Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner.

The Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police that provided Members with an update on equality and inclusion related activities conducted by the force since the previous report in April 2018.

The Commissioner noted the Assistant Commissioner’s apologies as he was attending an IOPC stakeholders’ meeting.

The Deputy Chairman noted that diversity engagement with youth programmes was very important.

The Special Interest Area Lead for Equality, Diversity and Human Rights thanked Lucy Sandford, the Committee’s previous lead in this area, for her detailed handover and for setting up the City of London Youth Forum, which would provide a platform for people aged 13-19 to have their say on the services available to them in the City of London.

The Special Interest Area Lead also thanked the Equality and Inclusion Manager for personally attending the meeting as she had achieved a significant amount of progress since taking on the role.

The Special Interest Area Lead asked, in reference to paragraph 3 of the report, when the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) and Community Scrutiny Group (CSG) would likely be merged into a unified City of London Police Community Group (CPCG).  The Commissioner explained that once the outcome of the ongoing review was known, then a timeline for implementation would be brought back to Members as part of the next regular Community Engagement update. (4)

The Special Interest Area Lead asked if the community engagement review would endeavour to attract City workers to the new group as well as City residents.  The Equality and Inclusion Manager explained that a recruitment campaign was underway and that the review would look to target everyone, including small and large businesses.

A Member noted that a lot of work was being undertaken in this area and requested an update from the Commissioner on recruitment.  The Commissioner explained that the National College of Policing was looking at the issue of routes into Policing as there was concern amongst police chiefs over accessibility.  He explained that the conclusion of this would likely be made in Q1 of 2019.

A Member noted the table illustrating gender pay gaps showed that there were seemingly significant gaps and asked how these compared to other Police Forces.  The Equality and Inclusion Manager explained that approximately 75% of officers were male and 25% were female and these were in line with the national guidelines.  They explained that, as noted by Members, previously an error had meant the figures had been misrepresented to the Committee, but that CoLP were the second-best ranked Police Force nationally in terms of gender pay equality.

A Member noted that, without the numbers of individuals in each gender quoted, the table was of little use. It was noted that this was the format that employers had been asked to present the data.

A Member asked about BAME recruitment comparisons with other forces and the Equality and Inclusion Manager explained that, although CoLP were ranked second-best in terms of gender pay equality, they needed to improve recruitment of BAME and were working with the staff support networks to reinvigorate efforts.

A Member asked if the civilian staff gender pay gap data was available.  The Equality and Inclusion Manager explained that this had been requested from CoLC though had still not been received.  A Member noted that it had been difficult to obtain any data from HR and suggested that a representative might attend the Committee meeting in future.  The Town Clerk noted that there had been recent challenges in identifying the exact role and position of the Police Authority within the City of London Corporation, noting CoLP’s financial administration as an example of this.  He noted that staff support networks were separate between CoLC and CoLP and there would be a paper submitted to develop the Police Authority to enhance collaboration.

The Commissioner undertook to provide the civilian staff gender pay gap data to Members as soon as it was available via the Equality and Inclusion Manager. (5)

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.