Agenda and minutes

In attendance:

·    George Gillon, Chief Commoner

·    Dame Anne Owers, Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)

·    Druv Patel

Apologies were received from Simon Duckworth, Deputy Richard Regan and Vivienne Littlechild.

There were no declarations of interest.

Matters Arising:-

(p. 27 - Item 4) Fraud Training Academy: Progress Report

A Member suggested that the minutes should be amended to capture, in greater detail, the discussion on the Fraud Academy training package that would be delivered in Nigeria.

(p. 28 – Item 5) Economic Crime Update – National Capability Programme

A Member made reference to a discussion at the previous Professional Standards and Integrity Sub Committee that focused on the numbers of complaints arising from the work of Action Fraud. A suggestion was made that the Economic Crime Board be kept up-to-date on the progress of the work by the Force and the Professional Standards Sub-Committee.

Report of the Town Clerk (copy attached).

COTAG Passes

The Town Clerk advised that the issue of access to incident sites with existing COTAG passes would be resolved ahead of the next meeting of the Police Committee in September 2013.

East Coast Information Services (ECIS)

It was noted that the target date for completion of the action should read January 2014 and not 2103.

The Chairman to welcome Dame Anne Owers, Chair of the IPCC.

The Chairman welcomed Dame Anne Owers, the Chair of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to the meeting.

The Chairman thanked Dame Anne for accepting the invitation to attend the Police Committee and made reference to a past visit by Deborah Glass, the then Deputy Chair of the IPCC, in July 2011. He commented that, since that occasion, various nationwide events had affected public perception over the conduct and integrity of the police service. He also spoke about the efforts to improve confidence in the police service through the series of reviews conducted by HMIC on Police Integrity and the proposals to expand the work and remit of the IPCC.

The Chairman highlighted that the City of London Police and the City Corporation had responded robustly to this emerging issue, and referred to the enhancement of the work of the Professional Standards and Integrity Sub-Committee over elements such as hospitality, police officers’ secondary employment, etc. He also explained that this work coincided with the expansion of the work of Action Fraud in receiving fraud reports from across all forces in the country. The Chairman emphasised this point because, in fact, greater public interaction had translated into a recent rise in the number of complaints received by the City Police.

In reply, Dame Anne commented on the IPCC’s effective working relationship with the City of London. Dame Anne highlighted the detailed work which the Sub-Committee conducted in scrutinising every single complaint received by the Force. Dame Anne was also heard on the importance of complaints as both a mechanism of ‘customer feedback’ and ‘an early warning system’ for any organisational issues. Dame Anne advised against placing excessive emphasis on the number of complaints as a high number of complaints did not always equate to poorer performance; it could, conversely, indicate

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and the Commissioner of Police (copy attached).

The Committee received a joint report of the Town Clerk and the Commissioner of Police providing a comprehensive overview of activities relating to Police Professional Standards over the year 2012/13.

In introducing the report, the Commissioner alluded to Dame Anne’s presentation, under Item 5. He shared Dame Anne’s assessment of the importance of public confidence in the police complaints system and agreed that, to ensure this, keeping the IPCC fully independent was paramount. 

The Commissioner also made reference to the ‘City Futures’ programme which he had instigated in the City Police and the emphasis which the programme would place on working practices by better defining the values, ethics and behaviour expected from officers. 

Turning to the report, the Assistant Commissioner pointed out an issue of accuracy concerning Employment Tribunals, clarifying that in the last year one employment tribunal had been dismissed, one had been settled with no admission of liability and three had been withdrawn.  

The Assistant Commissioner also drew Members’ attention to the expanding work of Action Fraud, which was now receiving in the region of 20,000 fraud reports on behalf of 43 Forces across England and Wales. He anticipated that the increased public interaction arising from this activity would translate into a higher number of complaints in the future. The Assistant Commissioner added that he had already held discussions with the IPCC to flag this situation.

The Committee proceeded to discuss the contents of the report, with questions being raised about the target for recording complaints and the limitations of using comparators in a small force like the City Police. 

In concluding the debate, a Member who was also the Chairman of Professional Standards and Integrity Sub-Committee, highlighted the considerable time and effort dedicated to this important area of work and the vital role that the Committee played

Report of the Commissioner (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner providing an update on recent community engagement activities, community priorities and forthcoming events.

A discussion took place about the operation of ice cream vans, which were not permitted to trade in the City. A Member who was also the Chairman of the Policy and Resources Committee expressed the view that the City’s legislation should be able to reflect what was, ultimately, a reasonable demand by consumers. The Remembrancer commented that the matter was currently the subject of considerable work by his Parliamentary team.

RECEIVED.

The Equality and Diversity Manager provided a verbal update to Members on recent activity relating to EDHR:-

• The Force had recently engaged with an external reviewer to assess its performance at the Integrating Level for Equality Standard for the Police Service (ESPS). It was noted that a report would be presented to the next meeting by way of a further update.

• The Force’s Disability Enabling Network would soon be re-launched and available to both managers and disabled staff in order to identify appropriate support, policy review and training.

• Following a request from officers, the Association of Muslim Police had provided Islamic Awareness sessions for members of City Police deployed to provide security detail in areas such as mosques. It was planned to make these sessions more widely available to all staff.

• The Equality and Diversity Manager had attended the Stonewall Workplace Conference in early July, which dealt with LGBT equality and would be reported to the Quality of Service / EDHR board on best practice to promote LGBT quality in the workplace.

• Following training for all officers and civilians in January 2013, Impact Assessments were now being posted to the external website in due course that identified priority areas to help address areas of concern.

RECEIVED.

There were no other updates.

Report of the Remembrancer (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Remembrancer informing Members of the relevant provisions of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill currently before Parliament.

In response to a Member’s query, the  Remembrancer clarified that the proposals to allow the police to prosecute low level crimes were not part of this Bill.

RECEIVED.

Joint report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of Police (copy attached).

The Committee received a joint report of the Chamberlain and Commissioner setting out the Force’s revenue outturn for the past financial year.

The Director of Corporate Services introduced the report and stated that the Force had reported an underspend and therefore had reduced its reliance on reserves.

The Director of Corporate Services explained significant expenditures would be required in the upcoming year, such as a programme of IT replacement following the Force’s discontinued participation in the ECIS project.

The report included an assumed increase from the Business Rate Premium of £1.5m from 2014/15 and savings from the planned reduction in officer numbers.

The Chamberlain noted there had been an improvement in the Force’s financial position.

With reference to table 3 in the report, a Member queried the reason for the figures including an assumed increase from the Business Rate Premium of £1.5m from 2014/15 when the 1p in the £ increase had not been formally agreed. The Commissioner explained that the assumption had been included in view of the fact that preliminary discussions had been held at Resource Allocation Sub-Committee which had led to notice being given to Ratepayers earlier this year that such a raise might be required in 2014/15. He fully accepted, however, that the proposed raise needed to go through the required procedures and he suggested that this might be usefully covered in one of the upcoming Police Committee workshops.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Commissioner (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner that updated Members on the Force’s delivery of stakeholder engagement including community messaging and day to day engagement.

Members and officers discussed that email correspondences sent to Members from the the Force should include the email address of the sender and some explanation. The Commander of Operations advised this would be taken back as a recommendation to the Force and implemented.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Commissioner of Police (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner updating Members on road traffic casualties and collisions and measures to mitigate these occurrences.

The Commander of Operations informed Members that the Force continued to work closely with the City of London Corporation to reduce the number of casualties and collisions. This included support for the City’s Road Danger Reduction Plan to introduce a City wide 20mph speed restriction. Further work included the aim to establish a formal partnership working group – the Roads Policing Strategic Group.

The Lead Member for Road Safety stated the report had been a joint effort, and had provided input on this and many areas of road safety and policing.

A Member expressed concern over the number of vehicles in the City which did not possess insurance and licences. 

RECEIVED.

Report of the Commissioner of Police (copy attached).

The Committee considered a report of the Commissioner seeking approval to transfer the remaining police house to the City of London Corporation for this to be sold, with the proceeds to be invested in the City of London Capital Development Programme.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its contents noted.

Report of the Town Clerk (copy attached).

The Committee received a report updating Members on urgent action taken by the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman since the last meeting.

The Committee noted that urgent action had been sought in order to agree small adjustments to a series of existing tariffs in order to comply with HM Revenue and Customs VAT regulations by 1^st July 2013.

RECEIVED.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items of business.

MOTION - That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of the Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

Item No.                                                                     Exempt Paragraphs

          16 -18                                                                                            3

         19 - 20                                                                                            -                                                              

RESOLVED: - That under Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

SUMMARY OF ITEMS CONSIDERED WHILST THE PUBLIC WAS EXCLUDED

Report of the Chamberlain.

The Committee considered and agreed a report of the Chamberlain concerning the Police  Accommodation Strategy.

The Commissioner of Police to be heard.

The Commissioner of Police was heard concerning on-going and successful operations undertaken by the City of London Police.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent business.