New Organisational Arrangements

Transcription

1 New Organisational Arrangements National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme With effect from 1 Apr 2014 the intent is to place the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS) under new organisational arrangements. Police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will continue to be the primary beneficiaries of the National Scheme and will retain a controlling influence over the future development of the Scheme through the roads policing lead. The new organisational arrangements are shown below but can be summarised as a private, not for profit company, which also attracts charitable status for aspects of its work. This charity to be known as the Road Safety Trust conducts management and administration of the Scheme through a wholly owned subsidiary not for profit company to be known as UK Road Offender Education (UK ROEd). The role of the independent Trustees of the Road Safety Trust is to support the police in the development of driver behaviour re education courses, to oversee and support the work of UK ROEd staff and directors and to award grants to worthy initiatives that are seeking to improve the road safety in the UK. The Charity and its subsidiary will be subject to oversight and audit commensurate with other local government bodies in addition to the its legal obligations to the Charity Commission and Companies House. The overall ambition is to ensure that the Scheme s organisational arrangements are transparent and focused on improving the safety of UK roads for all users. Detailed below are the answers to some of the questions you may have in respect of the Scheme and the new arrangements, should you have any others please direct these to Dave Jones, the Road Safety Business Manager, details below: Dave Jones, Road Safety Business Manager dave.jones@acpo.pnn.police.uk Telephone: Training Providers Timebound Monitoring & QA Police Forces Member direction through representation SLA Road Safety Trust UK ROEd Ltd NDORS New Organisational Arrangements and Other Party Linkages The police forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be the exclusive members of the Road Safety Trust. UK ROEd operations conducted in accordance with a Service Level Agreement. Road Safety Initiatives Up to twice yearly awards to road safety initiatives at the discretion of Trustees. Financial and organisational oversight by Charity Commission and Treasury. 1

2 The Scheme What is NDORS? The Scheme is a mechanism through which police forces can make a discretionary offer to offenders who commit some road traffic offences. The scheme offers behavioural re training to members of the public in lieu of a fine and receiving points on their drivers licence. Offenders do not have to take up the offer and may elect to accept the fine/points or challenge the prosecution through the courts. In 2013 approximately 1.2 million people took up the discretionary offer. Has the basis for the Scheme been reviewed? Yes. The National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme ( Scheme ) has been in continuous operation, in its current form, since Legal advice was taken several years ago from a prominent Queen s Counsel who confirmed the legal basis for the Scheme including the application of police discretion aligned to the public interest test. In respect of the charging for courses, the decision to offer a course to a driver does not impose any obligation on the driver to attend the course. The driver retains the right to refuse the offer of attendance on the course and instead opt for a fixed penalty and points or contest the allegation or the penalty for it in court. The police, on behalf of the State, are simply offering the opportunity to receive a service in the form of an educational course that has been properly evaluated and is believed to offer a benefit. There is bound to be a cost involved in providing that course but that does not mean that, having devised it, the State is obliged to meet that cost. Indeed the provision of free courses, at a cost to the Police authority, might itself be judged an unreasonable use of public money. In deciding to attend a course, the driver is exercising a choice. The cost of the course to the driver is the cost of exercising that choice. The course fee, whether it is paid to the Police as an intermediary or directly to the course provider, is part of the agreement that the driver enters into by accepting the offer to attend a course. This is distinct from the driver paying a fee to avoid a prosecution or other penalty. In addition, there can be nothing objectionable in building into the course fee an element to cover detection and processing costs, since the basis of the offer must be a belief in evidential integrity and a proper identification of the offender. Provided that levy properly reflects the cost of reaching the point of being able to make the offer it will not be unreasonable. Why are changes to the organisational arrangements necessary? The organisational arrangements are no longer adequate to support the Scheme s throughput. In addition, ACPO, the existing governing body is likely to be reshaped and the contracts that it established are approaching the end of their natural life. Since its inception, the Scheme has grown considerably and now involves hundreds of thousands of users each year. It is envisaged that the Scheme may continue to grow in terms of scope of courses and participation. As a direct result it should expect to come under greater public scrutiny. The new governance model will place the operation of the Scheme under the direct control of police forces and also facilitate oversight by 2

3 independent people, in the guise of Trustees of the Road Safety Trust. It is anticipated that greater transparency will further improve confidence in the Scheme and its operation; it will also make it easier for the police forces to demonstrate the public benefits the Scheme generates. What Courses are provided through the Scheme? The courses that currently fall under the schemes umbrella include: low level speeding (speed awareness) Use of mobile phones whilst driving Careless driving Will the concept of operation change? No. The decision to offer the course will reside with police forces who will consider whether the nature of the offence falls within their offer criteria. They will also interrogate a central database to establish whether the offender has completed a related course within the last 3 years. If both situations are met the offer is made. The offender has the choice as to where they undertake the course. What are the advantages of a National Scheme? Increased access to training providers, central coordination and QA and cost avoidance by police forces. Through the National Scheme the public can choose to undertake the training at a location that is convenient to them; this choice also introduces competition in the pricing of courses between providers. The National Scheme also provides a central database that records all users of the Scheme in the preceding 3 years. The Scheme has established common quality assurance standards that will coordinate the research development in support of the furthering road safety strategy. How will the quality of courses and training be assured? Through QA providers. UK ROEd is in the process of finalising arrangements for the quality assurance of all training providers and the staff they employ. Who provides the training courses? Police Forces directly or private companies awarded following a competition. Some police forces provide the courses themselves but most have run a competition and awarded a time bound concession to a training provider who is required to offer courses across the geographic coverage of the police force. 3

4 New Organisational Arrangements Will ACPO be involved in the future organisational arrangements or decision making? No. The Road Safety Trust s relationship will be with the office of the chief constable or the PCC for each force. The National Lead for Road Policing will canvas the opinions of these members when required as occurs now. ACPO are fully aware of the intent to introduce new arrangements and are supportive of the endeavour. Can the police establish a company to provide services on their behalf? Yes. Public bodies are permitted, under case law known as the Teckal principle, to obtain services from "in house" sources provided that the commissioners, in this case police forces, exercise overall control over the governance and the operating structure. Moreover, services must be run for the benefit of commissioners and the public. They are permitted to create a private company to achieve this. What is The Road Safety Trust? The Road Safety Trust is a newly incorporated private company limited by guarantee. Police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are being invited to be members of the company; each will hold a unit share. An application is being submitted to the Charity Commission to apply for status as a registered charity in support of its objectives to make grants to road safety initiatives. What is UK ROEd Limited? A private company limited by guarantee. The name UK ROEd is derived from United Kingdom Road Education emphasising its focus on the education and training of drivers across the UK. UK ROEd Limited ( UK ROEd ) is a newly incorporated private company limited by guarantee. UK ROEd will be the entity that administers the Scheme on behalf of police forces who elect to be members of the Road Safety Trust. Can the police forces be members of The Road Safety Trust? Yes. Generally, UK police forces are not legal entities in themselves. Accordingly, a police force typically enters into contracts through the office of its chief constable, being a corporation sole. The individual chief constable will not personally be a member of The Road Safety Trust. Rather the office of the chief constable will be the member. This means if there is a change in a chief constable of a police force, the membership does not need to transfer. Each police force should ensure it has its necessary internal approvals in place in order to agree to become a member. This is expected to involve each chief constable obtaining the consent of its Police and Crime Commissioner. 4

5 Do the police forces need to follow a public procurement process in order to appoint UK ROEd to administer the Scheme? No. The planned governance structure of the Scheme will mean that the police forces, through The Road Safety Trust, will be able to exercise direct control over UK ROEd. This means that UK ROEd, whilst a separate legal entity will be, from an operational perspective, similar to an internal department of the police forces. Police forces can rely on a public procurement exemption which is available in these cases called the Teckal exemption. The availability of this exemption will require the police forces to be members of The Road Safety Trust. Why establish a company limited by guarantee? Simplicity and protection. A company limited by guarantee is a common and flexible legal structure which is appropriate for not for profit companies. A company limited by guarantee can hold property and enter into contracts and limits the liability for its members to a nominal sum. Why stipulate that UK ROEd and the Road Safety Trust will operate on a not for profit basis? To maximise the public benefits. These companies will not to run their operations on a commercial basis either to maximise revenue or create profits for distribution to members. The focus will be on minimising the operational costs, maximising the public benefit and achieving a more effective operating model for the police forces. No dividend will be offered to the police force members. Why establish two companies? To maintain clear separation of responsibilities. The operations of UK ROEd are orientated at providing service support to the National Scheme; this will require the creation and management of commercial arrangements. As with other police support operations they are not considered charitable in their nature. However, the police wish surplus funds to be directed at road safety initiatives that are aligned to Road Policing Policy and Strategy. Maintaining a clear separation between business operations and grant donation will enable easier visibility of the organisations overall operations. The two company model is a common structure for charities that have a commercial trading arm. Have alternative governance models for the Scheme been considered? Yes. Various other governance models have been considered in consultation with professional advisers. The governance model being proposed is considered the optimum structure to achieve the aims and objectives of the police forces and in the public interest, including: transparency, oversight, accountability and operational efficiency. 5

6 How will Governance of the Scheme be conducted? By police forces with the support of the Road Safety Trustees. Day to day operational support will be provided by UK ROEd staff, directors and the commercial/academic arrangements that are entered into. UK ROEd will take their direction from the Road Safety Trust Chair in consultation with the other trustees and the police force member representative on the Board; the Road Safety Trust Board do not have the authority to direct the operations of UK ROEd without the sanction of the police force representative. What is the role of the Trustees? To appropriately challenge police force strategy as necessary and to award grants to worthy road safety initiatives. Trustees will provide independent scrutiny and challenge of the scheme and police intentions. Collectively these trustees will also act as the panel that will decide which road safety initiatives should be supported from charity funds, following receipt of a valid and agreed application. Who will appoint the Trustees? Police Force Members. Police force members will appoint a serving senior police officer to represent their views to the Board of Trustees. The other trustees will be appointed by the police membership following an open process that will involve advertising the position and a sift to ensure they are able to meet an agreed minimum criteria. The qualifying candidates will be considered and agreed by the police membership. Will the Trustees of the Road Safety Trust be paid? No. Trustees that are independent of the police will not be paid for their support. They will be able to claim expenses in line with public sector guidelines and HMRC rules. If a trustee is also performing a role as a director of UK ROEd then they will be entitled to payment; these rates will be set through the Remuneration Sub committee of the Board of Trustees. The serving police officer representative on the Board of Trustees will not receive any additional payment for their involvement. How many staff will UK ROEd employ? 5 initially. It is envisaged that the scheme will continue to operate with its core team of 4 staff. An additional member of staff is being recruited to provide financial bookkeeping and corporate support. The number of staff and the nature of their duties will be subject to annual review by the Board of Trustees. 6

7 What are the rights of a police force as a member of The Road Safety Trust? Various. Each member of The Road Safety Trust has various rights which are set out in the Company Articles. Each police force member will have a right to attend, speak and vote at general meetings and receive information about the activities of The Road Safety Trust and UK ROEd. In addition, they have the right to appoint and dismiss trustees and directors. Operational Impact How will police requirements of UK ROEd be established and monitored? Through a Service Level Agreement. This will also set out the responsibilities of police forces in respect of UK ROEd. The SLA will be based on existing service arrangements. The SLA will be subject to periodic review. What will be the impact of these changes on police operations? None. The procedures that police officers use today will remain unchanged. The changes are almost entirely organisational. What operational improvements are envisaged? Improved IT reliance and increased effectiveness. The new arrangements will make it easier to establish improved resilience for the Scheme s central database. In addition, it will allow UK ROEd to streamline user payments and reduce risks and inefficiencies inherent in existing operations. What are the advantages of my police force being a member of The Road Safety Trust? Significant. As a member of The Road Safety Trust you will have input and control over the Scheme and benefit from various rights set out in its Articles. You will also be able to continue to utilise the Scheme in the same manner as your police force currently does. What are the disadvantages of not become a member of The Road Safety Trust? Significant. If a police force is not a member of The Road Safety Trust it will not be afforded input into or control over the Scheme, nor will it have the benefit of the rights set out in the Articles. The police force may incur additional costs to secure access rights to the DORS database and quality assurance of their selected training provider. In addition, they may lose cost recoveries if offenders chose to take the course outside of the geographic boundary of its force. Managing their involvement in the Scheme may also place an additional burden for the force. Use of an external party may invoke a public procurement process. 7

8 Financial and Commercial Arrangements How will UK ROEd fund its operations? Through a small admin levy on each participant. operational costs. The current levy is set at 5 and covers all Will the admin levy be subject to review? Yes. The current charge of 5 will be reviewed before 1 April The levy will be reviewed annually thereafter and it is expected that this calculation will be independently verified. Why might UK ROEd be left with have a surplus at year end? As it is not possible to accurately predict how many people will participate each year the levy has to be set at a level commensurate with the organisation s risk appetite and level of reserve funds. As the organisation is not permitted to run at a loss this will invariably mean that a surplus is likely to be generated. How will UK ROEd dispose of surplus funds? It will donate these to the Road Safety Trust. UK ROEd will be required to donate surplus funds, which are in excess of its agreed financial reserves, to the Road Safety Trust up to twice a year. These funds will be re directed to road safety initiatives. Will a police force be eligible to apply to The Road Safety Trust for a grant? Yes. The Road Safety Trust will consider all applications for grants that fall within the company s charitable objects and any criteria for considering applications that may be set by the board from time to time. Police forces will not be precluded from applying for grants. However, the board will need to be satisfied that any grant will be used for charitable purposes for the public benefit and must align with the company s objects. Will the police forces be able to re direct surplus funds to finance other aspects of policing policy? No. The re distribution of these funds resides with the charity trustees. Whilst police forces may apply for grants the police force trustee who represents all force members does not have a casting vote on which initiates are supported and may be precluded from even considering or voting on the matter if a conflict of interest arises. 8

9 What commercial arrangements will UK ROEd need to enter into to support Scheme operations? Similar to existing requirements. To operate the Scheme and company needs the following; the mechanism by which this will be obtained is shown: Central Database Management & Support obtained through OJEU open competition. Course Research and Development obtained through existing frameworks or discrete competitions with academic institutions. Specialist Support covering legal, mobile IT, customer technical support obtained from specialist providers competed where appropriate. HR & Procurement Services provided through extant partnership agreements with other police forces. What are the obligations and liabilities of a police force as a member of The Road Safety Trust? Minimal. The Road Safety Trust is an incorporated legal entity that is legally separate from the police forces. Most of the obligations and liabilities associated with The Road Safety Trust will be borne by The Road Safety Trust itself and its trustees. The liability of each police force as a member of The Road Safety Trust is limited to 1, being the amount required to be paid by a police force to the company in the event of its winding up for payment of the company s debts and liabilities. This obligation is set out in the Articles of Association ( Articles ) of The Road Safety Trust. What financial reporting requirements will UK ROEd and the Road Safety Trust be required to comply with? Multiple. As a public body the Charity and its subsidiary will produce financial documents in accordance with CIPFA requirements and pass these to the Treasury for audit purposes. In addition it will have to lodge a copy if its annual accounts with Companies House and the Charity Commission respectively. The new arrangements do not invoke Central Government controls as this Scheme is for the benefit of police forces who fall within local government reporting requirements. Cabinet Office are being engaged to outline the new governance model to ensure they are aware of the arrangements. 9