MPS Police Now

This report outlines the proposed Single Tender Action in relation to the engagement of Police Now to provide graduate recruitment and training services to the Met for a further three year period. To award without competition and agreement for the continued provision of graduate recruitment and training services from 2020.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

• Award, without competition, an agreement for the provision of graduate recruitment and training services in 2020 to Police Now for a minimum of 50 up to a maximum of 200 candidates

• Approve an optional annual extension to extend the contract for up to a further two-year’s intake (2022) for a minimum of 50 up to a maximum of 200 candidates per year. This will be subject to the continuing availability of the current recruitment related revenue budget and Workforce Plan.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Police Now’s mission is to transform communities, reduce crime and increase the public’s confidence in policing by recruiting and developing an outstanding and diverse group of individuals to be leaders on the policing frontline and in wider society.

1.2. Both Met Commercial & HR are confident that there is no supplier in the market who can currently deliver the end to end recruitment and training delivery service, other than Police Now

1.3. The rationale for Single Tender Award to Police Now is not necessarily predicated upon a single criteria but a blend of criteria which includes:

• Police Now have an established brand in the market place. Any new supplier would need to build a brand equivalent to this and that it would diversify the market in an unhelpful way.

• Police Now is a national programme endorsed by the Home Office and College of Policing. 27 forces participate so for the Met to be part of an equivalent programme and for this to be tested in the market all forces would need to come in with the Met.

• The Met have done sufficient market testing through the recent PEQF procurement process to understand who is out there in terms of the police market. The Met would require a consortium or lead partner to bring together a range of providers to build an equivalent programme to Police Now. In going to market the Met would have to then incur design costs of a new programme and along with the Home Office subsidies, it is highly unlikely that there is anyone that would therefore be able to offer a programme at an equivalent price point or quality.

• HR, in conjunction with Commercial Services, have undertaken sufficient market testing to understand the capability of suppliers within the police market. There are currently no providers, other than Police Now, who can deliver an end to end recruitment service which manages the process through from attractions to DHEP accreditation. Whilst a consortium, or lead partner bringing together a range of providers, could theoretically build an equivalent programme to Police Now, this is not certain and testing the market would incur increased costs related to the design of a new programme along with the loss of the Home Office subsidy. It is therefore extremely unlikely that any other provider could offer the required programme at an equivalent price point or quality as Police Now.

• Police Now can deliver other tangible benefits to the Met such as a reduction in abstraction time, faster delivery to independent patrol status (IPS) and the end to end service delivery

1.4. It can therefore be concluded that Police Now are the only provider who can currently deliver the required services

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. This report outlines the proposed Single Tender Action in relation to the engagement of Police Now to provide graduate recruitment and training services to the Met for a further three year period. To award without competition and agreement for the continued provision of graduate recruitment and training services from 2020. MPS Commercial & HR are confident that there is no supplier in the market who can currently deliver the end to end recruitment and training delivery service, other than Police Now.

2.2. The MPS have had a relationship with Police Now for a number of years.

2.3. Given the attraction strategy of Police Now and their ability to attract candidates who would otherwise not considered policing as a career, the MPS considers it is value for money to use Police Now and intends to maximise this recruitment route.

3. Financial and Commercial Comments

3.1. The cost per participant to Forces will be £13,950. This represents an increase of £2,732 compared to the 2019 prices of £11,218 per participant. The apparent increase in price for 2020 is due to a 29% reduction in the Home Office subsidy from £11,861 to £8,303.

3.2. The final value of this contract will be dependent on the annual workforce plan and subsequent numbers that join the Police Now Academy in July 2020.

3.3. There is further detail about the financial implications in the restricted part of the report.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The MOPAC is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (the PCRs). All awards of public contracts for goods or services valued at £181,302 or more must be procured in accordance with the PCRs. This report confirms that the request exceeds the £181,302 threshold and therefore the PCRs are engaged.

4.2. Regulation 32 of the Regulations provides that MOPAC may award a public contract without publishing a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union where the services can only be provided by a single provider due to the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights, but only where no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement.

4.3. This report confirms that Police Now is the only provider legally capable of providing the service based upon their exclusive ownership of the Intellectual Property Rights to the Police Now Programme. The report also confirms that no other providers are able to provide an equivalent service and that this has not been the result of any artificial narrowing of the parameters of the procurement.

4.4. Paragraph 4.14 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime the authority to approve all contract exemptions of £100,000 or above.

4.5. The MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent (Scheme) provides the Director of Strategic Procurement has consent to approve the award of all contracts, subject to the agreed call in procedure. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime (DMPC) reserves the right to call in proposals to award contracts valued at £500,000 or above.

5. GDPR and Data Privacy

5.1. The MPS is subject to the requirements and conditions placed on it as a 'State' body to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. Both legislative requirements place an obligation on the MPS to process personal data fairly and lawfully in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals.

5.2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Section 57 of the DPA 2018, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIA) become mandatory for organisations with technologies and processes that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights of the data subjects.

5.3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights units within MPS will be consulted at all stages to ensure the project meets its compliance requirements.

5.4. The project does not currently use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no current GDPR issues to be considered. If the project uses personally identifiable data of members of the public at a later date DPIAs will be completed as needed.

6. Equality Comments

6.1. This business case has undergone initial equality screening. Due regard has been taken to the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty.

6.2. Police Now have proven their ability to recruit high calibre candidates with a range of backgrounds, abilities and experience. Police Now provides the Met with an opportunity to attract and retain talented graduates into the Met at a level that has not previously been possible. Their 2018 cohort considered of:

• Over 10% Oxbridge

• 62% Russell Group Universities

• 12% BAME and in London 23%

• 53% Female and in London 56%

6.3. Police Now’s ability to attract and retain BAME recruitment figures of 23% for London, when considered in the context of only 12% of UK undergraduates being from a BAME background these numbers are impressive.

6.4. Police Now encourages individuals and communities that are currently underrepresented within the Met to consider policing as a career of choice, as demonstrated by 71% of the 2018 cohort stating that they would not have considered a career in policing but for the Police Now programme.

6.5. The 2019 Met intake consists of 89 conditional offers (58% female and 18% BAME 37% BAME female). Police Now have delivered to target for Cohort 5 2019.