Dagenham expect planning approval before Christmas.

76. Waltham Forest had additional funding agreed at October Investment Board for inclusion of extra floor to accommodate Criminal Justice function and this was also tabled for November MPA Finance Committee and received approval.

77. The feasibility schemes and desktop studies for Lambeth, Greenwich and Croydon (our next priority boroughs) are complete and their business cases have been submitted to PSD for final costings, prior to seeking Investment Board and MPA approval before Christmas.

National Strategy for Police Information Services Custody and Case Preparation (NSPIS CuCP)

78. Barnet went live with NSPIS CuCP on 6 November 2007 bringing the total NSPIS “live” boroughs across the MPS to twenty-seven. The Case Preparation element of the NSPIS CuCP application has not been activated at any borough where NSPIS CuCP has gone live since 17 April 2007 as these boroughs are reliant on the Libra requirements described in paragraph 3 below. The next borough to go live is Croydon on 20 November and thereafter remaining boroughs will continue to be taken live on a regular basis concluding with Westminster on 4 March 2008.

79. Processes are well advanced with the six remaining boroughs to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place, training delivered and business change processes agreed in order to support the NSPIS CuCP roll out in these locations.

80. In order to provide an electronic link between NSPIS Case Preparation and magistrates courts (other than those served by the Thames Gateway server) there is a reliance on the introduction of the new Libra magistrates court system across London together with the roll out of an interface between NSPIS Case Preparation and Libra. In order to facilitate the introduction of this interface at the earliest opportunity a live pilot is currently being run in Kingston borough.

81. Although the roll out of Libra is delayed, we are currently on target with the latest roll out schedule published at the beginning of 2007. There will be 10 London court areas live by the end of December 2007, the latest being Sutton and Bromley in November and Haringey in December. The roll out to the remaining London Magistrate’s Courts will conclude in November 2008.

82. The impact for the NSPIS CuCP roll out is that whilst NSPIS Custody is still on track to be deployed across London by 31 March 2008, the indicative date for completion of the Libra roll out, together with the delivery of an effective interface between NSPIS case Preparation and Libra, is likely to extend the MPS NSPIS Case Preparation roll out to the end of 2008. The MPS NSPIS project team has developed a revised deployment schedule and resource requirement based on this latest information.

Glossary of terms

BBCC

Borough Based Custody Centre

BOCU

Borough Operational Command Unit

BTR

Bail To Return

CJIT

Criminal Justice Information Technology

CJS

Criminal Justice Service

CPS

Crown Prosecution Service

DDO

Designated Detention Officer

DGQP

Directors Guidance Quick Process

FME

Forensic Medical Examiner

FTA

Fail To Appear

HMSC

Her Majesty’s Court Service

IPT

Integrated Prosecution Team

LCJB

London Criminal Justice Board

LIT

Local Implementation Team

MPS

Metropolitan Police Service

NES

National Enforcement Service

NSPIS CuCP

 National Strategy for Police Information Services Custody and Case Preparation

OBTJ

Offences Brought to Justice

OCJR

Office of Criminal Justice Reform

OIC

Officer in Case

PER

Prisoner Escort Record

PPM

Police Performance Meeting

PYO

Persistent Young Offender

PYTD

Performance Year To Date

QA

Quality Assurance

SD

Sanction Detections

SOP

Standard Operating Procedure

SSSCJ

Simple Speedy Summary Criminal Justice

STHF

Short Term Holding Facility

VC

Virtual Courts

VFU

Victim Focus Unit

C. Race and equality impact

There are no Race and Equality implications to be reported.

D. Financial implications

There are implications in regard to NSPIS, Asset Recovery, NES, VFDs, IPTs and Virtual Courts. Each of these initiatives is to secure greater effectiveness and efficiency. Each has benefits to be realized, making them cost neutral or indeed capable of generating savings. Where this is not the case they are self-financing or funded otherwise than by the MPA.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Acting Detective Chief Superintendent David Way, Territorial Policing

For more information contact:

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

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