Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

THE CASE FOR CHANGE
9.77 The problem was recognised in the Virdi Inquiry Report:
“Police officers, it was agreed, are not appropriately skilled or trained in personnel matters.
Their training simply does not provide them with the professional ‘capital’ and competence to
adequately deal with many of the critical internal human resources problems they face.”
9.78 It seems likely that the same issue applies to police staff and the problem is
not unique to the MPS. To quote Sir Michael Lyons:
“… you find it in any area of public service, and probably we look to lots of areas of the
private sector as well, where people come out of a professional area where they are prized
for their individual contribution in this work and then you say,‘you have done so well there, we
now want you to manage other people to do that job’, as if somehow those skills have been
developed and there is absolutely no reason to believe they would have been.”
9.79 We have been told by a number of witnesses that the solution is more
management training for officers and staff. By way of example, the Metropolitan
Police Federation’s submission called for “the situation where all members of staff
regardless of rank or grade receive proper and adequate training before they are required, or
allowed to undertake any personnel role.”
9.80 AC Hogan-Howe told us that the MPS attaches considerable importance to
management training, and was proposing to dedicate 4% of all proposed training
days in 2004/2005 to management training, as compared with 1% in 2003/2004.
He also told us that a “diverse range of management training is provided locally, covering
specific topics such as attendance management, PDR training and supervisors training.”
9.81 We see formal training as part of the solution and recognise that it can be useful
for some individuals and in relation to some issues such as the detail of personnel
procedures and how to implement them. However, we endorse Sir Michael Lyons’
preference for “development rather than training” and, like him, we are “sceptical about
the extent to which off-the-job training can play more than a small part in this process.”
9.82 If the MPS is to enhance the skills of its managers, people issues need to be at
the top of the agenda of every manager in the MPS and “People have to understand
that development actually affects what they are doing.” (Evidence of Sir Michael Lyons.)
9.83 In short, we agree with Nigel Whittaker’s comment that “training for training’s
sake is a huge waste of money; people go to the training and then they forget it afterwards.
It has to be reflected and embedded in what the organisation is about.”
9.84 The best way to achieve this, we think, is for the MPS to develop a culture where
development and training is not seen as something that is ‘done to’ the individual
but rather something for which each officer and member of staff, whether manager
or managed, has a responsibility. To quote Sir Michael Lyons again “this essentially is
about commitment to make the journey. Partly you have to identify that this is a person
capable of doing it, but also that they want to make the journey of self development.”
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