Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies.

There were no declarations.

Before proceeding with items on the agenda, the Chairman reiterated the statement issued by the Lord Mayor and Chairs of Policy and Resources and Establishment Committees and himself on 4 June 2020, namely:

We are shocked and saddened by the senseless death of George Floyd.

The City of London Corporation is committed to equality, inclusivity and diversity and we stand in solidarity with BAME colleagues and communities.

We understand it is not enough to say we are against racism but we have to work to eradicate all forms of racism in all that we do.

This is why we have signed the Race at Work Charter and we aim to be a leader in diversity and reflect the communities we serve across London and the UK.

We pledge to fulfil our responsibility to create a fair and inclusive society.

Black Lives Matter.

The Chairman continued, noting that many had been shocked by George Floyd’s death and disturbed by events following his death in connection with both the protests and the policing of it, including some of the footage that morning.

Rightly, that had caused members and the public to ask questions about UK policing, its track record on equality, the treatment of BAME people and bias in policing public order.

The Chairman would shortly be asking the Commissioner to make a brief statement on these areas and after that Members were free to ask questions.

The Chairman thought it was fair to say that the track record of policing in the UK was, in comparison to many countries, good. But it was not perfect and more still needed to be done to ensure that the diversity of those in policing more fairly reflected the people it policed.

Further, with regards to policing, racial bias remained a

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 14 May 2020.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 14 May 2020 be approved, subject to the following amendments:

·         Reference being made to the Sheriff joining the Acting Chairman commending the immediate past Chairman at Item 4 (Vote of Thanks to Outgoing Chairman).

·         Reference being made to the Acting Chairman’s five priorities following the Vote of Thanks to the Outgoing Chairman, namely around the support and challenge of the Force as the National Lead Force for fraud; improving the service of Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau following the recent review by Sir Craig Mackey; the delivery of the Force’s Local Policing Plan including a performance-led and measurable approach to improving crime reduction; ensuring the Force operated on a sound financial footing with sound financial controls; and finally the delivery of the Force’s Transform programme.

·         Reference to Simon Duckworth’s appointment to the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) be amended to being for a further year; with the decision on a second Board appointment being made at a future meeting.

·         Reference to Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) at Item 7 (Commissioner’s Public Updates) be corrected to refer to COVID-19 FPNs.

Matters Arising

COVID-19 Fixed Penalty Notices

In response to a question, the Commissioner replied that the Force had issued 72 COVID-19 FPNs, of which 20 had been issued within the City, and 52 within the Metropolitan Police area.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

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

31/2019/P – Road Safety Statistics

·         The Lead Member of Safety noted that it was premature to mark this reference green and therefore ready for closure. The Commissioner noted that Force statistics on road safety were geared towards a high level required by the Department for Transport, rather than being granular. In light of staff turnover the Commissioner agreed to ensure that the relevant Force point of contact liaise with the Lead Member to close the reference down.

The Chairman provided a public update on his activity and the following points were made.

·         The Chairman acknowledged the COVID-19 FPN figures that had been highlighted under Minutes – Matters Arising and went on to note that policing the lockdown would grow increasingly complex as guidance changed and in light of the recent 9% increase in tube passenger traffic.

·         The Metropolitan Police and City of London Police Federations were both making representations to the Mayor of London regarding proposed congestion charge exemptions for blue-light workers. It was the Chairman’s understanding that NHS workers were currently exempt given their high risk exposure to COVID-19 patients, and that contrary to reports London Fire Brigade (LFB) staff were not exempt, but that LFB was meeting congestions costs incurred by its staff. The City was able to provide parking for City of London Police at Minories Car Park.

·         A Member was heard, noting that the Chairman of the Planning and Transportation Committee had made a representation to the Mayor of London regarding exemption from the congestion charge for City residents and worshippers at City churches, alongside a commitment to make all key workers exempt. The Chairman of Planning and Transportation had also requested that the Mayor make explicit when a review of the congestion charge increase would be undertaken.

·         The Chairman noted his recent round of engagement, including with Policing Minister James Brokenshire to discuss redefining the Force’s work on Economic Crime; along with meetings with Bob Wigley (UK Finance) and Sarah Pritchard (Director General National Economic Crime Centre). The sense from these meetings was that all parties were keen to pursues a collaborative approach to combating economic crime. Finally, the Chairman had been engaging with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners where it was clear a stronger approach to combating fraud was

The Commissioner provided public updates on a number of issues and the following points were made.

·         The Commissioner clarified that Operation Tamar was the pan-London police response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There had been a recent slight increase in the daytime working population of the City, to 9,000 persons. This group was composed primarily of building staff, and construction site workers. The Force was holding weekly calls with major businesses to discuss any issues arising during this time. Broadly speaking there were lower levels of crime within the City at present.

·         As noted, the Force had issued 20 COVID-19 FPNs within the City and the overall Force approach to enforcing lockdown was a ‘Engage, Explain, Educate, Enforce’ approach, with a recent shift from querying why a person was out in public, to ensuring a person out in public was mixing appropriately with fellow members of the public.

·         The Force had reviewed the BAME breakdown of the COVID-19 FPNs issued within the City. Half of the FPNs (10) had been issued to persons of BAME background which was a high percentage. Nevertheless, 7 of those 10 FPNs were the result of 3 interactions that involved vehicles with multiple occupants who were not from the same household. The remaining 3 FPNs involved persons who had given false names/addresses or refused to give their details. 1 of the 10 FPN interactions had led to an arrest.

·         Force sickness rate stood at 2%, with senior staff reviewing how many staff could return to work safely. To date the Force had incurred £305k of COVID-related expenditure.

·         In response to a question regarding the Force’s transportation response particularly with regards to likely increased interaction between cyclists and pedestrians, the Commissioner reiterated that the Force’s approach would be to engage and education, with enforcement as a last resort. The current low daytime population of the City eased the pressure of use of the

·         The Commissioner noted that the Force continued to work closely with partners including the National Crime Agency, and reported weekly to government on National Lead Force matters, and that the Commander (Economic Crime) had appeared before the Home Office Select Committee on 3 June 2020 to discuss Home Office preparedness for COVID-19.

·         The Commissioner reiterated that the Force was tracking its COVID-19 spend, which currently stood at £305k. COVID-19 notwithstanding, the Force remained to achieving savings through the Transform programme.

·         In response to a question regarding the financial implications of the Force adopting its own contact tracing measures, the Commissioner replied that there were issues around the security of officers’ details under such a system which made costs unclear at this stage, but they were not anticipated to be excessive.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding Revenue and Capital Outturn 2019/20 and the following points were made.

·         The Commissioner acknowledged that the variance figures in Table 3 of the report regarding savings were broad-brush, rounded figures to reflect the fact they were grounded in the Force’s base budget. Overall the Commissioner highlighted that the report demonstrated that to deliver savings, the Force had been carrying vacancies which had a knock-on effect on crime levels. Nevertheless, recruitment was now being scaled up to address this issue. ­­­­

·         The Treasurer noted the signif­­icant changes within the report ­­from Q3 reporting and noted that lessons would need to be learned and applied to future in-year reporting.

·         In response to a query from a Member regarding overtime costs for the Bank of England armed escort, the Commissioner replied that the Forced was achieving improved cost recovery from the Bank, and that increased overtime was the result of a number of trained officers being removed from armed duty whilst their roles in the response to 2019 London Bridge Stabbing and the resulting impact on operational availability of similarly trained officers.

·         The Chairman noted that the Reserves Policy was on the Board’s outstanding references list (PRM 2/2020/P) and that a report would be forthcoming in July 2020. He requested a similar item of work be conducted on the Force’s Action Know Fraud loan and capital funding mechanism, with a update being provided at a future meeting.

RESOLVED, that the repot be received.

BAME Recruitment to the Force

In response to a question, the Commissioner noted that of 24 recently recruited officers, 8 of the 24 were from BAME background and 4 of the 24 were female. In response to a follow up question, the Commissioner replied that City of London Police Specials had increased to c. 80 officers, including Penny Lancaster. The Chairman requested an update on Specials at the July 2020 Board, to include potential specialist role deployments, and their recruitment and retention.

There was no other business.

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 Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

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

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2020.

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2020 be approved.

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner regarding Non-Public Outstanding References.

The Chairman provided a non-public update to the Board.

The Commissioner provided a number of non-public updates to the Board.

The Commissioner provided a non-public update regarding Operation Tamar.

The Commissioner provided a non-public update regarding National Lead Force.

There was no report to be made regarding Force finances in non-public session.

The Commissioner provided a non-public update regarding shared services and Transform.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding the Economic Crime Directorate North-West Hub – Sponsored Services Agreement (SSA).

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding Quarter 4 National Lead Force Performance.

At this point of the meeting, two hours having elapsed, Members agreed to extend the meeting until all items of business on the agenda had been dealt with, as per Standing Order 40 of the Court of Common Council.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding CIPFA – Financial Management Capability Review of the City of London Police.

There were no non-public questions.

There was no other business.