Metropolitan Police Authority - December meeting

100/03
08 December 2003

The Metropolitan Police Authority will meet on Tuesday 9 December at 10.00am at 10 Dean Farrar Street London SW1. The meeting (Part 1) is open to members of the public and press.

The Authority will discuss the Home Office Consultation document ‘Policing - Building Safer Communities Together’, published on 4 November 2003 and launched at the annual conference of the Association of Police Authorities (APA).

Toby Harris, Chair of the MPA, said:

“The MPA welcomes Government proposals to make the police more accountable to their local communities. We have already done a great deal to increase accessibility and transparency to our police service.

“The establishment of the MPA introduced London-wide democratic accountability for the first in the Met’s history. Our responsibility is to retain a strategic overview of how London is policed although we are keen to see a review of the formal relationship between police authorities and operational policing.

“We must ensure that Londoners can feel confident that their views inform their police service. We are shining a light into all aspects of how our communities are policed.”

The APA are co-ordinating a national response to the consultation exercise by 9 January on behalf of police authorities, as are the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on behalf of police services. However, It is anticipated that members will want to respond directly to the Home Office as the MPA view may well differ significantly from that of other police authorities. Members will need to respond to four key areas: community engagement, accountability, operational effectiveness and service modernisation.

Members will also review the 2004/5 Budget Report, which gives an update on the provisional grant settlement and amended budget. This will include a revised estimate of the costs for the Step Change Programme. A letter from Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, which outlines his Budget proposals, will also be discussed, and a response to the consultation on the settlement considered.

The Commissioner Sir John Stevens will give an update on operational policing issues in London and Toby Harris, Chair of the MPA, Catherine Crawford, Clerk to the MPA and Members will give updates on Authority matters.

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