Agenda and minutes

Venue: Microsoft Teams

Contact: Alistair MacLellan
tel. no.: 020 7332 1416  Email: alistair.maclellan@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Deputy Keith Bottomley and Caroline Mawhood. The Town Clerk noted that Alderman Hailes and Andrew Lentin would be leaving the meeting at midday.

 

The Chairman welcomed Members to the second meeting of the Committee that year, noting that during the height of the pandemic oversight of Committee matters had been undertaken by the City of London Police Authority Board.

 

The Chairman welcomed Jamie Ingham-Clark, Helen Fentimen, Graham Packham and Alderman Tim Hailes to their first meeting, and welcomed the appointment of Dan Worsley.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 1.

2.

MEMBERS' DECLARATIONS UNDER THE CODE OF CONDUCT IN RESPECT OF ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

Minutes:

There were no declarations.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Terms of Reference pdf icon PDF 58 KB

To receive the terms of reference of the Performance and Resource Management Committee as approved by the City of London Police Authority Board at its meeting on 29 July 2020.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 3.

Minutes:

Members considered the Committee’s terms of reference, noting that the future iteration should make clear the frequency of meetings and the fact that the co-opted Finance Committee Member should be the Finance Committee’s Chairman, or their nominee.

 

A Member commented that the terms of reference were split between Policing Plan and performance, and finance, asset management and change. The reasoning behind this split was to reflect these were significant areas of work in terms of scrutiny.

 

RESOLVED, that the terms of reference be received.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 144 KB

To consider the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 7 February 2020.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 4.

Minutes:

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 7 February 2020 be approved.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

References pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 5.

Minutes:

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner regarding references and the following points were made.

 

25/2019/P – Recruitment Projections to be embedded in Medium-Term Financial Plan & 1/2020/P Non-Pay Elements in Medium Term Financial Plan & 4/2020/P Medium Term Financial Plan to include workforce assumptions

 

·         The Assistant Commissioner noted that the MTFP report was due in November 2020 and all the necessary data to support MTFP forecasting was in place. The Force was in a good position with regards to its projections, with monthly recruitment monitoring reports that were within 5% accuracy. The Force was forecasting a younger mix of staff including a greater number of probationers, which would in turn affect Force financials.

 

6/2020/P – Deep Dive on Community Policing

 

·         Members noted that the new Sector Policing Model would be adopted from 19 October 2020 which would make a deep dive on Community Policing redundant. Instead Members requested a six-month update report on Sector Policing in mid-2021.

 

7/2020/P – Staff Survey to be benchmarked against 2017 Staff Survey

 

·         The Assistant Commissioner noted that the current survey had gone live and that a report on its outcome would be available from February 2021.

 

RESOLVED, that the report be received.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Q1 Budget Monitoring 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 560 KB

Report of the Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 6.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding Q1 Budget Monitoring 2020/21 and the following points were made.

 

·         The Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officer (COFO) noted that the report had already been submitted to the City of London Police Authority Board. The headline of the report was that the Force was anticipating a £4m underspend in the current financial year. Work to finalise Q2 figures was ongoing, and it was likely that the underspend would rise to £5m. This was due to the Force receiving more Home Office funding than had been anticipated, and as well as the Force generating more income than had been forecast. At present, the figures within the report were the COFO’s best assessment of year-end.

 

·         The COFO continued, noting that the Force had significantly reduced overtime spend and was on track to be within overtime budget at the end Q2. The report provided a directorate breakdown of financial position, with more forecasting detail being provided in future quarterly reports and the Medium Term Financial Plan.

 

·         The COFO noted that there were at present no variances within the capital programme at end Q1, but that this was likely due to it being so early in the financial year. The capital programme would be looked at in greater detail at Q2 but it was likely that a clearer picture would only be available from Q3.

 

·         The COFO noted that there had been a significant improvement in transactional finance, largely due to a staff appointment that had been effective in dealing with a legacy transactional finance position.

 

·         The COFO concluded by noting that an appendix set out a savings tracker for the Force, with savings being monitored monthly in-Force which gave the COFO a high degree of confidence that the £5.7m savings target would be met, although

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Policing Plan 2020-23 - Performance against measures for end Q1 for the year 2020-21 pdf icon PDF 819 KB

Report of the Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 7.

Minutes:

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding Policing Plan 2020-23 – Performance against measures for end Q1 for the year 2020/21 and the following points were made.

 

·         The Assistant Commissioner noted that Counter Terrorism Measure 3 (increased number of hostile reconnaissance reports) was listed as requiring action. This measure stated that a high number of reports undergoing investigation was positive, which had been impacted by the fact the footfall in the City had significantly reduced since the outset of COVID. Overall the measure was out of the Force’s control given the Force was reliant on intelligence from trained security staff in City premises. The Force was keeping the measure under review, and continued to investigate a number of reports.

 

·         The Assistant Commissioner noted that Neighbourhood Policing Measure 3 (public order positive outcomes following arrest) was listed as requiring action as the number of arrests associated with the Night Time Economy and demonstrations had declined.

 

·         The Assistant Commissioner concluded by noting that the Force was number one int the country in terms of detecting crime. Under the Transform Programme the Force now had a new Silver role to co-ordinate Force response in real time. This had resulted in the last week of the arrest of a repeat offender within a minute of them committing a crime, leading to the detection of both that crime and 17 other crimes associated with that offender. The Force was also taking the opportunity presented by COVID to seek and arrest wanted persons who were more likely to be found in at a fixed address due to lockdown.

 

·         In response to a question, the Assistant Commissioner replied that at the outset of lockdown he had anticipated that the Force would have been able to deal with legacy issues but in reality the Force had embarked

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Inspection Update pdf icon PDF 168 KB

Report of the Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 8.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered an update report of the Commissioner regarding Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Inspection reports and the following points were made.

 

·         In response to a question from a Member raised earlier in the meeting, the Chairman replied that HMICFRS did not take into account cost implications for the Force when making recommendations. Moreover the Force was not obliged to adopt HMICFRS recommendations, but in the event of not doing so, the Force’s reasons for not doing so should be robust and reasonable. A regular dialogue with HMICFRS was maintained.

 

·         A Member welcome the progress made towards the recommendation regarding child protection.

 

·         A Member commented that, compared to the plentiful number of red recommendations the Force faced a number of years ago, he was pleased to see that in spite of COVID there was a strong focus in the Force on dealing with HMICFRS recommendations and so credit was due to the Assistant Commissioner and his team.

 

·         In response to a question regarding recommendation 5 (child protections - management of sex offenders and violent offenders) the Assistant Commissioner noted that the Force had focused on meeting the recommendation and would review the structures and processed involved once they were working in practice. He highlighted the wider work the Force was undertaking on child protection, including joint working with the British Transport Police to monitor activity around stations and hotels.

 

·         The Commissioner noted that the update reporting was necessarily concise given it was designed to give Members a summary oversight, and assured Members that the Force took the recommendations seriously and indeed perhaps held them as red for longer than external observers, including HMICFRS, would deem necessary.

 

RESOLVED, that the report be received.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Internal Audit Update Report pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Report of the Head of Audit and Risk Management (City of London Corporation).

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 9.

Minutes:

Members considered an Internal Audit update report of the Head of Audit and Risk Management and the following points were made.

 

·         The Head of Audit and Risk Management (ARM) noted that in addition to the update provided within the report three other items of internal audit work were underway which he planned to update Members on in more detail at a future meeting. With regards to reference 5/2020/P (Internal Audit to be benchmarked against peer Forces/Authorities) the Head of ARM noted that a peer network existed for this purpose and baselining would take place as part of the pre-planning process for next year’s internal audit programme. Pre-planning would commence in November 2020.

 

·         In response to a question regarding the skills-set of the Internal Audit Team, the Head of ARM noted that the City has a small in-house team covering the City of London Corporation’s local authority functions, one of whom had been with the team for over 20 years. That particular member of staff was retiring in March 2021 so work was ongoing to conduct knowledge transfer. In addition, the Internal Audit Team worked with Mazars to provide extra audit capability. To date this had not benefited the internal audit of the Force but Mazars could offer Force audit expertise going forward. The Head of ARM was confident his team could offer value on strategic issues but he would look to Mazars for support on specialist areas of work.

 

·         In response to a question regarding how engagement was sought from the Force on internal audit matters, the Head of ARM noted that internal audit followed an iterative planning process that commenced with the Assistant Commissioner and the Force’s senior leadership team, where engagement was positive. Engagement could become more challenging at the fieldwork stage, where internal audit activity risked clashing

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Questions on matters relating to the work of the Committee

Minutes:

There were no questions.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Any other business that the Chairman considers urgent

Minutes:

Reporting Request – City of London Police IT Programme & Discrete Funding

The Chairman requested regular reporting on the City of London Police IT Programme, and discrete accounts to understand City of London Corporation funding aside from its core funding.

 

Thanks to outgoing Clerk

The Chairman thanked the Committee Clerk for his work supporting the Committee prior to his leaving the City of London Corporation.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

12.

Exclusion of the Public

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.

 

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 12.

Minutes:

RESOLVED, 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 they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Non-Public Minutes

To consider the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2020.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 13.

Minutes:

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2020 be approved.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Non-Public References

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 14.

Minutes:

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner regarding non-public references.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

Workforce Plan 2018-2023 - Refresh

Report of the Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 15.

Minutes:

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding the Workforce Plan 2018-2023 – Refresh.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

Transform Programme: Update on Implementation and Efficiencies

Report of the Commissioner.

 ...  view the full agenda text for item 16.

Minutes:

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding the Transform Programme: Update on Implementation and Efficiencies.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

17.

Questions on matters relating to the work of the Committee

Minutes:

There was one non-public question.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

18.

Any other business that the Chairman considers urgent and which the Committee agree should be considered whilst the public are excluded

Minutes:

There was no other business in non-public session.

 ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.