Total budget allocated to the Disproportionality Board for the financial years 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025

Our response:

1. Overall Budget:

What was the total budget allocated to the Disproportionality Board for the financial years 2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025?

There is no specific budget allocated to any of our partnership boards, including the Disproportionality Board.

Please provide a breakdown of how the budget has been spent, including allocations for

1. • Staffing.

0.3 full time equivalent of an officer’s capacity has been dedicated to supporting the Disproportionality Board, which includes stakeholder engagement, administration, policy and agenda management. Additional capacity is provided to the Board as required , YJS and ACJS officers also contribute to each Board and as well as a minute taker. There is also senior MOPAC involvement from Head of CE, Head of E&I Director of Strategy, DMPC, DMCSJ. There is also External Reference Group contribution including the time spent on the board research commission as well as MOPAC officers.

1. • Research and data analysis (e.g., dashboards, public surveys)

To date the Board has commissioned two pieces of research at a total cost of £80,000. Please refer to the decision paper attached.

1. • Community engagement initiatives.

There are no specific initiatives solely associated with the Board.

1. • Governance and oversight activities.

This is part of business-as-usual activity .

2. External Expenditures:

Details of any external consultants or organisations contracted by the Disproportionality Board, including their scope of work and costs incurred.

See details above on externally commissioned research.

2. Progress Tracking and Accountability

Stop and Search Charter:

On what date was the MPS Stop and Search Charter adopted, and what budget was allocated for its development, implementation, and evaluation?

MOPAC does not hold this information, the MPS is responsible for the Charter.

What mechanisms have been funded to evaluate the effectiveness of the Charter, and how have these been utilised?

MOPAC does not hold this information. The MPS is responsible for this.

Key Metrics and Outcomes:

What measurable outcomes have been achieved through the Disproportionality Board’s activities since its inception?

The Disproportionality Board works to convene system leaders for the improvement of the criminal justice system in London. The purpose of the Disproportionality Board is for partners to work collectively to reduce disproportionality across the criminal justice system and to enable partnership leadership and delivery of the annual priority actions set by the Board each year.

The Board is focussing on developing the evidence base beyond stop and search statistics, disproportionality in policing, and in the adult and youth criminal justice systems.

To date the Board has helped enable:

· Better partnership engagement and understanding of disproportionality across the system​and opportunities for the delivery of a coordinated partnership response/view on shared issues of concern.

· More direct partner engagement around the Safer Schools Programme through the introduction of the Safer Schools Partnership Panel .​

· Partnership oversight of the overhaul of the GVM and introduction of the VHA​

· Opportunities to spotlight local delivery and good practice, e.g. the Haringey stop and search safeguarding pilot

· The Board has commissioned a suite of research into stop and search to build the evidence base and improve our understanding of why and how disproportionality occurs in the use of the powers, to understand the points of escalation and de-escalation in police encounters, and to understand how officer grounds are formed when deciding to conduct a search.

• The Board has ensured that partners have been able to inform the transition from the Gangs Violence Matrix to the Violence Harm Assessment approach.
• The Board has overseen the introduction of the External Reference Group to provide independent community involvement in the Board’s work, including in the stop and search grounds research.

Additionally key deliverables related ethnic disproportionality in youth justice action plan overseen by this Board:

• Having recognised that too many children in custody were waiving their rights to legal advice, the Met now operates on the presumption that every child coming into custody will want legal representation. The Child First Custody Training and Research Pilot (ChiRP) takes this a step further by aiming to improve the quality and appropriateness of legal advice given to children.
• The Tackling Disproportionality in Youth Justice Challenge Fund included £750,000 to support the implementation of the work of the Tackling Disproportionality in Youth Justice Action Plan. Funds went towards 3 12-month borough based projects in areas of particularly high disproportionality for local innovation to tackle the drivers of disproportionality. The remainder progressed some of the actions directly, including the development of guidance and information for children and families about out of court disposals, aimed at encouraging access to out of court options for children from ethnic minorities. Funds were also put towards a series of animations co-produced with children and young adults to tell children about their rights and processes in police custody.

Key deliverables related to tackling ethnic disproportionality in the Adult Criminal Justice System overseen by this Board include four working groups focused on pre charge and charge, courts and sentencing (primarily mapping key decision points and a drive to improve data collection), Offender and sentence management (including a review of the quality of staff training, and a mapping of existing services) and third sector/ service user engagement (including thematic discussions to regarding different stages of the CJS system).

In addition to this the Board is overseeing the commissioning of an appraisal of the commitments in the Action Plan to Reduce Ethnic Disproportionality in Youth Justice, their delivery and impact; the delivery and impact of the Disproportionality in Youth Justice Challenge Fund projects; the setup, delivery and impact of the four Adult Ethnic Disproportionality Working Groups; and previous and current transparency to the public and third sector on these actions. This is currently out for tender - The reference number for the project is: 925198028 and access code: 8528UDMH9T which can be found on Procurement, Contract & Tender Management - Delta eSourcing

How has the Board’s budget been utilised to address borough-level disparities in Stop and Search rates?

There is no specific budget allocated to any of our partnership boards, including the Disproportionality Board.

Please provide me with a comprehensive list of the policing powers that have been identified as having a disproportionate impact on BAME communities.

There are a range of policing powers that have a disproportionate impact on BAME communities. Information on these is available on the Mayor’s Action Plan dashboard and on the MPS dashboards for stop and search, custody and arrests, Use of Force, and stop and search more thorough searches

Provide me with details of policing disproportionalities on a borough-by-borough basis?

See above. Where it is available borough level data can be found in the relevant dashboards.

1. Community Engagement:

What funding has been allocated for engaging marginalised communities, including young people, in shaping Disproportionality Board policies and practices?

There is no specific budget allocated to any of our partnership boards, including the Disproportionality Board.

The Disproportionality Board was established as a result of the Mayor’s Action Plan for Transparency Accountability and Trust in Policing (MAP). The MAP was developed following a series of consultations with more than 400 individuals and groups that either work with or within Black communities in particular. The work was undertaken in response to concerns raised about the disproportionate use of police powers, including stop and search. In addition, MOPAC commissioned Black Thrive to undertake further consultation with Black communities to explore the issues of concern. Through that work we also heard from communities that they wanted to see increased transparency in police actions, decisions and communications; a police service that better reflects the city it serves; and improved community monitoring and involvement in reviewing the disproportionate use of police powers and complaints. The available data also indicates key areas of concern in terms of the use of police powers and trust and confidence in particular, and collectively these things have shaped the Disproportionality Board’s work programme.

On an ongoing basis, the MOPAC External Reference Group (ERG) have been represented on the Disproportionality Board since 2022. The ERG aims ensure community experiences of – and concerns about - policing are heard, and that they are acted on in order to improve policing practices for Black communities.

3. Governance and Oversight

1. Accountability Framework:

What portion of the budget is allocated for governance and oversight, including ensuring follow-up on Board recommendations?

See above response to question about budget and resources.

Please provide details of any independent reviews or audits of the Board’s activities and their associated costs.

No independent review or audit has been undertaken to date.

2. Transparency Measures:

What funding has been directed toward improving transparency, such as publishing borough-level data or community feedback reports? –

This is covered in our business as usual activity, with the regular publication of a variety of data (see above) and of the notes of the Disproportionality Board meetings.