NPCC – International Crime Coordination Centre Acceptance of Funding

MOPAC hosts the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). This paper seeks approval for the acceptance on behalf of the NPCC of upto £9,000,000 for 2021/22 of Home Office funding to support the International Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC).

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve MOPAC receiving up to £0.891m of funding in 2021/22 from the Home office via a Special Grant, on behalf of the NPCC, to guarantee continuity of the ICCC, which has been implemented as the policing contingency response to mitigate the risks associated with EU Exit.

2. Approve MOPAC entering into a grant agreement with the Home Office, on behalf of the NPCC, and receive up to £8.109mm of funding in 2021/22 to guarantee continuity of the ICCC.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The MOPAC hosts the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), providing business support services, under a nationally agreed collaboration agreement.

1.2. The NPCC established the International Crime Coordination Centre (ICCC) in March 2019 and the function is fully funded by the Home Office. The ICCC comprises a central coordination team based in London, a network of regional single points of contacts (SPOCs) who provide advice and help forces to use alternative mechanisms, and the National Extradition Unit (NEU) which is an operational team that provides national support to all forces in extradition cases.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The Home Office has approved the provision of grant funding of £8.9m to guarantee the operational continuity of the ICCC during 2021/22. A further supplemental bid for upto £100,000 is being considered in relation to PRUM capability which is an agreement to share biometric DNA, fingerprints and vehicles keeper data.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The NPCC have assured that the estimated costs will be fully funded from HO grant. Any costs not met by the HO grant funding will be funded from the NPCC budget and reserves. There is no financial exposure for MOPAC.

3.2. The funding only applies to 2021/22, and a HO sponsored project is underway to explore the options to streamline the current UK landscape for international policing.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 police and crime commissioners “must (a) secure the maintenance of the police force for that area, and (b) secure that the police force is efficient and effective”.

4.2. This grants will be paid to the MOPAC, as the host organisation for the NPCC, in exercise of the power conferred upon the Secretary of State for the Home Department under Section 48 of the Police Act 1996.

4.3. Under paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation the DMPC must approve “Bids for grant funding made and all offers made of grant funding; and/or where appropriate a strategy for grant giving”.

5. GDPR and Data Privacy

5.1. These proposals do not use personally identifiable data of members of the public therefore there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

6. Equality Comments

6.1. 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.

6.2. NPCC report that there are no equality implications arising from acceptance of this grant funding.

7. Background/supporting papers

Appendix 1 NPCC REPORT ON INTERNATIONAL CRIME COORDINATION CENTRE (ICCC)