Met Governance and Accountability - Going Forward. Preparing the way for a new model of policing governance and accountability

2. Met Governance and Accountability

The way the Met will be held to account for policing London is changing. We must prepare and lead the way by ensuring that the new governance structures are truly participatory; built on a clear consensus; accountable; transparent; responsive to both present and future needs; effective and efficient; and inclusive .

The coalition government’s proposals on how it wishes to see the governance and accountability of policing strengthened were set out in its consultation document Policing in the 21 Century: reconnecting Police and the People and the subsequent Bill that is now making its way through parliament. The intention is to replace police authorities with democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). In London this will be the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC). At the same time, officers have to plan for these changes and so the MPA has set up a programme board to oversee the implementation of the MOPC. Until the new governance arrangements start, the Authority will continue to hold the Met to account for the policing of London.

The Authority will work with partners, including the Home Office and colleagues in the Met and the Greater London Authority (GLA), to ensure that implementation arrangements in relation to changes in statutory duties and obligations are managed effectively. The Authority continues to be actively involved at the national level in debates around the future of policing, reducing bureaucracy and making policing more efficient.

The MOPC will ultimately be accountable to Londoners for the delivery of policing. Crucially, there will be robust systems in place to ensure that equality and diversity considerations are central to any decisions made to help increase public confidence in policing. This will be achieved through:

• managing and overseeing the implementation of the recommendations arising from the Mayoral Race and Faith Inquiry report;
• ensuring that the new governance structure plays an active part in pan-London (strategic) engagement and through borough-based CSPs;
•  strengthening borough-based engagement structures in each of the 32 boroughs to inform the MOPC’s work in relation to equality and diversity issues and help gain and retain community trust and confidence in policing; and
•  ensuring the MOPC meets its statutory duties to promote equality and diversity and eliminate discrimination through the implementation and monitoring of a diversity strategy.

London has a number of engagement structures in place already to hold the police to account. The Authority will review the current arrangements to ensure any new structures support effective engagement. The Authority, and the MOPC when created, will make sure that information gathered at street level and other engagement mechanisms, is fed up to the ward level in order for it to influence the borough debate. How this information is collected centrally is critical. It also means that information is freely available and directly accessible to communities and will be provided in easily understandable forms.

The ways in which the Authority aims to begin strengthening arrangements to maximise opportunities for community involvement will be explored in greater depth in the Met Connect section..

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