Bid for National Taser Funding

This paper is to obtain approval for the MPS to bid for funding from the National Taser Funding. Should the MPS be successful in receiving funds, a further decision will be prepared to formally request approval to:

(a) accept the grant funding,

(b) outline the proposed spend and procurement of the additional Tasers, and

(c) detail how the ongoing cost of the additional consumables associated with the uplift will be funded.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to approve the request to bid for Home Office funding for Tasers. The national uplift is for £10M of which £2.5M is in 2019/20 and £7.5M in 2020/21.

1. Introduction and background

1.1 On 5 November 2019 Kit Malthouse, Minister of State for Crime Policing and the Fire Service, wrote to Forces to invite bids for a national Taser uplift against a £10m fund.

1.2 Following receipt of the letter, it is the intention of the Metropolitan Police to bid to the Home Office for funding to purchase an already identified need for additional Tasers.

1.3 The Home Office announced on 13 January 2020 that forces can bid for funding.

2. Issues for Consideration

2.1 The Home Office fund is for Taser devices only and it will be for the MPS to fund associated consumables.

2.2 Should the grant bid prove successful a further paper will be submitted through the governance process to formally request approval to (a) accept the grant funding, (b) outline the proposed spend and procurement of the additional Tasers, and (c) detail how the ongoing cost of the additional consumables associated with the uplift will be funded.

3. Financial Comments

3.1 The national funding, which is split across financial years 2019/20 and 2020/21, is of £2.5m and £7.5m respectively.

3.2 The bid for funding does not commit the MPS to a specific spend.

4. Legal Comments

4.1 In accordance with paragraph 4.8 of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime’s Scheme of Delegation and Consent approval for the grant bid is sought from the DMPC.

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 project meets its compliance requirements.

5.4 The project does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public, so there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

6 Equality Comments

6.1 There are existing equality impact assessments for the deployment of tasers. This bid for funding does not significantly change this impact.

6.2 Should the MPS be successful the subsequent request to accept the funding will include regard for the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty.

7 Background/supporting papers

None.