Resource Management Outline Business Case

In summer 2017, the Optimising Response Programme Strategic Outline Case (SOC) was approved by the Mayor’s Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) to support transformational projects. The overall aim of the programme is to ensure that appropriate police resources are available at the time and location required to deal with demand. The programme’s vision is to provide the best service for London to use, whilst enabling the MPS to respond in the most effective and appropriate way.

Resource Management (RM) will transform the current resourcing operating model, processes and supporting systems, in order to enable the MPS to more effectively and efficiently plan and manage its resources.

The RM project started in late 2017 but was de-prioritised and paused in September 2018 to allow the Command and Control (C&C) project to progress. RM is a key contributor to realising the overarching benefits of the Optimising Contact and Response programme, as such it was re-launched in May 2019.

There are several critical drivers for the project:

• In order to meet increasing and varied demand, and to mitigate organisational risk, the MPS must utilise its resources more effectively, efficiently and flexibly.

• RM is a key enabler of the C&C project. Without a single source of the truth around where resources are, and the skills they hold, the MPS will not be able to deploy the right people, to the right place, at the right time.

• RM processes must be underpinned by modern technology that meets the needs of the MPS, and helps deliver efficiencies in resource management services.

Through greater visibility of resource, more efficient processes and one single source of the truth, RM will allow the MPS to be more proactive in the planning and allocation of resource. The MPS will be able to flex resource more easily and be able to more dynamically respond to planned and unplanned demand.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Approve the RM project to proceed to Full Business Case - Gate 3 Investment Decision.

2. Approve spend of £1.355M which is within the capital plan for a project team to complete the Detailed Level Design (DLD), procurement and production of the Full Business Case.

3. Approve the re-profiling of the capital plan based on the projected capital forecast.

4. Approve the use of the Solution Provider Framework commercial route.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The MPS is faced with an environment of changing demand, alongside pressure on its budget. In order to maximise investment in the frontline the MPS must ensure resources are used as efficiently as possible.

1.2. The MPS is moving from a place of declining officer numbers to one of growth for both Police Officers and Staff. 20,000 new Officers have been promised across England and Wales by 2022, with a yet to be confirmed number allocated to the MPS. Managing this uplift effectively is essential to deliver value for money.

1.3. Through greater visibility of resource, more efficient processes and one single source of the truth, RM will allow the MPS to be more proactive in the planning and allocation of resource. The MPS will be able to flex resource more easily and be able to more dynamically respond to planned and unplanned demand.

1.4. There is inconsistency in the working practices of resourcing across the organisation. RM will set clearly defined, consistent standards and governance, to drive better working practices in resource management.

1.5. Currently there is no efficient way to manage Aid across London. The current resourcing system (CARM) works in isolation and is not linked to skills, tasking or C&C. An RM solution and related process changes could improve efficiency, use fewer officers and be more equitable in Aid abstractions.

1.6. The ability to provide accurate skills and availability data is a critical enabler of C&C and will allow the deployment of the right people, to the right place, at the right time.

1.7. There is no single source of resource management across the MPS, with several disparate systems in use. This leads to inefficiencies and limits agility and grip. A single source of the truth could lead to process efficiency, improved decision making and clarity of resourcing in real-time.

1.8. Ageing technology (the current system is 15+ years old) is constraining visibility of resources and leading to inefficient processes. For example, the planning of annual leave, Aid, training and other abstractions is undertaken by each strand team and there are a number of local variances in these processes.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The current RM operating model and supporting systems are inefficient and limit operational effectiveness and resilience. Core RM processes are currently time-consuming and administrative heavy e.g. Event Planning, where users must interrogate multiple systems to ascertain the correct skills and availability of resources. This drives processes which rely on local expertise and system workarounds to achieve the desired result.

2.2. There is a critical dependency with Command and Control (C&C): RM is a critical enabler of the C&C project, without the skills and availability data provided by RM, C&C will not deliver its full benefits.

2.3. There is a dependency between the RM and Learning Digital Infrastructure project which is procuring a new Learning Management System (LMS), RM is dependent on LMS to provide accurate skills data. The two projects are working closely together to ensure a joined up approach to architecture and to ensure requirements are aligned.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The project is seeking to spend £1.355M to take the project to Full Business Case. The funds will cover: completing Detailed Level Design, running a procurement exercise and completing the FBC. This is fully funded from within the capital programme, but the programme will be re-profiled to reflect the forecast expenditure profile.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (the Regulations). All awards of public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £181,302 or above must be procured in accordance with the Regulations.

4.2. 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.

4.3. 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 budget virements or movements of £500,000 and above, (whether on a temporary or permanent basis).

4.4. 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.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. The preferred route for procuring these services is the Solution Provider Framework (SPF). The SPF provides a more holistic solution for the kind of requirements that the project wishes to deliver. The SPF framework is set up so that it can be used to procure an end-to-end solution, change management, long-term support and maintenance, as well as on-going professional services. There is a strong rationale therefore to procure an integrated solution that accounts for these different strands, as opposed to breaking the requirement up into parallel tenders.

5.2. It should also be highlighted that the SPF is a corporate route to market. The MPS has spent significant time and effort working with the suppliers on the framework, educating them about the complex MPS ICT environment, the values the MPS is based on, and the everyday challenges the organisation faces. The suppliers on the framework are therefore much better placed than others to act as an integrator for a large, transformation project.

5.3. A further point that should be drawn out is that the number of contract schedules in the SPF gives the MPS more protection than what would be available through other frameworks. The contract schedules were designed to cover the extensive risk profile that the MPS has to manage and so are ideal for the level of risk involved in delivering resource management.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. 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.

6.2. 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.

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

6.4. A DPIA has been completed for this project and will remain a live document until implementation is complete. The project 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. DPIAs support the accountability principle, as they will ensure the MPS complies with the requirements of GDPR and they demonstrate that appropriate measures have been taken to ensure compliance

7. Equality Comments

7.1. An Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed as part of the production of this business case to identify potential positive and negative equality impacts towards people who fall within the protected characteristics under the Equalities Act 2010. Access considerations were documented and taken into account. The Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Unit were consulted as part of this EIA and OBC

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. Report