SPA Board Meeting Wednesday 30 April 2014, 13:00hrs Airdrie Town Hall, Stirling Street, Airdrie

Transcription

1 Meeting SPA Board Meeting Date and Time Wednesday 30 April 2014, 13:00hrs Location Airdrie Town Hall, Stirling Street, Airdrie Title of Paper Human Resources Item Number 15 Presented By John Gillies For Approval / For Information FOR INFORMATION Appendix Attached: NO PURPOSE To provide members of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) with an overview of activity within the arena of Human Resources and Training & Development. 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 This paper represents the joint submission for the SPA and Police Scotland in relation to matters relating to People and Development. 2. FURTHER DETAIL ON REPORTING TOPIC RESOURCE GOVERNANCE & COORDINATION People Metrics 2.1 As at 31 January 2014, there were 6,501 (headcount) and 5,986.6 (FTE) permanent, temporary and agency staff across SPA and Police Scotland. This represents a reduction of from 31 January 2013 to 31 March 2014 with the majority of leavers being associated with the ongoing organisational change programme. In addition to these figures, there are 8 staff currently on career breaks. Police Officer numbers are reported to the Scottish Government and published on a quarterly basis on the Scottish Government website with the most recent report being issued on 4 March This reported police officer numbers at 31 December 2013 as being 17,257.9 (FTE), with the first sub-national breakdown of police officer numbers simultaneously published on the Police Scotland website. The next set of government statistics on police officer numbers has been brought forward and will be published on the Scottish Government website at the beginning of May 2014 with the related sub-national breakdown again being published on the Police Scotland website. 1

2 Supernumerary Employees 2.2 There are currently 62 supernumerary employees across SPA and Police Scotland. Since the inception of SPA/Police Scotland, 11 supernumerary employees have been appointed into permanent roles within the organisation. Processes continue to seek to redeploy those displaced through organisational change and also to seek to identify those who wish to leave through VR/ER and thereby create opportunities for the staff displaced through organisational change but who wish to remain in service. Staff Recruitment 2.3 For the full financial year 2013/14, 296 internal adverts for police staff vacancies were advertised across Scotland. These are advertised firstly to the supernumerary and at risk pool for 1 week and if there is no interest shown they are advertised to the wider police staff community. Primacy is always given to at risk / supernumerary employees who apply, regardless of whether they apply during the first week, or at a later stage of advertisement. The process of advertising first to the supernumerary / at risk staff is designed to reduce the potential of staff who are pursuing vacancies for promotion etc spending time on applications to be disappointed when they find their applications is not progressed because supernumerary / at risk applications are received and considered first. 73 police staff posts have been advertised externally mainly for more specialised roles and senior appointments. Police Officer Recruitment 2.4 For the full financial year 2013/14, 503 new probationers were recruited to Police Scotland. It is anticipated that a further 360 will be recruited before the Commonwealth Games 2014, including the two intakes listed below: Circa 120 on 12 May 2014; Circa 160 on 16 June These new probationers will be sufficiently trained to be deployed during the Commonwealth Games either at the event or in Local Policing Divisions for the duration of the Games. It is anticipated that intakes will continue on a monthly basis for the foreseeable future to support recruits required for 2014/15. Since the recruitment process was reopened for new applications, Police Scotland has received over 3,300 applications. 2

3 411 internal Police Officer recruitment adverts have been placed since 1 April During 2013/ Special Constable commenced training, 120 during September/October and 80 in March. Promotion Processes 2.5 Process to the rank of Sergeant 1084 application packs were requested and are at various stages of the process. This is an open process and as applications are received they are processed accordingly. The first selection panels took place in mid March. Process to the rank of Inspector 730 applications were requested and are at various stages of the process. This again, is an open process and as applications are received they are processed accordingly. Demand for National Selection Panels is reviewed weekly. Currently 6 National Selection Panels for promotion to Sergeant and Inspector have been scheduled for April (Future reports will update on the profile of candidates progressing through the various stages of the two process listed above) Process to the rank of Chief Inspector The process opened on the 3 March 2014 and initially closed on Monday 24 March application packs were requested; with 200 returned. At the advertised closing date it was noted that there were fewer applications than had been initially anticipated. Demand forecasting identified a need for a significant number of officers at this rank in the coming months, and a decision was therefore taken to extend the closing date to 5 May 2014 to allow further applications to be submitted. This move was also supported by a message from the Chief Constable inviting additional applications from all eligible staff. This was discussed in advance with the Federation. The message from the Chief Constable was issued to help counter some existing concerns regarding the promotions and posting & transfer process. In this context it had been identified that there may be some concerns regarding the removal of geographical protection of officers on application for a promotion or on the acceptance of a promoted post. The Chief Constable has reassured all current and potential candidates as follows: Every applicant who is successful at National Selection Panel will be sent a Posting Preferences Form, to allow them to advise the Resource Governance Unit as to their preferred work locations. Police Scotland is committed to deploying officers in accordance with their stated preferences wherever possible. 3

4 This approach seeks not only to reassure officers of the manner in which we intend to deploy from the pool of successful candidates but also aligns with our extended work in relation to securing a more balanced workforce profile across all ranks in Police Scotland. Process to the rank of Chief Superintendent The process opened on the 13 March 2014 and closed on the 7 April Applications were invited from both internal and external candidates. Posts were advertised externally in the Police Professional Journal (2 responses were received) and on the Police Superintendent Association of England and Wales website (6 responses were received). In total 41 application packs were requested, 8 of which were from out with Police Scotland. 28 applications were finally received and we are currently planning for interviews anticipating that they will be held in May/June. Voluntary Redundancy / Voluntary Early Retirement 2.6 The National Voluntary Release Panel has met on 21 occasions and reviewed 827 applications for VR/VER. To date, 707 applications have been approved and 89% (632) of those being formally confirmed and accepted. 7% (46) formally offered VR/VER after the panel approved their application chose to reject the offer at this point in time and there are a further 4% (29) of applications pending a decision to accept or reject the offer. The full list of VR/VER applications continues to be scrutinised on a regular basis by both SPA and Police Scotland as a number of new applications continue to come in. The VR/VER panel continues to meet regularly to review applications. Based on the current profile, the total cost of releasing all those who have been approved, accepted or awaiting response to formal offer is c 19.8 million. The cost/payback profile is currently 1.06 years based on a full year savings of c 18.8 million. Included in the total VR/VER applications approved to date there are: 522 accepted with 3 pending decisions where staff will leave during 2013/14. This will generate savings in 2013/14 of c 5.4m (full year saving c 14.7m); and 110 accepted with 26 pending decisions where staff will leave during 2014/15. This will generate savings in 2014/15 of c 3.6m (full year savings c 4.2m). HR Performance Management 2.7 The reports provided since 1 April 2013 have included statistics against some functional activity but these have been high level, have not provided significant context and also do not in the main facilitate trend analysis to support performance review. However, following detailed discussion at the HR & Remuneration Committee, proposals have been developed for 4

5 consideration by the Committee involving the creation of a dashboard of data for both police officers and police staff, designed to report key data at the appropriate level of the Scottish Police Authority, internally in Police Scotland and, where required, to the Scottish Government. The following reporting structures and frequencies are proposed: SPA Full Public Board Topic Data/Presentation Frequency Police Officer Numbers Chart, line graph, including previous three quarters for comparison/trend. Police Staff Numbers Chart, line graph, including previous three quarters for comparison/trend. Attendance Management Police Officers & Staff Chart, line graph, local policing and specialist divisions by command area, per month and includes previous 5 months. Health & Safety - Accidents To be ascertained through separate report being prepared for the SPA. Equality & Diversity police/staff by gender, service and rank Recruitment - Police officer and Police staff Chart and tables; Police officers by gender/rank/service and staff by gender and service. Chart, line graph, police officer distribution by local policing division on YTD basis. Police staff and specialist divisions by command area, per month and includes previous 5 months. Bi-annually 5

6 Topic Data/Presentation Frequency Leavers - Police officer and Police staff Chart, line graph, police officer distribution by local policing division on YTD basis. Police staff and specialist divisions by command area, per month and Employee Relations grievances and discipline Financial Overtime spend includes previous 5 months. Chart, line graph, police officer/staff grievance, by command area, and police staff discipline, by command area. Chart, bar graphs, police overtime distribution and budget variance by local and specialist policing division on YTD basis. Quarterly Staff Satisfaction Options to be explored over coming months for input to future reports. Quarterly/Bi -annually (tbc) More detailed performance and management information will be prepared for the Police Scotland Senior Leadership Board, Divisional Commanders and Heads of Department (including SPA / Forensics). These reports will support strategic and operational decision making and will be available for the information of Police Authority members to underpin or facilitate more detailed examination of the high level detail outlined above. The foregoing outlines the proposal for current reporting arrangements. However, the reporting framework will remain flexible and adaptable to ensure members requirements are met and relevant HR metrics are reported to support members statutory duties. STRATEGY & SPECIALIST SERVICES HR Policies and Standard Operating Procedures 2.8 The following SOPs were published on 1 April 2014: Attendance Management - Police Officers and Authority/Police Staff; Capability (Attendance and Capability) - Police Officers; Capability (Attendance and Capability) - Authority/Police Staff; and Ill Health Retiral/Injury on Duty - Police Officers. The following SOPs were submitted to the April HR and Remuneration Committee for approval/noting as appropriate: Accelerated Career Development Programme - Police Officers; Allowances and Expenses - Police Officers; International Training Deployment - Police Officers and Authority/Police Staff; Parental Leave - Police Officers and Authority/Police Staff; and 6

7 Postings and Transfers - Police Officers. On 1 April 2014 the Police Service of Scotland (Conduct) Regulations and Police Service of Scotland (Performance) Regulations 2014 came into effect for Police Officers. With the introduction of these Regulations aspects of attendance must now be managed in line with the requirements of the regulation. The Attendance Management SOP has been constructed to ensure that it is fit for purpose to meet the challenge of the new regulations. HR staff from across the country were briefed, following which local cascades took place, ensuring that HR practitioners working to advise the business on aspects of the new SOP will be equipped to do so effectively. Further, HR Business Partners have / will attend a variety of Senior Management s to update those managers on the important changes to current practices contained within the SOP and assess any other specific requirements that they may have within their business areas. Guidance in support of the new SOP e.g. on how to record relevant information in respect to attendance on SCOPE, etc., have also been constructed in support of the SOP rollout, and will be published on the intranet. Health, Safety & Wellbeing 2.9 There are 8 key deliverables: 1. A published set of H&S key roles and responsibilities for SPA and Police Scotland; 2. A published H&S Strategy for SPA and Police Scotland; 3. A published H&S Action Plan for 2014/15; 4. A published H&S Standard Operating Procedure (SOP); 5. A meaningful H&S performance dashboard; 6. A H&S Intranet page accessible by all SPA and Police Scotland staff that can access Generic Risk Assessments and Guidance documents; 7. A H&S Training Plan agreed with Police Scotland Training for 2014/15; and 8. A 3 year H&S Audit Plan to commence late The document set, including the roles and responsibilities, strategy and action plan and standards operating procedure, are going forward to the HR and Remuneration Committee in May 2014 for approval. The SOP will link to all generic risk assessments and guidance documents on its publication, all of which will be hosted on current intranet page. Police Scotland Health and Safety Board convened on 19 March 2014 where, in addition to business as usual, members were updated on project progress. 7

8 TRAINING AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT 2.10 Preparatory work is ongoing to fulfil the Search training requirements for the Commonwealth Games 2014, which will see 2,500 police officers trained in advance of the Games. Work is at an advanced state across the country to ensure that police officers across Scotland are appropriately certified in terms of Officer Safety Training in advance of the Commonwealth Games. PEOPLE & DEVELOPMENT TRANSFORMATION 2.11 The work to deliver the steady state People & Development function continues to make progress. Five group consultation sessions were held for all legacy People & Development staff (not including Training staff) and these were concluded on 20 March Those sessions included attendance from both Health and Safety and also Resource Management teams, both of whom will form part of the new People & Development function. Work continues with Training, Leadership and Development and HR (including H&S and Resource Management) in terms of one to one s, with counter proposals being received and under consideration. Given the number of one to one s to be completed across the function (circa 650) it is anticipated these will be held over the month of April and May. A report will be provided in due course on the final proposed model to the HR & Remuneration Committee. 3. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 3.1 There are no additional financial implications associated with this paper other than those identified in PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS 4.1 There are no additional personnel implications beyond that already set out in the paper. 5. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS 5.1 There are no legal implications associated with this paper. 6. REPUTATIONAL IMPLICATIONS 6.1 There are no reputational implications associated with this paper. 8

9 7. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS 7.1 There are no social implications associated with this paper. 8. EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS 8.1 There are no equality implications associated with this paper. 9. CG2014 IMPLICATIONS 9.1 There are no direct implications on the CG2014. RECOMMENDATIONS Members are invited to note the content of this report. 9