PCD 1773 Criminal Exhibits Business Case

This paper seeks approval for the proposed transformation of the management and storage of MPS criminal exhibits.  The recommended transformation will include both functional and physical estate changes with the number of locations decreasing from 42, (40 Local Criminal Exhibit Stores and 2 long term facilities) to 6 (5 x purpose built all-encompassing hubs) and 1 long term facility.  Funding is currently not available to be able to approve the immediate whole-scale physical changes and so this paper sets out the requirements to develop the functional changes needed and a phased approach to the physical changes.  A full business case (FBC) will be developed which will set out the costs to implement the phased approach. MPS seek approval for the funding of £2,644,000 to develop the FBC by March 2026. 

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:   

1. Approve spend of £2,644,000 revenue (£1,032,000 in 2024/25 and £1,612,000 in 2025/26) for the programme team to support the detailed transformation design and development of the Full Business Case (FBC) for the delivery of the first of the five planned criminal exhibits hubs. 

2. Approve the preferred way forward of Option 3C in the Outline Business Case to transform the exhibits management system from 40 storage locations to 5 purpose built all-encompassing hubs. 

3. Approve initiation of procurement, and delegate the award of contract to the Director of Commercial Services, for design services (Lot 1) and Project and Cost Management Services (Lot 2) via the Professional Services Framework to develop the initial feasibility and subsequent detailed designs and costs for the fit-outs of the chosen sites in order to progress the FBC 

4. Approve initiation of procurement, and delegate approval to award contracts to the Director of Commercial Services, for the award of a managed consultancy service for the entire programme lifecycle if required. The programme team (external) support required to deliver this programme will be considered for inclusion within the Delivery Partner arrangements managed by Transformation Directorate (support provided by EY, Accenture and Baringa). However, if the support required falls outside of the scope of this arrangement then the contract will be competitively tendered via the Crown Commercial Services Managed Consultancy Framework 3 (MCF3) with the maximum cost of the contract being £8.494m. 

PART I - NON-CONFIDENTIAL FACTS AND ADVICE TO THE DMPC 

1. Introduction and background  

1. The management of criminal exhibits by MPS has been significantly criticised by both HMICFRS (in light of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report) and the Baroness Casey Review. 

2. In December 2023 MOPAC approved (PCD1553) investment of £1.5m to enhance the security of Criminal Exhibit Stores including access control, CCTV and alarms. 

3. The current physical provision of the criminal exhibits function is made up of 

• c300 transit locations 

• 40 Local Storage locations - Local Criminal Exhibit Stores (LCES) 

• 1 Deep Storage (Belvedere) 

• 1 Archive facility (Warspite Rd) – long term retention 

2. Issues for consideration 

1. The MPS report that most exhibit stores including the central and archive storage facilities, are at full capacity. Whilst the MPS state that a tactical programme work stream is addressing this by reviewing the exhibits retention principles any capacity gained through this exercise will only provide short term relief. A complete overhaul of the entire exhibits management system is the only way to ensure the long term sustainability of this critical function.  The MPS note that there has been numerous instances of mishandling, improper storage, and inadequate upkeep of evidence. 

2. This paper seeks approval for the proposed option to transform criminal exhibits management, which as well as changes to how the function operates would see the closure of 40 existing local criminal exhibit stores and transforming them into a network of 5 purpose-built all-encompassing hubs. 

3. Early-on the MPS rejected options for additional local stores and an option to out-source the function.  The options considered were 

• Functional-only change 

• Functional change with physical transformation – with three sub-options  

• Extra Deep Storage - 1 x additional ‘Deep’ storage and 5 ‘small’ hubs to replace the LCES. Storage locations reduce from 42 to 8. 

• Bigger Hubs – 5 x new ‘mid-sized’ Hubs to replace the LCES. Storage locations reduce from 42 to 7. 

• All-encompassing Hubs – local and deep storage at same facility – 5 x new large multi-functional hubs. Storage locations reduce from 42 to 6.  

4. Following evaluation the MPS recommend the third of these sub-options as the highest scoring. 

5. As well as the physical changes to provide for the physical storage capacity and physical management of the exhibits the paper seeks approval for the development of a range of ‘functional’ improvements.  These would involve development of a digital exhibits management solution, improvement to customer experience, a new set of policy, processes and procedures, a standard operating model, and training. 

6. The delivery of the transformation programme would address the New Met For London plan commitments about “fixing our foundations, securing victim outcomes and to build public trust and confidence.”  The CETP aims to deliver a future vision that will; 

• Improve victim outcomes by securing the chain of evidence, and ensuring property can be returned when necessary. 

• Have a future operating model that cultivates confidence and supports the organisation to meet its strategic objectives. 

• Reduce the distance officers have to travel to safely store or retrieve exhibits. 

• Have a security infrastructure at all storage locations and throughout the supply chain that is consistent. 

• Manage exhibits through consistent use of robust policy, principles, processes, standards and procedures. 

7. In recognition of the current budget situation the MPS has developed a phased approach for the physical estate changes which form part of the recommended transformation option. 

8. In order to progress the transformation of the criminal exhibits system the MPS seek approval for funding of £2,644,000 to develop the Full Business Case. 

3. Financial Comments  

1. The total budget to progress the outline business case and pathfinder proposal to the full business case stage is £2,644,000 of revenue and £130,000 of capital.  The capital cost will be funded from the existing Property Services capital budget, with the revenue being met by New Met for London funding. 

2. Over a period of 19 years the proposed approach of functional changes and phased delivery of the physical estate changes is currently costed at £178.2m.  The out-right implementation option was estimated at £187.1m.  At the end of the FBC stage the funding request for implementation costs for the first Pathfinder of the 5 proposed hubs is expected to be £4.367m in revenue budget and £13.846m in capital costs.  

4. Legal Comments 

1. The Directorate of Legal Services assure that the proposed contract actions are compliant with relevant procurement law.  

2. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above. 

3. Paragraph 4.13 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) has delegated authority to approve all requests to go out to tender for contracts of £500,000 or above.   

4. Paragraph 7.23 of the Scheme provides that the Director of Strategic Procurement has consent for the approval of the award of all contracts, with the exception of those called in through the agreed call in procedure.  Paragraph 4.14 of the Scheme provides the DMPC reserves the right to call in any MPS proposal to award a contract for £500,000 or above. 

5. Commercial Issues  

1. In order to progress to the full business case stage the commercial actions required are obtaining   

• provision of advice on site acquisition, town planning and leasehold negotiations 

• provision of legal property advice and support 

• design services and Project and Cost Management Services to develop the initial feasibility and subsequent detailed designs and costs for the fit-outs of the chosen sites. 

• managed consultancy service for the entire programme lifecycle.  

2. The provision of advice on site acquisition, town planning and leasehold negotiations is estimated at £30,000 to reach FBC stage, and would be obtained via a call-off contract to Knight Frank LLP from the Estates Management Services contract.  This does not require MOPAC approval.  

3. The provision of legal property advice and support is estimated at £40,000 and would be sourced from Lot 4 of the National Legal Services Framework (NLSF). This does not require MOPAC approval.  

4. The provision of design services (Lot 1) and Project and Cost Management Services (Lot 2) will be via the Professional Services Framework. The estimated cost to reach FBC is £130,000, with a potential value of £1,750,000 if all 5 hubs were to proceed. 

5. The provision of the managed consultancy service for the entire programme lifecycle is estimated to cost £8,494,000, of which £1,706,000 is required to reach FBC.  The service will be considered for inclusion within the Delivery Partner arrangements managed by the MPS Transformation Group (support provided by EY, Accenture and Baringa), or if the works required is outside the scope of the Delivery partner arrangement then the contract will be competitively tendered via the Crown Commercial Services Managed Consultancy Framework 3 (MCF3). 

6. As part of their appointment onto the Met frameworks, the delivery partners the Met will use to deliver this programme have committed to take specific actions to address London Anchor Institution Charter objectives.  As part of the framework management approach, the linkage between individual appointments and actions taken and the effectiveness of those actions in delivering the above commitments will be reviewed and assessed. The contracts will encourage the use of London supply chain specific initiatives including: apprenticeship levies; adherence to modern slavery and London Living Wage obligations; social value impact opportunities 

6. GDPR and Data Privacy  

1. MOPAC will adhere to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and ensure that any organisations who are commissioned to do work with or on behalf of MOPAC are fully compliant with the policy and understand their GDPR responsibilities.   

2. The MPS state that a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) will be completed by the programme during the ‘Design’ stage. The programme will ensure a privacy by design approach, which will allow the MPS to find and fix problems at the early stages of any project, ensuring compliance with GDPR. 

7. Equality Comments  

1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

2. The MPS state that at present no adverse impact on any protected characteristics has been identified. As the programme moves into the design stage and a detailed target operating model is developed, the programme team will conduct a thorough EIA assessment. 

8. Background/supporting papers 

• Appendix 1 MPS Report - Criminal Exhibits Transformation Programme Outline Business Case – Pathfinder Approach