Statement by Vice Chair Kit Malthouse: Metropolitan Police senior officer recruitment and resilience

26/09
11 April 2009

The MPA is responsible for the appointment and discipline of senior MPS officers including the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner and all other Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) ranks.

With oversight and strategic responsibilities for the MPS, the MPA ensures that all MPS ACPO officers are highly trained and experienced staff who are able to deputise for senior colleagues should posts fall vacant. But the MPA appointments process is well underway to address current vacancies.

Our top priority last autumn was to appoint the new Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, who took post in January 09 and since then the MPA and the Commissioner have been working closely together to bring about a reinvigorated top team of senior officers.

By the end of June the MPA will have appointed  the Assistant Commissioner Olympics and Paralympics. By mid April the timetable will be in place to appoint at least one and possibly two Assistant Commissioners, who we anticipate being in post by the beginning of July.

In March we appointed four Deputy Assistant Commissioners, two of whom are already in post and we are also about to interview for a Deputy Assistant Commissioner post to take up the role of Senior National Co-ordinator for Counter-Terrorism.

The MPA has to ensure the posts are filled by officers with skills and experience commensurate to the responsibilities of the posts, some with a national remit. The  appointments process is therefore detailed, thorough and by implication lengthy.

We anticipate that the new Deputy Commissioner will be appointed by the beginning of July. This is a royal appointment on the advice of the Home Secretary, as is the Commissioner's. In the selection process for the Deputy Commissioner the Home Secretary will interview the final candidate(s), and make her final recommendations for the post to HM the Queen.  All ACPO appointments are run in conjunction with the Home Office Senior Appointments Panel, with Home Office representatives involved in selection processes.  

The MPA is continually re-assessing its strategic oversight of ACPO recruitment and in 2007 carried out a comprehensive scrutiny, 'Talent Management and Succession planning',  to investigate the issues around succession planning and career development.  Our responsibility is to conduct a balanced, rigorous and effective oversight of the Met's performance and address the needs of the Metropolitan Police Service in the 21st century. We will ensure the abilities of those officers coming forward in the future continues to be of the high calibre we are used to seeing and Londoners deserve.

Notes to Editors

1. Concerns about  'retirement bulge' are not founded. There is no retirement bulge in the Met following Edmund-Davies in 1978. Higher numbers are a result of more police officers, an issue which potentially will return in 25+ years following significant increases in numbers since 2000. There is in any event no difficulty recruiting.

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