Members welcomed the opportunity to review the Draft PSNI People Strategy. Members would like further details on how the success of the People Strategy will be measured and reported on to the Board, particularly in relation to representation of minority groups, for example, women, those from working class backgrounds, Catholics and BAME communities; both within the PSNI officer ranks and the civilian staff.
The Director of Human Resources will brief the Resources Committee on the Draft People Strategy, proposed Action Plan and related governance arrangements on the 18 November.
Through a process of internal consultation, key actions have been prioritised for the first year of this strategy, focusing on what is likely to have the greatest impact, These actions will be submitted in advance of the 18th November and the feedback of the Resources Committee will be of great assistance in finalising the action plan for the first year.
Delivery against the Draft People Strategy and Action Plan will be managed through the governance of our People & Culture Board, chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable. From January 2021 5 delivery groups will be established, reporting into the People & Culture Board, mirroring the People Principles set out in the strategy, namely:
- Being Representative & Inclusive
- Resourcing for the Future
- Leading Together
- Serving with Professionalism
- Valuing Health & Wellbeing
Once appointed, the new Executive Director for People & Organisation Development will be charged with the management of these delivery groups. Specialist project management support will also be attached to each of the delivery groups and analytical support will also be in place to ensure progress can be assessed and monitored, against the principles of Outcome Based Accountability. The Report Card mechanism recently agreed with the Policing Board will be adopted for all 5 delivery groups. Monthly progress reports will be submitted to the People & Culture Board.
It is intended that a yearly report will be submitted to the Resources Committee of the Policing Board. We would propose that a calendar of briefings throughout the year is agreed with the Resources Committee for the purposes of accountability.
The Director of Human Resources recently briefed the Resources Committee on the Policing Plan measure 2.3.1 ‘Improve representativeness of the Service across Ranks, Grades and Departments by gender, community background and socio economic background’. Work is ongoing to finalise this Report Card and it will be submitted to the Resources Committee as agreed in December 2020. Quantitative data will be shared on outreach, recruitment, retention, progression in specialist departments and promotion in higher ranks/ grades and grievance, discipline and bullying and harassment cases lodged against the referred to characteristics. Information will also be shared on; How much did we do?, How well did we do? And Impact?
Currently information is captured at recruitment stage regarding Socio Economic status and a report entitled PSNI Research: Recruitment from Working Class Areas (2019) was shared with the Resources Committee. To measure progression within the organisation against socio-economic status is challenging and the Director of Human Resources will discuss this with the Resources Committee.
It is acknowledged that the Policing Plan measure only pertains to three characteristics. Under the Being Representative & Inclusive delivery group, there will be focused activity and recording across all Section 75 characteristics.