Reform of police misconduct procedures – Taylor Review

Report: 9
Date: 8 February 2006
By: AC Directorate of Professional Standards on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides early notification of the implications to the MPS of the ‘Reform of Police Misconduct Procedures – Taylor Review’.

A. Recommendations

That Members note the new regulations being introduced for Police Misconduct Procedures from 2008 and how the Directorate of Professional Standards will implement the changes on behalf of the MPS.

B. Supporting information

Background and the case for change

1. The DPS Review Implementation Programme commenced in April 2006 and is expected to deliver by April 2007. The Taylor Review was subsumed within Project 5 of the programme ‘Early Local Informal Resolution and Empowering Local Managers’. However, due to slippage to the legislative timetable, this project has necessitated the need to be undertaken independently once the formal programme closes down in April 2007. Although the Fundamental Review of the Directorate of Professional Standards was the catalyst for the change to the MPS, the outcome of the Taylor Review will become mandatory for the Police Service.

2. The Fundamental Review of the Directorate of Professional Standards recognised that:

• We needed to place prevention at the heart of improving professional standards and moving from a blame culture to one where lessons are learned.
• Develop greater internal and external trust and confidence in the way that the MPS ensures professional standards are delivered.
• Complementing MPS Citizen Focus work by increasing professional standards engagement with stakeholders through:
  • Improved openness, accountability and accessibility of investigations
  • Enhanced understanding of customer needs
  • Improved external awareness of professional standards areas of work.

3. The Taylor Review advocated that the Police Service must manage disciplinary arrangements dynamically and demonstrate this by actively engaging with all groups internally to drive through the change to the internal culture of the organisation and promote the acceptance of responsibility at all levels of management.

4. A new misconduct procedure for police officers has been drawn up by a working party of the Police Advisory Board to replace the current police disciplinary process. The procedure applies to all police officers and special constables and underpins the Standards of Professional Behaviour, which sets out the high standards of behaviour that the Police Service expects. Any failure to meet these standards may undermine the important work of the police service and public confidence in it.

5. The misconduct procedures provide a fair, open and proportionate method of dealing with alleged misconduct. The procedures are intended to encourage a culture of learning and development for individuals and / or the organisation.

6. A project team and governance structure has been established within the Directorate of Professional Standards to deliver the changes from June 2007 – June 2008. The current timetable regarding the consultation for the new Misconduct Procedures are outlined as follows:

Major MPS stakeholders

Territorial Policing (TP)

7. Territorial Policing’s involvement in the project at the outset has been crucial as Borough Operational Command Units (BOCUs) are the public face of the MPS, where most MPS staff work and where the greatest interaction with the public occurs. As a consequence, Boroughs are where most opportunities for complaints and misconduct are likely to be found and where greater support and guidance will need to be provided from DPS staff.

Human Resources (HR)

The Transforming HR Programme, implemented to consider how HR services can be improved across the MPS, and the HR practitioners managing Police Staff disciplinary processes within HR Directorate will need to be engaged to ensure that the new DPS procedures and practices complement the Police Staff disciplinary processes to ensure consistency where possible, particularly around the management of PCSOs and Police Officer misconduct.

Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS)

8. The Professional Standards Support Programme (PSSP), launched by the Deputy Commissioner on 27 November 2006, will contribute to the success of the DPS achieving its strategy by:

• Raising the profile of professional standards on Boroughs, encouraging ownership by staff and letting them know what they can do to improve professional standards.
• Providing BOCU staff with information they need to be able to identify risks and act to manage them effectively.
• Through analysis, identifying changes in performance of service delivery to enable positive feedback, support and encouragement during visits with BOCU staff, thus recognising where staff take pride in professional high quality service delivery and encouraging this behaviour.
• Above all, to encourage BOCU Commanders to ‘own’ the behaviour of their staff and deal with it as ‘their issue’ rather than just reporting it is a key step towards ownership of professional standards.

A summary of changes to the misconduct process derived from the new regulations

9. The following bullet points provide a very brief summary only. The project scope will take into account fully what changes need to be implemented and consulted upon, pending the final regulations being formalised.

10. The new Police Officer Misconduct Procedure is based on the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) principles.

11. There are now two levels of misconduct – Minor (Level 1) and Gross (Level 2).

12. Level 1 (Minor Misconduct) defines cases that are potentially misconduct and where the maximum outcome would be a final written warning. The new process envisages that Level 1 cases will be dealt with on (B)OCUs.

13. Level 2 (Gross Misconduct) defines cases where the police officer has committed a case of gross misconduct where the maximum outcome would be dismissal from the police service. DPS Borough Support Units will manage Level 2 cases.

14. The DPS Reception Desk will make the initial assessment for all complaints (Initial Assessment Stage) and once confirmed as a complaint or misconduct will conduct a severity assessment (Severity Assessment Stage) to determine if it is a Level 1 or Level 2 case. Level 1 cases will be passed to the relevant BOCU. Level 2 cases will be handled by DPS.

15. There are proposed changes to the way misconduct boards will be held, impacting on ACPO and superintending ranks, now moving away from formal adversarial courtroom style proceedings to where the panel chair will determine the witnesses. This is similar in concept to an ‘Examining Magistrate’ type of role.

16. Written warnings will remain live for 12 months for a first written warning and 18 months for a final written warning.

Scope of project

17. A Project Initiation Document (PID) has been prepared by the Taylor Project Team and covers the project components to be drawn up at the start of the project (Project Plan, Communications and Marketing Strategy, Consultation Strategy, Benefits Management, Resources and Costs, Constraints, Assumptions and Risks, project roles etc.). The scope of project will include the following:

18. Project to commence June 2007 and conclude by June 2008 (subject to the legislative timetable). A review of the project is expected to be conducted in January 2009.

19. It is highly likely that corporate resources will be required to assist with the training implications, both in terms of cost and delivery of training. A robust Business Case will be prepared and scoped prior to a formal approach to Management Board once the project commences. It is anticipated that funds will be required from the 2008/9 financial year.

20. There will be a need to keep DPS Borough Support Units and not for them to be swallowed up into B/OCUs, as they will still undertake complaints investigations – it is only the ownership of the final outcome that, in the majority of cases will pass to the OCU. In this way, corporacy and proportionality will be maintained. There should not be any shift in resources from DPS to TP although there may be some movement of resources within DPS.

21. There will remain a need to actively support local decision makers to deal with early local resolution and to ensure consistency of decisions at local level. In addition, where local issues have significant resource implications, Borough Support Units will undertake the matter.

22. The structures within the Borough Support Units will be as agreed for the DPS Review – sometimes referred to as the ‘interim model’. The primary decision maker will be the DPS Reception Desk.

23. The move to early resolution / decision-making is agreed – in that the majority of decisions will be made at local level. However, the pace for implementation must be measured and incremental.

Next steps

24. To fully scope the project, once the national consultation process has been completed and the new regulations have been issued - expected in February 2007.

25. For DPS to continue to deliver the DPS Review Implementation Programme, in effect setting the infrastructure in place to implement the Taylor Review in 2008 – In preparation for the project to commence in June 2007 and complete June 2008 (subject to legislative timescales).

26. To provide the MPA PSCC with a full Project Plan / Business Case at 14 June 2007 PSCC meeting.

27. To identify NPIA (CENTREX) training and assess it meets MPS needs. MPS training to be delivered to equip staff three months before the legislation comes into effect.

C. Race and equality impact

As part of the Fundamental Review of the Directorate of Professional Standards, extensive consultation and engagement with key stakeholders has been undertaken. This has ensured that an inclusive and constructive change process was at the heart of a successful outcome. Consultation will continue for the duration of the Taylor Project. The changes and benefits to be implemented will positively affect the population of London, both within and outside of the Police Family. DPS will continue to monitor on a quarterly basis all equality and diversity implications.

D. Financial implications

The overall anticipated cost of training and project development to implement the Taylor Project will be met within the 2008/9 DPS budget allocation. Full scoping to be conducted by June 2007 to determine if additional resources are required, when a separate request will be submitted.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Nadia Musallam, DPS Taylor Project Manager

For more information contact:

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

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