Police Property Act Fund

This decision provides an update on the use of the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF) in 2018/19 and requests agreement for the use of funds.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is asked to agree the use of PPAF funds as follows:

• A maximum of £5,641,911 PPAF funding is allocated to LCPF Co-commissioning projects in 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21

• Additional one-off MPS costs in 2018/19 of managing PPAF property of £286,253.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. The Police (Property) Act 1897 and the Police (Property) Regulations 1997 enable the cash and surplus from certain property to be paid initially into an account (the Detained Monies Account) and following a period for claims into the Police Property Act Fund (PPAF). The Police (Property) Regulations 1997 enables police to make payments from the fund for charitable purposes, defray expenses and pay compensation.

1.2. The PPAF fund is used to cover the administrative costs of managing the service by the MPS and fund qualifying MOPAC expenditure on charitable purposes.

1.3. This decision provides an update on the use of funds in 2018/19.

2. Issues for consideration

MOPAC expenditure on charitable purposes - LCPF

2.1. Following a review commissioned by the DMPC in 2012 into the use of PPAF funds a new strategy was introduced in 2013. It was agreed that funds would be used to provide a sustainable funding stream for successful initiatives in support of MOPAC priorities and meeting the PPAF eligibility criteria, with London Crime Prevention Fund (LCPF) used as the main conduit for distributing funds. DMPCD 2013-96 agreed the LCPF budget for 2013/14 to 2016/17 including the draw-down of PPAF funding as necessary.

2.2. An annual budget of £1,300,000 PPAF funding is included in the MOPAC budget for allocation against LCPF expenditure based on historic and anticipated levels of PPAF transactions. There was no draw-down against PPAF funding in 2016/17 or 2017/18, with the PPAF draw down matching the profile of LCPF expenditure across the four year period.

2.3. From 2018/19, the LCPF budget has now been apportioned between direct borough funding (70%) and funding for co-commissioned services (30%). The LCPF Co-Commissioning Fund (CCF) Tranche 1 funding was allocated to organisations based on a competitive grant process that was open consortia of London Boroughs, other statutory organisations, VCS organisations or commercial organisations.

2.4. From 2018/19, it is proposed to use PPAF funding to fund the new LCPF Co-Commissioning Fund projects that meet the PPAF eligibility criteria.

LCPF Co-Commissioning Fund

2.5. PCD 310 agreed the funding allocation for the first tranche of the fund. A summary of the successful bids is outlined in table 1.

Table 1 – LCPF Co-Commissioning Tranche 1 successful bids

2.6. In line with the PPAF eligibility criteria, those projects where funding has been allocated to a registered charity and will be spent on charitable purposes will be funded from PPAF. Details of these projects are outlined in table 2.

Table 2 – Projects to be funded from PPAF

2.7. This decision requests approval to draw down a maximum of £5,641,911 from PPAF funding during the three-year period 2018/19 to 2020/21.

Administrative costs of managing the service

2.8. In 2015 MOPAC approved a review of the full recovery of the costs the MPS incurred, as per the Police Property Regulations for the “conveyance, storage and safe custody of the property and in connection with its sale or otherwise in executing the Regulations”, DMPCD 2015 124. This estimated an annual cost of £800,000.

2.9. In 2017/18 there were additional one-off costs associated with the management and transfer of PPAF property from various satellite locations due to the wider corporate estate transformation programme. In addition, there were new costs associated with the rise in the use and disposal of nitrous oxide cylinders. These have been in part mitigated by reduced staffing and finance contract costs. The 2017/18 costs are valued at £1,086,253. These costs are funded from the PPAF.

2.10. This decision requests approval for the additional one-off MPS costs of managing the PPAF property of £286,253.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. This decision paper requests approval for the use of PPAF as follows:

• A maximum of £5,641,911 PPAF funding is allocated to LCPF Co-commissioning projects over the three-year period from 2018/19 – 2020/21.

• Additional one-off MPS costs in 2018/19 of managing PPAF property of £286,253

3.2. These costs can be met by the PPAF fund.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC’s Scheme of Consent provides the DMPC with delegated power to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 and above.

5. GDPR/Data Privacy

5.1. The use of PPAF funding for these purposes does not use personally identifiable data of members of the public therefore there are no GDPR issues to be considered.

6. Equality Comments

6.1. Equalities implications were considered in the decision awarding the funding for the London Crime Prevention Fund Co-commissioning Fund Tranche 1, PCD 310.