Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner of the City of London Police.

The Committee received a Report of the Commissioner of the City of London Police concerning the Equality and Inclusion Strategy.

The Draft (non-public) Equality and Inclusion Action Plan was circulated separately as a supporting document to this Item; this document will be finalised soon and will be circulated to Members thereafter.

In response to a query concerning recruitment and retention, the Assistant Commissioner responded that current trends for widening representation were positive and are on an upward curve. The Force is now fifth in the country for police representation from BAME communities and is also very well placed in terms of civilian staff representation; this reflected a proactive approach over recent years. Whilst the Force was now working from a good and stable base the Assistant Commissioner conceded that the number of female specials had declined recently, and more work was required to turn this around. He added that diversity amongst the Force’s cadets was in a very good place, with 27 of 36 recent cadets coming from a BAME background.

In response to concerns around prioritisation, officers stressed that this was a process that would take time to mature; whilst it was unrealistic to expect all areas to be resolved in one go, officers were committed to ensuring the strategy was adopted in full and successful over the longer term.

A Member highlighted some wording on page 91 concerning the creation of a
“Gold Group in response to the Black Lives Matter movement” – and asked whether the wording could be changed to something more understandable to the lay person. Officers recognised that too much jargon was unhelpful and, when finalising the Action Plan, would cut down on acronyms and other esoteric terminology where possible.

In response to a query around the feedback from focus groups and the recent staff meeting, officers confirmed that this has been embedded into the strategy. The Force’s upcoming communications about the strategy would include both the raw survey results alongside how this has been built into the work.

RESOLVED – that the Committee noted the Report.