Special Police Services Agreement with Quintain (Wembley) Limited

The paper seeks approval for the provision of policing services to Wembley Park, which provides retail and leisure businesses and rented housing.

The objectives of the police team include:

• to reduce the level of crime, and in particular knife crime – to prevent a culture of knife crime developing within the newly developed area;

• to reduce the level of disorder;

• to increase the feeling of safety among those who live, work and visit Wembley Park.

The annual cost of the dedicated police team of one sergeant and six constables totals £523,000 per year. The SPS agreement is for a period of three years commencing 1 April 2020.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is requested to approve the Special Police Services (SPS) Agreement between MOPAC and Quintain for a dedicated police support team at Wembley Park.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. Quintain own 85 acres of land at Wembley Park, which is home to Wembley Stadium (which, for the avoidance of doubt, has its own agreement to cover SPS within the stadium when there are events), SSE Arena Wembley, London Designer Outlet and Boxpark Wembley. As well as the retail and leisure businesses, Quintain also provides rented housing operating through its residential brand, Tipi. Tipi has 1,200 homes at Wembley Park, with a total of 5,000 planned homes to be opened by 2024.

1.2. Quintain have requested the support of a team of dedicated police officers consisting of one sergeant and six constables from 1st April 2020 for a period of three years.

1.3. The role of the funded police officers is to provide special police services at Wembley Park with a focus on visible patrols to combat crime and anti-social behaviour and partnership activity. It should be noted that the geographical area where the special police services is provided is land owned, leased or under the control of Quintain who also have their own security personnel deployed to the area in recognition of the responsibility for this location.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The objectives of the police team include:

• to reduce the level of crime, and in particular knife crime – to prevent a culture of knife crime developing within the newly developed area;

• to reduce the level of disorder;

• to increase the feeling of safety among those who live, work and visit Wembley Park.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. The charge for SPS to Wembley Park for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 is reflective of the full cost of one sergeant at £88,318 and six constables at £72,521 per constable. The charges for year one are £523,444 based on the SPS rates for 2020/2021, therefore the overall contract value is in excess of £1.5 million, and there is a provision in the contract which acknowledges that the charges may be increased annually in line with any updated rates.

3.2. The benefit to the MPS of the provision of the funded officers at Wembley Park is (in liaison with the core police officers who go to make up the full police team), the ability to work with Quintain’s own security team, in ensuring the residents of Wembley Park are reassured and safe in their own home and to make the location a far more difficult area f/or criminals to operate. The presence of the funded officers within the police team will reduce the level of emergency calls that North West BCU would have to respond and thereby ensure resources are not diverted from the policing of the remainder of the borough.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. There are no direct legal issues identified from the recommendations set out in this report.

4.2. The MPS may provide policing resources to Quintain under Section 25 of the Police Act 1996. Under that Act the Commissioner may, at the request of any person, provide SPS in accordance with legislation and current case law, subject to payment to MOPAC on charges on such scale and on such terms as it may determine. The SPS provided to Quintain complies with the requirements undersection 25 of the Police Act 1996.

4.3. The final decision rests with the DMPC as Section 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation requires the DMPC to approve the provision of policing services to external bodies where the contract value is £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 programme meets its compliance requirements.

5.4. The SPS Agreement does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, therefore, there are no issues to be considered in relation to the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR.

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 under Sec 149 of the Equality Act 2010. Real consideration has been taken to assess equality impact caused by the proposed business change including effective engagement and analysing relevant equality information. As a result no negative impact has been identified to any individual and/or group safeguarded by a protected characteristic and to those who are not.

7. Background/supporting papers

7.1. The MPS report.