Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner of Police and the Chamberlain

[This report was unavailable at the time of publication and will be circulated separately]

The Committee received a late joint report of the Chamberlain and the Commissioner of Police that summarised the capital and revenue budget of the City of London Police for the second quarter of 2017.

The Commissioner explained that the Mid-Term Financial Plan (MTFP) Report would be submitted to the next meeting of the Police Committee, on 15 December. (9)  The Chamberlain explained that discussions undertaken to finalise the report had gone on longer than expected, due to uncertainty around some of the numbers.  He explained that the budget deficit of £1.6m was likely to come down towards the end of the year, but it was important to continue to identify savings to reduce the drawdown on the reserves, which would be exhausted next year without further action.  He explained that the Deloitte review had identified potential savings which should be factored into the budget for 2018/19 and the MTFP.

In reference to paragraph 9 of the report, the Chairman asked if the £395,000 savings identified by the Deloitte report as “quick wins” were included within the budget.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that this will be confirmed by the Q3 budget report.

A Member asked if the additional funds requested for Bishopsgate refurbishment under urgency procedure since the last meeting would be included in the budget.  The Director of Estates & Support Services explained that there had been underinvestment at Bishopsgate and so this additional spend would not negatively impact the budgeted sums. A Member stated that underspend on maintenance was a very common mistake made by organisations, and noted that it had clearly occurred in the case of Bishopsgate Police Station.  The Member declared that lessons should be learned, and that there was a need for an annual external survey and report on whether maintenance of services have been maintained adequately.  Another Member agreed, and emphasised the importance of assessments being carried out externally.  The Deputy Chairman confirmed that the City Surveyor should employ this across all projects.  Members asked that this recommendation be fed back to the Town Clerk on behalf of the Police Committee. (10)

Regarding current vacancies referenced within the report, a Member queried whether any of these were being maintained purposefully.  The Commissioner confirmed that this was not the case, and that the aim was to fill all current officer vacancies.  The Chairman questioned whether vetting delays were having an adverse effect on recruitment timelines.  The Commissioner explained that this was something that the CoLP aimed to resolve with other forces on an individual basis, where officers were transferring in from other forces.  However, he explained that severe delays surround the requirement for Security Clearance (SC) vetting, which is carried out externally by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and can often take long periods of time to complete.  He stated that he has recently written to them with regards to two particular cases that have been outstanding for considerable time

The Chairman asked for clarification on the allocation of POCA reserves to the Safer City Partnership since previous requests had been made.  The Commissioner confirmed that he would follow up on this and provide a verbal update at the next Police Committee meeting on 15 December. (11)

RESOLVED – That the report be received.