Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Tijs Broeke, Chris Hayward and Deputy Henry Pollard.

There were no declarations.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 11 July 2019.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 11 July 2019 be approved.

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.

17A/2019/P – Vacancy of Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Sub-Committee

·         Members agreed to keep this reference open.

24/2019/P – Middlesex Street Car Park

·         The Commissioner noted that he would make a formal request to the Authority regarding how the costs of charges to the Housing Revenue Account were to be met.

26/2019/P – Safeguarding and Public Protection Special Interest Area Vacancy

·         Members requested that the Town Clerk circulate the Safeguarding and Public Protection SIA terms of reference and expected time commitment to the Board with a view to making an appointment. Members delegated authority to the Town Clerk to make the appointment, in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.

RESOLVED, that the report be received.

To receive the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the Economic Crime Committee meeting held on 5 July 2019.

RESOLVED, that the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the Economic Crime Committee meeting held on 5 July 2019 be received.

Report of the Commissioner of Police.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding Budget Monitoring Month Q1 2019/20 and the following points were made.

·         The Commissioner noted that the Force was on track in terms of managing the ongoing vacancy factor and highlighted the £2.5m unfunded increase in Police Officer pension contributions. This £2.5m pension risk had the potential to increase further.

·         In response to a question regarding Accounts Receivable, the Commissioner replied that the reduction in Total Debtors as largely due to collection rather than write-off.

·         The Commissioner noted that he had briefed the Deputy Chairman of the Authority’s Finance Committee in person regarding both the £2.5m pension risk, and the emerging opportunity presented by the Home Office announcement for an additional 20,000 police officers across the UK.

·         The Deputy Chairman commented that future Monitoring reports should be more explicit in identifying risks and providing commentary on mitigations.

·         The Chairman of the Professional Standards and Integrity Committee noted that the Committee had considered the tribunal case regarding pensions at its recent meeting, the minutes of which would be submitted to the Board at its October 2019 meeting.

·         A Member commented that the table in appendix 1 of the report was in his view the best illustration of the overall budget position. The Member suggested some presentational changes to the table to improve it further.

RESOLVED, that the report be received.

Report of the Director of Communications – TO FOLLOW.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding the Combined Strategic Communications Plan of the City of London Police and City of London Corporation and the following points were made.

·         In response to a question, the Commissioner replied that the Force and Authority would be liaising to identify how best the strategy could be resourced.

·         The Chairman agreed with comments that members of the wider Police Authority should be regularly updated on Force matters and noted that this was being pursued through a monthly newsletter and other measures such as statements at the Court of Common Council.

RESOLVED, that the report be approved.

The Commissioner to be heard.

The Commander (Economic Crime) took the opportunity to update Members on Action Know Fraud in light of the adverse media coverage received during August 2019 and the following points were made.

·         The Commander (Economic Crime) reiterated the Force’s position that the behaviour of the individuals involved was unacceptable, and that the contractor employing those individuals had been robust in dealing with the issues once they had been identified. The Force had launched an interim review into the matter. The Commander noted that the both the Force and the Board would likely have to deal with similar cases going forward.

·         The Chairman expressed disappointment that neither he nor the Authority were able to learn of the impending media coverage in advance. The Chairman noted that his announcement of a review had not attracted much media interest.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Cost of Policing Functions at Guildhall

The Chairman noted that notice of a question had been given by Tijs Broeke, who had since sent apologies to the meeting. The Chairman requested that the Town Clerk put the question to the Force:

‘What are the additional costs of security operations for police staff and police officer time for two recent high-profile events at Guildhall, namely the International Trade Dinner & US Vice President Visit and the China Business Forum and Dinner. Moreover, who met those additional costs.’

The Commander (Operations) was heard in reply, noting that the International Trade Dinner & US Vice President Visit had an additional cost of £18,000, and the China Business Forum and Dinner an additional cost of £1,500. These costs were met from City of London Police core funding. Whilst some costs could be claimed back from the Home Office, the Commander stressed that the nature of these events were routine for the City and were therefore classed as ‘business-as-usual’.

The Commissioner reassured Members that the Force compiled accurate costs of the delivery of events such as these.

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 11 July 2019.

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2019 be approved as a correct record.

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

Members considered a joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner regarding non-public outstanding references.

To receive the draft non-public minutes of the Economic Crime Committee meeting held on 5 July 2019.

RESOLVED, that the draft non-public minutes of the Economic Crime Committee meeting held on 5 July 2019 be received.

To receive the minutes of the Police Accommodation Working Party meeting held on 2 September 2019.

RESOLVED, that the draft minutes of the Police Accommodation Working Party meeting held on 2 September 2019 be received.

The Commissioner to be heard.

The Commissioner was heard regarding a number of current issues.

Joint Report of the Commissioner, City Surveyor and Chamberlain  - TO FOLLOW.

The Town Clerk noted that this report had been deferred until October 2019.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding Action Know Fraud IMB (UK) Ltd – new managed service.

Report of the Chamberlain.

Members considered a Dispute Strategy Update report of the Chamberlain.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding the National Enabling Programme (NEP) – Variation of Contract.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a Gateway 6 report of the Commissioner regarding Case, Custody, Crime & Intelligence.

Report of the Chamberlain.

Members considered a Gateway 4 report of the Chamberlain regarding IT Service 2020 Contract – Sourcing.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding business at City of London Police Authority Committees since July 2019.

Report of the Town Clerk.

Members considered a report of the Town Clerk regarding action taken since the last meeting.

There were no questions.

TO BE PUT ON AGENDA FRONT SHEET UNDER TOWN CLERK NAME THEN REMOVED FROM HERE

Dates of future meetings

Future meetings of the Committee are scheduled for:

-       18 May 2017;

-       13 July 2017;

-       21 September 2017;

-       2 November 2017; and

-       15 December 2017.

There was two items of other business.