Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Caroline Addy, Munsur Ali, Andrew Lentin and Dawn Wright. Each of these four Members observed the full meeting virtually.

There were no declarations made at this stage.

Tijs Broeke declared an interest at agenda item 21 as an employee of HP following additional information provided by officers during discussions. Tijs Broeke abstained from this item and did not vote.

To agree the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 21 October 2021.

It was noted that the annual report on cadets should also include Special Constables and Volunteers.

RESOLVED, that the public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 21 October 2021, be approved as an accurate record.

Joint report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

The Committee considered a report of the Town Clerk which set out Outstanding References from previous meetings of the Committee.

·         The Chair requested that dates be added to the Outstanding References.

·         26/2021/P – The fuller briefing note had been provided to the lead Safeguarding SIA. The Custody Suite had high footfall and due to its usage it was expected to always need works. However, all major issues had been addressed or were in the process of being addressed. There had been teething issues with the new exercise yard but those were being addressed as a priority.

·         27/2021/P – The letter had not yet been sent but it was hoped it might go shortly.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

To receive the following public minutes and non-public summaries of the following committee meetings.

RESOLVED, that the draft public minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2021, be noted.

RESOLVED, that the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 3 November 2021, be noted.

RESOLVED, that the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 4 November 2021, be noted.

RESOLVED, that the draft public minutes and non-public summary of the meeting held on 5 November 2021, be noted.

The Chair to be heard.

Members received a verbal update of the Chair.

The Chair and Assistant Commissioner held a session on Economic Crime with the All Party Parliamentary Committee which had been useful albeit a small group.

A successful private dinner at Mansion House was held with the Lord Mayor, senior Members and the Security Minister. Attendees included representatives from law enforcement and the business community. The Authority Team had received positive feedback from senior Members, which would be picked up as part of engagement programme going forward.

The Force had hosted a visit from Mark Shelford, the lead for PCCs on Fraud.

Externally, the Force and Authority continue to engage with crime correspondents, particularly on the area of the Online Safety Bill. There was due to be an ‘on the record’ interview with the Press Association.

On Sector Policing and Local Policing, good monthly updates for Members had been established. Thought had been given as to how that information was used for residential, business and other stakeholders. It was confirmed that a subset of information included in those updates were shared with the various communities and Independent Advisory and Scrutiny Group (IASG).

A key report on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) was featured on the agenda. EDI continued to feature heavily in a lot of national policing conversations, with a demand for clear objectives and KPIs to be established in order to manage ambitions across forces. This was an area focussed on heavily by the Professional Standards & Integrity Committee (PSIC).  The Chair called on the Force to ensure there is good information published on its website on this issue.

There had been good engagement from IASG around recruitment into senior positions. Representatives had sat on the interview panel for senior ranks including Chief Inspectors, Inspectors and Sergeants promotion processes. A report had

Commissioner & Chief Officers to be heard.

Members received a verbal update from the Commissioner.

The terrorist threat level had recently increased from substantial to severe. This required the Force to review all its plans for forthcoming events and operations, including communications. The level had been raised on the basis of general rather than specific intelligence. The Force was comfortable it could manage what was required of it to respond to this rating.

Past quarter protest activity had been extraordinarily high. Since the G7 all the way through to COP26. The most recent event was the Lord Mayor’s Show, which did attract protest activity. A float had gained legitimate access into the route and it appeared that their protest was choreographed to coincide with a BBC interview taking place. Arrests were made quickly and there was a short hold up causing a 15-minute delay to the Lord Mayor’s outbound route. There was also an Extinction Rebellion (XR) protest which intelligence had initially suggested would end in Parliament Square. Contingency plans were put in place and a number of small blockages dealt with quickly so the parade could continue along the original intended route. There was an increase in policing presence and ultimately the Lord Mayor arrived back at Mansion House 40 minutes late. Whilst the Force wished the interruptions had not happened, they were confident that the incidents were each handled appropriately and proportionately. Members extended their congratulations and thanks to the Force for their sensitive handling of the protests.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Commissioner & Chief Officers to be heard.

Members received a verbal update from the Commissioner and Chief Officers regarding National Lead Force (NLF).

There had been an increased focus on communications and prevention activity. At the end of October there had been the National Fraud Awareness week. The Christmas Campaign was due to commence in time for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

An Economic Crime Conference had been arranged by officers, with 41 of the 43 forces attending. It featured a number of key speakers and provided an opportunity to brief them on current work. This was a successful event but for any future event it was hoped the Security Minister would join to encourage engagement from Chief Officer groups around the country.

There had been an uplift in positive judicial outcomes.

RESOLVED, that the update be noted.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members received a report of the Commissioner regarding Q2 Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring 2021/22.

Headline key challenges were the need to balance the budget; the close monitoring of the capital programme; determining trends with more realistic forecasting; and IT projects.

One of the outputs of the IT review was that expectations become aligned between COLP and the City Corporation’s IT function.

Members wished to understand in greater detail the operational impact of capital programme slippage and whether the issues were caused by resourcing or otherwise. For IT related projects, there was a particular concern over the delivery of Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) and Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) which would no longer be complete in the financial year. There was also a severe delay to the procurement of police vehicles, both due to international issues with supply chains, national demand from all forces and long governance processes to approve the purchasing. The Commissioner also outlined how it is not the same as procuring a new domestic vehicle as emergency vehicles require a higher and specialist user specification, which also added to the time taken for them to be ready for procurement and deployment. Continued delays would have a direct impact on the Force’s ability to exercise public order and CT functions.

Some of the internal barriers to procurement were to be addressed as part of a revised Scheme of Delegation to Chief Officers and the Governance Review.

The recent procurement of fleet provision had required intervention from specific Members of the Court. After the capital codes were released on the same day of this intervention, it became apparent that some of the vehicles that were needed were no longer available and so additional time was taken in resourcing alternatives. All orders had been placed for the next year.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members received a report of the Commissioner regarding Equalities and Inclusion Highlights.

The six workstreams had turned into five, with learning, development and recruitment now usefully falling under the same umbrella.

For the next officer intake, BAME recruitment was positive although female representation was reduced. Cadet recruitment was promising, as the cohort was formed of 56% female and 52% BAME.

Work was underway with Amazon to provide a programme for schools including training on cyber bullying and, cyber security. This was hoped to not only develop children’s personal skills but attract and engage those young people with the possibility of a career in policing. This programme would act as a pilot, with the possibility of national roll-out explored after the initial phase.

It was acknowledged that the 40 new transferees would be unlikely to increase diversity as recruitment was taking place from an older cohort were recruited when forces were not attracting applications from minority groups. This had been an area of historic challenge, particularly in relation to economic crime posts. COLP were working with staff networks nationally and targeting adverts across different media. The cluster panels would also be used in due course. New communities needed to be tapped. It was noted that the Force was advertising for a new Recruitment, Attraction and Progression HR professional which would also assist in developing new strategies to attract from minority groups.

The importance of employee surveys was highlighted – the Chair reiterated the request to see the new rhythm of surveys (25/2021/P).

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.

There were no questions.

There were no items of urgent 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 21 October 2021.

RESOLVED, that the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2021, be approved.

Joint Report of the Town Clerk and Commissioner.

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

To receive the draft non-public minutes of the following committee meetings.

Members received the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 3 November2021.

Members received the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2021.

Members received the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 5 November2021.

The Chair to be heard.

Members received a verbal update of the Chair.

The Commissioner & Chief Officers to be heard.

Members received a verbal update of the Commissioner.

Commissioner & Chief Officers to be heard.

Members received a verbal update of the Commissioner regarding National Lead Force.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members received a report of the Commissioner regarding the City of London Police Ethical Partnerships.

Report of the Chamberlain.

Members considered a Gateway 1-5 report of the Chamberlain regarding the End User Device Refresh (IL4 REFRESH).

Joint report of the Commissioner and Executive Director of the Environment Department.

Members considered a report of the Chamberlain regarding the Secure City Partnership (SCP) Video Management System (VMS).

Joint report of the Commissioner and City Surveyor.

Members considered a joint report of the Commissioner and City Surveyor regarding the Police Accommodation Strategy: City of London Police Resource Requirements – Future Police Estate.

Joint report of the City Surveyor, Chamberlain and Commissioner.

Members considered a joint Gateway 6 report of the City Surveyor, Chamberlain and Commissioner regarding the Police Accommodation Strategy: Decant Programme – New Street and Bishopsgate.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a Gateway 6 report of the Commissioner regarding the Action Know Fraud project.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members received a report of the Commissioner regarding the Force’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Annual Performance Update 2020-21.

Report of the Commissioner.

Members received a report of the Commissioner regarding the City of London Police Risk Register Update.

There were no questions.

There was one item of urgent business.

To agree the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2021.

RESOLVED, that the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 21 October 2021, be approved as an accurate record.