Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk providing Members with an update about the work of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), an organisation of which the City of London Corporation had become a constituent member. The APCC was the successor body of the former Association of Police Authorities (APA), and came into existence officially on 1 April 2013. The report outlined the governance and leadership structures of the APCC, and informed Members of funding and membership arrangements.

The Deputy Chairman, who was the Committee’s representative on the Association, was heard on the experience of chairing the Shadow and Transitional Boards that had overseen the establishment of the APCC until March 2013. He commented on the successful positioning by the City of London Corporation in the Association, and the effective working relationships which it had forged with the Committee and City Corporation officers during this process.

A discussion took place about the risks of agenda politicisation and the efforts to ensure that PCCs priorities reflected the Strategic Policing Requirement. Also, prompted by a question concerning decision-making, the Deputy Chairman explained how the APCCs structures would allow for collective negotiation but not ‘adjudication’, in contrast with the operation of the APA.

The report also informed the Committee of a decision taken using urgency procedures (pursuant to Standing Order no.41b) to agree the City of London’s membership of the Association at an annual fee of £19,750. This decision had been approved by the Town Clerk, in consultation with the Chairman and Senior Member of the Police Committee on 15 March 2013.

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