Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

BUILDING CAPACITY
there is a direct and vital link between performance and the way an organisation obtains the
best people and develops the knowledge, skills and attitudes of those new recruits and of
existing staff.” (MPS Dignity at Work Guidance and Best Practice.)
“Everyone has learning and development needs of some kind, regardless of their role or rank
– although development needs differ in different situations.”
(MPS Performance Development Review.)
9.55 An effective appraisal system for all officers and staff is key to identifying these
development needs:
“The performance of our workforce is critical in achieving the business objectives of the OCU.
An opinion is formed and our performance is measured at every interaction and transaction.
It is essential to respond positively and with confidence to the needs of an organisation and
an OCU going through perpetual change, and the skills, knowledge and development of the
workforce is mission critical in keeping pace and meeting these demands.”
(Submission from the Child Protection Command.)
9.56 The HMIC inspection of the MPS for 2000/2001 found that “too many
HR processes are bureaucratic; for example, it requires enormous time and effort to apply
for promotion or selection for specialist posts, to complete appraisals and to apply to join
the MPS.”
9.57 Since this inspection, the HR Directorate has formulated its People Strategy,
which includes the use of Performance Development Reviews (PDRs) to assess and
build upon the strengths of individual officers and staff, and the Career and
Retention Unit as part of the Directorate of People Development.
9.58 However, AC Hogan-Howe told us that “the ‘People Strategy’ does not appear to
have met the expectations that were evident at its launch. The six main strands remain relevant,
but they appear not to have been embraced by the organisation and implementation is
perceived to be slow and patchy”, and that processes for appraisals, career development,
and promotion systems are regarded in the organisation as relatively ineffective.
9.59 Concern was expressed by the HMIC in its latest inspection report
(2002/2003): “The credibility of appraisal processes in the MPS is poor and effective
implementation of the new performance development review (PDR) process will be crucial.
Local training was being delivered on some of the BOCUs visited during the Inspection.
Unfortunately, because of competing training priorities and the limited availability of staff,
trainers and classrooms with the necessary IT, there was already a backlog of PDRs waiting to
be actioned because supervisory staff had not been trained. In addition, some local trainers
were not complimentary regarding their training and the corporate package which they were
expected to deliver. Her Majesty’s Inspector is concerned that there appears to be limited
central monitoring of the quality of local delivery, or evaluation of the impact of the training
programme. Both these issues should be addressed before the roll-out of the civil staff version
in order that important lessons can be learnt.”
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