Agenda item

The Special Interest Area Member to be heard.

The Special Interest Area Lead Member for Equality, Diversity and Human Rights (SIA/EDHR) was heard and the following points were made.

·         The SIA/EDHR welcomed the engagement he had received from both the Authority and the Force and went on to highlight what he believed to be key areas of focus for the Committee.

o   The community engagement work undertaken by the Community Scrutiny Group (CSG) and Independent Advisory Group (IAG) was welcome, but more progress needed to be made in ensuring the IAG was as effective as possible in informing community engagement.

o   The Committee should be mindful of how data was collected, interpreted and presented e.g. ethnicity of persons approached under Stop and Search.

o   Workforce planning measures undertaken by the Force should be appropriately flagged with the Authority’s Establishment Committee.

o   The Force should be mindful of its approach to leadership, culture, retention and professional progression, and in particular for BAME and/or females in specialist units.

o   The SIA/EDHR noted that 20% of persons working in the City were BAME. The same demographic working for the Metropolitan Police was 40% - at the City of London Police, it was 6%. Moreover only 20% of the City of London Police was female, the lowest percentage of any UK police force.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.