Agenda item

Health and Safety Annual Performance Update (1st April 2016- 31st March 2017)

Report of the Commissioner of Police

 

[Appendix 3 of this report is included under item 23 of the agenda, as a non-public item]

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police that provided information on the current position regarding the management of Health and Safety within the City of London Police since September 2016.

 

The Assistant Commissioner explained that Custody training issues, one of the top marked risks in paragraph 25, has now been addressed.  He explained that officers were trained during the period in which the custody suite was closed, but that the CoLP were reliant on support from the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA), for the period of closure.

 

The Assistant Commissioner explained that the other noted key risks were all being picked up by the November Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee meeting.

 

A Member explained to the Committee that in relation to the closure of the custody suite for 11 days, the Professional Standards and Integrity Sub-Committee had been made aware that the structure of sourcing staff from uniformed policing was a potential issue as command lines of custody officers remained with their uniformed sergeant rather than having any reporting line to the Custody Manager, which created ambiguity.  The Member noted that the issue was addressed previously, with a plan in place to have training carried out in January 2017.  However, this plan was stifled by urgent issues at the time.  The Member explained that a Command structure has been proposed but had simply not yet been implemented.  The Commander of Operations explained that there were two options for consideration: a single service approach, or a cooperation between custody and CID officers.  The Member stated their disappointment at the poor communication of the closure to Members, Independent Custody Visitors and appropriate Corporation staff. The Member requested to be kept updated about any developments in this regard. (6)

 

In reference to paragraph 54 of the report, a Member asked when the last external audit had taken place.  The Assistant Commissioner explained that internal audit had been a challenge, as indicated by the STRA process.  He explained that a Health & Safety Action Plan was in place.  He also confirmed that no external audit had taken place, though perhaps this would be something for future consideration.  The Chairman stated that the monitoring of quality in this way was of the utmost importance.  The Assistant Commissioner agreed.

 

A Member asked if it was possible to source figures of near misses over the most recent six-month period.  The Assistant Commissioner confirmed that this could be done, and agreed to circulate these via email.  Another Member suggested that perhaps it would be useful to have a further analysis into the categorisation of events marked as “near misses” to provide an improved insight. (7)

 

RESOLVED – That the report be received.

 

Supporting documents: