Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

PEOPLE ISSUES
description. Management decisions will be some of the hardest decisions MPS
personnel will make in their working lives.
4.13 We will be dealing with leadership and management in more detail later in
this report but we wish at this stage to say something about the role of HR in
creating an environment which helps managers manage.
4.14 Good leaders and managers require clear objectives and a framework in
which to operate. This means clear and simple procedures which are easy to
understand and which facilitate effective management.
4.15 The HR directorate must have responsibility for leading the policy
development process, involving relevant stakeholders and ensuring that policies are
fit for purpose. However, it also needs to have a guardianship role, ensuring that
policies are complied with, that they are kept under review and adapt to changing
needs. HR policies must therefore be at the forefront of the corporate agenda.
4.16 We have noted the work that has already been undertaken within the
directorate in terms of reducing the number of HR policies. However, we are
concerned that the total of 89 core HR policies (at the time that Mr Hogan-Howe
gave evidence to us) appears somewhat excessive, although we understand that
work is in progress to reduce that total further.
4.17 The HR directorate leads the policy development process in the MPS and the
efficacy of policies is checked through the work of the HR evaluation unit which
assesses the application of policies on the ground.
4.18 However, we are concerned by the information from our survey of all officers
and staff which indicates that only 19% of those who responded agree that HR /
employment policies are consistently and fairly applied across the organisation, a
result which falls short of the Work Foundation’s benchmark score (established by
reference to similar surveys with other public and private organisations) by a
significant margin (-0.45 as compared with -0.13).
We recommend that the policy review process be given new momentum with
a view to simplifying and reducing the number of human resources policies
even further.
4.19 HR also needs to support managers in their work. Increased devolution means
that day to day support is likely to come from personnel managers working side by
side with the borough and departmental managers they support. But a devolved
structure also requires a strong central HR service which can support local
personnel managers as well as local management.
4.20 The central function also has a leadership role with responsibility for
identifying and spreading best practice throughout the organisation.
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