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Decision Conferencing adds value to Force Policing plan

I would recommend that any Force that has not used the Decision Conferencing process, to do so!

Rick Tazzini, Director of Finance & Administration

Situation

Essex Police conducted a trial of the Decision Conferencing process in 1999, holding one workshop for a territorial Division and a second for the HQ Training Centre.

Following on from the success of these two pilots, the Force commissioned a major review in 2000 of the allocation of resources in a further seven territorial Divisions, and two Force-wide Divisions (Crime and Mobile Support), and then held a workshop to consolidate the results of the previous nine workshops.

By 2004, the Force had the 2nd best performance in the UK, the 2nd lowest spend per head of population (£220 million net in 2004/5) and the 2nd lowest increase in Council Tax. However, the pressures for service growth continued to grow strongly, and it was clear that the Force budget for the following financial years would be very tight.

Vision

The Force’s 3-year Policing Plan would finish at the end of 2004/5; a new Plan was required from 2005/6 that reflected the anticipated financial position. The Chief Constable was keen to include members of the Police Authority in the shaping of the final budget.

How Catalyze helped

Following Planning Meetings in May and June 2004 with the Chief Constable and the Force’s Management Team, we co-ordinated the preparation for and the provision of four 2-day Decision Workshops – two for exemplar/specimen territorial Divisions (Braintree and Harlow), and two HQ Departments (Crime and Mobile Support).

Planning Meetings were held in July with the Commanders of each of the target divisions, and, later in the month, those identified as participants at the four workshops attended Briefing Sessions (one per workshop) on the Decision Conferencing process. Participants were set the task of identifying how their division/ department would respond to various budget reductions, and what opportunities they would want to develop if more resources were available.

In September, a Review Meeting was held with each group of participants to check progress on the preparation of these options and to resolve any questions and concerns. The final options were collated into a single document which was used as the input to the division’s/department’s 2-day workshop in October.

During each workshop all options were evaluated against their contribution (or lack of) to the Force’s strategic objectives. This resulted in two prioritised lists, one of possible ways to reduce the budget (starting with that which had the least impact per British Pound on the objectives), and one of proposed service developments (starting by that which offered the most benefit per British Pound).

The four sets of lists were reviewed and consolidated into two (unprioritised) lists of possible savings and growth bids. At their 1-day workshop in early November, the Force’s ACPO (Executive Team) evaluated the options contained in these two lists against the Force objectives and were able to explore a number of alternative budgets, focusing on which savings should be made (having the least impact on the Force objectives) and which of the proposed developments should thus be funded (those having a greater impact on the Force’s objectives than the savings to be made).

Following a final Briefing for members of the Police Authority, a significant subset of the options reviewed by the ACPO were then evaluated by members of the Essex Police Authority at a 1-day workshop in late November. This enabled the members to improve their understanding of the strategic decision-making process, to gain a shared understanding of the issues facing the Force, to appreciate the tough decisions that had to be faced and to explore alternative investment programmes.

The process was supported by Equity which allowed judgements to be modelled, and provided a means for the Chief Constable and members of the Police Authority to identify alternative budgets.

Outcome

• All of the Chief Constable’s objectives were achieved
• A number of deliverable budget scenarios were identified, allowing the Force to develop a financially sustainable 3-year Policing Plan
• Members of the Police Authority developed a clearer understanding of the pressures in all parts of the Force
• A substantial number of management actions were identified

Rick Tazzini, Director of Finance & Administration