ACRO Strategic Management Minutes Meeting, AITB and Governance Board will now be published on the publication scheme. Lastly, the Annual Report is progressing well with an anticipated

Page 1 of 6

ACRO Criminal Records Office

ACRO Strategic Management Minutes Minutes of the meeting held at ACRO Criminal Records Office on the 5th June 2018 at 9am in the ACRO Ante Room

1. Attendance 1.1 Present Rob Price Chief Executive (Chair) Supt James Fulton (JF) Head of ACRO Susan Francis (SF) Senior Manager, Business Facilities and Finance Julia Barnard (JB) Senior Manager, IT Karen Garrett (KG) Senior Manager, HR Chloe Bowler (CB) Senior Manager, Business Development and Projects Lucy Saunders (LS) Senior Manager, International Services Tim Feltham (TF) Communications Manager Karen Progl (KP) Senior Manager, National Services Cara Gunther (CG) Management Assistant (Observer) Tanya Smith (TS) Personal Assistant (Minutes)

2. Apologies 2.1 No apologies were received.

3. Minutes and Action Log 3.1 The minutes of the previous Strategic Meeting held on 9th May 2018 were agreed as

an accurate record. 3.2 The action log was discussed and updated.

4. Central Services 4.1 ACRO Finance Update SF reported that there is no financial update due to the meeting being held at the

beginning of the month as the totals for May have not yet been finalised.

4.2 Strategic Risk Register / Business Continuity Plan RP went through the risk register and advised the following:

BS10 Red – will remain red until a solution is identified. ICCE1 Amber – remains the same IT1 Amber – remains the same IT21 Amber – remains the same DB1 Amber – has decreased since last meeting GDPR1 Amber – has decreased since last meeting

Page 2 of 6


4.3 Facilities Update – including future estate strategy SF confirmed that the restroom facilities are being looked to be refreshed and

furthermore the installation of a tea station on the second floor is being considered due to the footfall in the kitchen being extremely high. The current area ear marked is the cloakroom. The second floor lunchroom and TV room will also have some alterations. It was suggested that the changes should be put through the Staff Reps meeting. SF agreed she would action this.

Action: SF to speak to Staff Reps re the changes proposed on the second floor. SF also stated that there will be some work carried out in car park over the next few

months. The grass areas are to be converted to parking spaces, however the landlord is hoping to do one building at a time. RP asked SF if she was aware of the timescales for the double yellow lines on the main road outside of the building. CB confirmed it would not be until 2020 when the new dual carriageway has been installed.

There is a tenants meeting on the 6th July which SF is attending. In regards to the

lease, an update has been received to inform negotiations are still ongoing in the background. The cost per sq. ft. has increased on both floors which SF feels is a reasonable increase. The lease will be for 10 years but will have a 5 year break out clause added however should ACRO need to vacate before the 10 years then they would just have to pay the required funds to do so. The landlord may look at installing a generator and although ACRO would be required to pay towards this, it would assist ACRO with the Business Continuity plans. It was worth noting that Lockheed are moving out of the building at the end of July and ACRO have put in bids for their car parking spaces.

Lastly, SF informed colleagues that on Saturday 7th July the air conditioning is being

serviced so there can be no overtime on this day. This service will also check the bacteria level and temperature. On Saturday 21st July, the power transformer will be switched off and on, there will be no overtime on the Saturday and staff need to be careful when powering up on Sunday. JB is aware from an IT perspective.

4.4 HR Update KG advised that working hours lost through sickness for May were 3.04% which is a

decrease from April’s figures. The main reason for sickness is ear, nose and throat. Four members of staff are currently on long term sick leave, two of these are due back in the imminent future and two have no current date for return so are being managed appropriately. Two misconduct cases were concluded last month, there is one outstanding grievance and a potential gross misconduct case forthcoming.

In regards to recruitment, there have been 9 leavers, three of these transferred to

Force with the other seven going to different organisations. The 19 Operators currently due to start in August are still progressing through vetting and checks.

Page 3 of 6


The current role review work is ongoing and discussions will be finalised this week with the Heads of Sections / Deputies with a view to then taking the roles to a JEQ panel. New names for the roles are currently being deliberated and agreed.

In relation to the 360 degree feedback work and presentation provided to the

SMT/Deps, a session is going to be held at the Head of Section away day on the 18th June and the pilot and guidance will be launched after this date. CB stated there are some staff still unclear on the process, there are no issues with undertaking this work but there needs to be further guidance issued to staff.

LS stated that a question has been asked in relation to sending staff on the TRiM

assessor’s course. RP confirmed that whilst we would not normally send staff on these courses, they would be considered on a case by case basis.

4.5 IT and Service Management Update JB gave a brief IT update and points noted were as follows:

The changes in regards to GDPR have been implemented and managed well. Costings for the UKCA and NEU are due back imminently. NaVCIS testing is ongoing and scripts being written. Test scripts are also being written for Jamaica. A meeting has been held with the Home Office in order to seek funding for another year for the maintenance and support, a decision is still awaited. Tendering for the new website is due to be sent out next week. EGRESS is a file sharing software that has been approved for the Police Service to use. It is not currently used in Hampshire Constabulary but JB has approached Hampshire to see if this is something they are considering. RP asked JB to provide a paper for the next meeting in regards to this software.

Action: JB to provide a report at the next meeting in regards to EGRESS.

4.6 Communications Update TF stated that the current ACRO website is still undergoing progress and there will be

a new design for the website. The Subject Access sub section has been updated and streamlined to make it easier for customers. TF is keen to streamline other sections of the website to ensure the information is current and up to date. TF stated that ideally ACRO needs to put a Privacy Notice onto the website, however a discussion was had by all SMT as to whose Notice we would put on the website as ACRO do not have one in their own right. TF confirmed the minutes from three meetings namely Strategic Meeting, AITB and Governance Board will now be published on the publication scheme. Lastly, the Annual Report is progressing well with an anticipated publication date of July.

5. Business Developments and Projects 5.1 Projects 5.1.1 RDU XML Solution Update Report

Page 4 of 6


CB circulated a report in advance of the meeting in regards to the work currently undertaken by the Systems Development Advisor. The product was delivered within four weeks of initial scoping work taking place with a Go Live date of the 4th April. It was designed to reduce the amount of data entry, manual creation of folders and double-keying/copy-paste into documents. It will also automate the upload of information into the monitoring spreadsheets and automatically populate relevant documents during the process. The solution provides will be given several weeks to determine its effectiveness and then directly compared to previous processes. KP commented that although there was some teething problems, there has been excellent feedback from the staff as to how the new product is assisting them. KG asked CB if the Systems Development Advisor is training other individuals in order to assist should there be a need in the future. CB confirmed training is ongoing and full documentation on process has been produced. There are other individuals who could undertake this work. However once the product is delivered, it is the teams responsibility to deliver ongoing maintenance and changes.

5.2 Intelligence CB gave an overview of the intelligence department and the following points were

noted: - The co-location work is going well with the engagement with Immigration in

Portsmouth being exceptional at present. - In relation to the Visor nominals currently being managed, these are increasing

and CB is keeping a close eye on the figures. - The role review work should be completed in the next month. - The NCA exchange is in the first phase with two staff members progressing the

work - The PIE work in ongoing and on track - Op Pala is slightly behind as force engagement has been slightly challenging. - The unit are visiting the Home Office Data Lab on the 21st June. This is essentially

a data holding centre so CB is enquiring as to what data is held and whether there are possibilities for its use at ACRO. TF asked if the data was operational rather than statistical, CB believes it is operational.

5.3 International Development CB confirmed that the FNO open days have been diarised as follows; 25th July South being held at ACRO and 15th August North being held at Derbyshire Constabulary Training Centre. CB will circulate the agenda once finalised in due course. The member of staff on secondment in Bermuda has settled well and has already placed all sex offenders onto the PNC. The team are currently developing an app to be used by Immigration Officers and Police Officers. This would therefore speed up the time it takes to check an individual if stopped. There is a roadmap session next Friday to work out what the app can

Page 1 of 5


ACRO Strategic Management Minutes Minutes of the meeting held at ACRO Criminal Records Office on the 9th May 2018 at 9am in the ACRO Ante Room

1. Attendance 1.1 Present Rob Price Chief Executive (Chair) Supt James Fulton (JF) Head of ACRO Susan Francis (SF) Senior Manager, Business Facilities and Finance Julia Barnard (JB) ACRO IT Manager Karen Garrett (KG) Senior Manager, HR Lucy Saunders (LS) Senior Manager, International Services Tanya Smith (TS) Personal Assistant (Minutes)

2. Apologies 2.1 Apologies were received from Karen Progl, Chloe Bowler and Tim Feltham.

3. Minutes and Action Log 3.1 The minutes of the previous Strategic Meeting held on 5th April 2018 were agreed as

an accurate record. 3.2 The action log was discussed and updated.

4. Review Actions from Strategic Management Planning Day 4.1 The action log was discussed and updated. RP confirmed he is due to meet with TF

next week to deliberate the 135 with a view to discussing at the SMT/Deps day on the 21st May.

5. Central Services 5.1 ACRO Finance Update SF reported the income and expenditure account for 2017/18 as at the 30th April 2018

showed ACRO received an income of £889,702 with an expenditure of £1,013,484 leaving a deficit of £123,782. ACRO’s reserves currently total £5.7m with £850k earmarked reserves allocated for this financial year. RP informed colleagues that the allocation of finances in the budget is particular important because the Governance Board is currently deliberating whether the Police Service should contribute towards ACRO for the second tranche of money.

SF presented the budget spreadsheet to colleagues for the 18/19 financial year. The

predicted costs are as follows; income at £11.5m, expenditure at £13.9m, leaving a surplus of £3.4m, if the earmarked reserves are spent in full this then leaves £2.6m in ACRO’s reserves. Depending on how ACRO’s account finishes up at the end of the

Page 2 of 5


financial year, this will clearly impact upon the 19/20 budget and the reserve figure could potentially be as low as £1.8m. SF wanted to stress to the SMT that everything that requires a monetary value i.e. development and investment, needs to be scrutinised to ensure the spend is necessary. RP thanked SF for her hard work leading up to and at the Governance Board.

5.2 Strategic Risk Register / Business Continuity Plan RP went through the risk register and advised the following:

BS10 Green – may increase, SF to review outside of the meeting. ICCE1 Amber – remains the same IT1 Amber – decreased since the last meeting IT21 Amber – remains the same DB1 Red – remains the same GDPR1 Red – new risk

RP thanked Drew Linton for his hard work on the strategic risk register prior to him

moving to his new role. SF confirmed that at the Governance Board she presented two options to the board

members as to ACRO’s business continuity plan, these were Fareham Reach and Parkway. Both plans have lead in times of 9 – 12 months. It was agreed at the Governance Board that Fareham Reach would be disregarded and work would just continue with the Parkway office space. RP asked if a disaster happened would staff be able to pick up laptops/tablets and go work elsewhere at a drop of a hat. SF confirmed that would not be viable due to the applications staff require, only a small amount of staff would be able to work off laptops. JB stated that she is in talks with Hampshire/TVP IT team to see if other options would be available for ACRO. JF confirmed that ACRO has plans but no solutions due to IT issues should an incident occur. RP noted that PSN really needs to be embedded as soon as possible as this will assist the BC plans.

5.3 Facilities Update – including future estate strategy SF confirmed that a power assessment was carried out last weekend as the current

distribution of power is not ideal in ACRO. Therefore a survey has been carried out to reconfigure the power. Once the survey is completed, additional desks can then be added in.

JF asked on an update on the lease extension. SF confirmed the landlord is looking at

changes to the building which need to be feedback to the Estates Team in Hampshire. SF is dealing with this and work is progressing in the background.

5.4 HR Update KG circulated a paper prior to the meeting in regards to the recent role review

undertaken. Since commencing the PNC Operator / Analyst role review it has become apparent that some additional roles should also be in scope of the review in order to

Page 3 of 5


consider any cross over in responsibilities. Therefore the review now includes additional role profiles such as the ACRO office clerk, ACRO quality controller and customer service advisor. Staff champions were nominated for each role and business area have been fully engaged in reviewing the current role profiles. The feedback received has been used to create new draft role profiles which reflect the recommendations of both the staff and senior manager. The following recommendations were proposed:

To create a bespoke Business and Facilities clerk role profile. To create a generic office clerk role profile for International and National

Services business areas, including those generic key accountabilities as well as those key accountabilities which are bespoke for each business area.

To de-link the current PNC operator/analyst role profile and create separate role profiles for each role (PNC operator and analyst). Maintain (where possible) generic role profiles which detail the generic key accountabilities as well as those bespoke for each business area.

To engage with staff further to ascertain appropriate role titles for the operator and analyst roles moving forwards; ensuring these accurately reflect the role and assist in attracting candidates through the recruitment process.

To create a generic quality controller role profile for International and National Services business areas, with generic key accountabilities as well as those bespoke for each business area.

To remove the bar criteria from the analyst and quality controller role profiles on the basis that there is no requirement that an individual needs a certain amount of experience, qualification or competence to warrant a higher level of pay.

To agree to amendments being made to part 2 of the role profile (education/qualifications and experience) for each role profile.

To undertake a formal role evaluation process on each role profile – ACRO office clerks, ACRO Business and Facilities clerk, operators, analysts and quality controllers to ensure the pay grade accurately reflects the tasks undertaken.

To agree to minor amendments being made to the customer services advisor role profile.

Members of the senior management team are invited to acknowledge the information submitted in this paper and provide feedback.

LS asked if all scale 2 posts are being removed, KG stated that a recent JEQ came back

as a scale 2 so this is still being used. LS asked if there will be protection for staff if the role is JEQ’d less than imagined, KG stated that it is highly unlikely to come back on a lower pay scale however if this was to happen there would be pay protection for staff.

RP will thank Kelly Glitheroe and the champions at end of project. KG to update

colleagues further at the next meeting.

Page 4 of 5


5.5 IT and Systems Support and Compliance Update JB gave a brief IT update and confirmed that she has been working on disaster

recovery documentation should another IT data loss incident happen. RP asked JB if a technical de-brief has been prepared. JB confirmed this was being worked on and finalised. RP asked if he could have a full report within two weeks.

Action: JB to prepare a full report on the IT data loss incident that occurred in

February for RP by 23rd May. Furthermore JB confirmed that the custody interface for the MPS is progressing. The

new contract has been awarded and testing on GSA will be happening quickly and then will move into testing at ACRO.

5.6 Communications Update TF was absent for the meeting but provided a written brief as follows:

Emma Allen is due to start on the Comms Team on Tuesday 15th May. The layout design for certificates in NDU has been worked on. The Subject Access webpages for the implementation of GDPR have been

prepared. The new website is continuing and soon to be into phase 2 Work on the annual report is progressing with an anticipated publication date of

July.

6. International Services 6.1 Fingerprint searches against the crime scene mark collection LS confirmed that currently International Services received fingerprints via ECRIS and

some Non-EU countries along with conviction information. The fingerprints can be sent in a variety of formats including NIST file and Jpeg. The majority of EU countries send prints as a NIST file but many Non-EU countries and Ireland send prints in the form of a Jpeg. Fingerprints that are not sent in a NIST format will not be checked against the Crime Scene Mark collection. Therefore LS recommended that the Fingerprint Bureau is asked to carry out searches of all fingerprints sent by International Services against the Crime Scene Marks collection and for any ‘hits’ to be reported back to the team. JF agreed with LS’s recommendation however the costs for this do need to be explored. JF asked LS to liaise again with Ireland in an attempt for them to send NIST files instead of Jpeg. All SMT agreed with JF and confirmed they were happy to support the recommendation with the caveat that the costs need to be explored.

6.2 PNC Change Request for DAF Solution LS stated that in order to comply with the EU Framework Decision, the UK must notify

Member States when one of their nationals is convicted in the UK at the earliest opportunity. Currently ACRO receives Daily Activity Files (DAF’s) which identify those foreign nationals convicted in the UK in readiness to notify the relevant Member

Page 5 of 5


State or non-EU country. The generation of a DAF is driven by certain scripting within PNC. The current scripting is excluding some DAF prints which are required to enable compliance with the EU Framework Decision. Consideration must also be given to those notifications ‘missed’ due to the PNC scripting failure from 2012 to date. Estimates from GSA to develop this work is 10 days development days or £10k. Therefore all SMT agreed that the ‘missing’ notifications since 2012 should be identified and sent to the relevant country. This will require investment from ACRO to GSA to provide a solution to cross reference data provided by SEG with notifications already sent to identify those that require sending in order to comply with the EU Framework Decision.

SF stated that there needs to be a monitoring mechanism to ensure small costs for

development work is captured to ensure these can be kept an eye on.

7. National Services 7.1 AAS provided a written brief which explained work is currently ongoing with The

Information Audit. Meetings have been booked with certain areas that have not been worked through and following these meetings an action plan will be compiled for actions required to make ACRO compliant.

8. Any Other Business 8.1 KG informed colleagues that at the SMT/Deps away day, a presentation on 360 degree feedback will be given. The proposal will be circulated to all SMT so they are aware of what will be covered in the session. 8.2 KG stated that she went to a meeting last week in relation to vetting. Previously the

SLA had a 30 day turnaround but at the moment due to volumes they are working to a 40 day turnaround which in turn impacts upon new starters at ACRO. There is an expectation that the Vetting Team will be back to the 30 day turnaround by the end of May however should there be any urgent cases these can be flagged and prioritised. KG asked the question of vetting for staff in ACRO and the need for staff to be vetted to MV. JF will discuss with KG outside of this meeting regarding the MV/SC cleared. LS informed KG it would be worth speaking to Elton Jonsson as he was involved historically.

8.3 JF informed colleagues the SMT has been registered for the Global Challenge and

there will be a push for more staff to sign up through comms and Staff Reps.

9. Next Meeting Date 9.1 The next meeting will be held on 5th June 2018 at 9am in the Ante Room.

Page 1 of 6


ACRO Strategic Management Minutes Minutes of the meeting held at ACRO Criminal Records Office on the 5th April 2018 at 9am in the ACRO Ante Room

1. Attendance 1.1 Present Rob Price Chief Executive (Chair) Supt James Fulton (JF) Head of ACRO Susan Francis (SF) Senior Manager, Business Facilities and Finance Tim Feltham (TF) Communications Manager Julia Barnard (JB) ACRO IT Manager Chloe Bowler (CB) Senior Manager, Business Development and Projects Karen Garrett (KG) Senior Manager, HR Karen Progl (KP) Senior Manager, National Services Andrew Linton (AL) Business Continuity & Risk Advisor Tanya Smith (TS) Personal Assistant (Minutes)

2. Apologies 2.1 Apologies were received from Lucy Saunders.

3. Minutes and Action Log 3.1 The minutes of the previous Strategic Meeting held on 31st January 2018 were agreed

as an accurate record. 3.2 The action log was discussed and updated.

4. Review Actions from Strategic Management Planning Day 4.1 RP commented on how well he felt the Planning Day went with all SMT in attendance.

Another day has been organised for the end of September to review the objectives and actions. The action log was discussed and updated and will be re-circulated to SMT. JF asked if the objectives discussed should be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis. RP agreed that the objectives should be monitored. TS will organise a meeting with RP, JF, TF and TS to take forward the objectives and review with the 17/18 strategic plan.

Action: TS to organise a meeting to discuss the objectives from the Planning Day

and review the 17/18 Strategic Plan – RP/JF/TF/TS.

5. Central Services 5.1 ACRO Finance Update SF reported the income and expenditure account for 2017/18 as at the 28th February

2018 showed ACRO received an income of £11,115,951 with an expenditure of

Page 2 of 6


£10,713,030 leaving a surplus of £402,921. ACRO’s reserves currently total £6.1m. SF discussed the spreadsheet and how best to present the allocated reserves. Currently there are £3m worth of allocated reserves which will leave a reserve of £3m. SF stated the 2018/19 budget has been agreed by the Governance Board last year but since this date there has been changes which will affect the bottom figure i.e. less funding of £900k from the Police Service. JF stated that within the Finance Governance Board paper there needs to be good detail to support the finance spreadsheet to ensure colleagues understand the reasons behind the allocations. CB asked whether it would be good to divide up the £1m of IT costs. RP felt it would be good to have a narrative.

5.2 Strategic Risk Register / Business Continuity Plan AL went through the risk register and advised that he has reworked the register and

has followed the PESTELO spectrum to score the risks. - BS10 Green – reduced since the last meeting. - ICCE1 Amber – reduced since the last meeting. - ICCE44 Amber – suggestion to remove risk as linked to the LEDS programme which is

not due to commence for another year. Agreement to remove risk. - IT1 Red – remains the same - IT21 Amber – remains the same - DB1 Red – increased since the last meeting - PolCert1 Amber – new risk – after further discussion it was felt this risk should be

removed from the register. RP stated that the issue of GDPR should be placed on the register as a red risk.

Colleagues agreed this and AL will place on the register. Action: AL to place GDPR on the register as a red risk.

5.3 Facilities Update – including future estate strategy SF confirmed there was no update for this meeting.

5.4 HR Update KG advised that working hours lost through sickness for January were 3.48% which is

a slight decrease from December’s figures. Predicted figures for March are 3.15% which is under the Constabulary sickness figures. A meeting has been held with the Shared Service Centre in relation to attendance management. Furthermore there are lots of staff whose probation periods are coming to an end but KG confirmed this will be touched on at the Head of Section Away Day so that the HoS’s can manage this.

There are currently 2 misconduct cases, one outstanding grievance and one under

performance being managed by the HR team. In regards to recruitment, there was 19 starters in February with 7 leavers. For the

forthcoming July/August intake, 65 individuals have been shortlisted and interviews

Page 3 of 6


will be held on the 26/27th April. The Force are looking at a new recruitment system and are due to meet with KG w/c

9th April to see how and if it impacts the HR team. The essential user policy is being updated in regards to the method of paying and how

individuals do not need to claim each month and they will be paid directly into their bank account.

5.5 IT and Systems Support and Compliance Update JB gave a brief IT update and confirmed that ECRIS is 99% back up and running and

there are a few days’ worth of Requests Out still being resolved. JB will be producing a high level summary report for the AITB board meeting, which will be followed by a learning de-brief meeting with key individuals. It was agreed that in regards to the six week outage, this will be recorded and the ICO will be formed it was a data breach.

5.6 Communications Update TF stated that he met with Ben Pratt, Head of Corporate Communications with CB

yesterday to discuss the issue of ACRO’s website. There is a vision that there is a one stop website for everything so the public can find everything they need easily. ACRO still needs its own website and at some point there needs to be a link to the ‘national’ website.

6. Chief Executive Update 6.1 Home Secretary Visit RP expressed his thanks to all staff in regards to the Home Secretary’s Visit on the 29th March. She was clearly impressed by the work undertaken here at ACRO and in particular in the International Services department. JF has emailed the workforce to express his thanks and to share the interview which was undertaken by the Portsmouth News.

7. Business Developments and Projects 7.1 Projects No update. Business as usual.

7.2 Intelligence No update. Business as usual.

7.3 International Development CB confirmed that the team received 80,000 records from the US. The team are currently working through the data. The nominals names are down to 40,000 and within this, 167 individuals have been identified as HOSOL offenders. The records are now being worked through in the International Team and the ViSOR Team as BAU.

7.4 National Development 7.4.1 Marketing and Development Strategy

Page 4 of 6


Update at item 7.4.2.

7.4.2 Review of Change Champion Recommendations CB stated that the purpose of the report is to determine from the change champions

work, that was completed in 2016, to review for each business area the status of the recommendations. This was to then continue the momentum of change or link in with existing changes. The Board noted the outstanding action and the new actions presented and agreed for these to be progressed by each of the business areas.

7.4.3 Management of ISA’s CB circulated a report in advance of the meeting in relation to Information Sharing Agreements and how they are managed in ACRO. There appears to be a lack of consistency on how ISA’s are managed and monitored across ACRO. There is a desire across the business to coordinate the ISA’s and their creation, management, monitoring and renewal. The preferred option to deal with ISA’s is for the Criminal Record Service Team to manage all ISA’s and MOU’s for National Services and for International Development to manage all ISA’s and MOU’s for International Services and Intelligence with the assistance of SPOC’s in the business areas and the oversight of the Information Manager. JF advised that CB should link in with the Force Solicitors Office to review the new proposed documentation. All colleagues agreed the preferred option with a review period of 3 months at the meeting in July.

7.4.4 Charging Regime for ACRO Services CB circulated a report in advance of the meeting in relation to the charging of agencies using ACRO’s services. At present the charging is not consistent and a review of agency charges is only considered when an ISA is due for renewal. This produces a staggered approach to charging and allows different pricing against multiple customers. Two options were consider to establish and define a suitable timeline to notify, update and implement pricing changes annually with ACRO’s customers. All colleagues agreed option two. This therefore means the unit costs for 17/18 financial results will be confirmed by the end of May to establish new prices. These will then be communicated to customers in October 2018 with new prices effective from the 1st April 2019.

7.5 Amalgamation Proposal CB circulated a report in advance of the meeting in relation to creating one development team for ACRO instead of separate National and International teams. The proposal is to amalgamate the two teams to create one. Several meetings and workshops have been held with all members of both teams to discuss the amalgamation, its benefits, management structure, workflow, practicalities and ideas for the future. The recommendation is to therefore amalgamate the two teams to become one ACRO Development Team, with the name to be agreed. KG stated that it would be of benefit to hold an official consultation with the team members, CB will action this. Apart from this one action, all colleagues agreed the recommendation. Action: CB to hold a consultation with the National and International Teams in

Page 5 of 6


regards to amalgamating to one.

8. National Services 8.1 Complaints Procedure This was discussed and updated on the action log.

8.2 Information Manager Support - Business Case KP stated that the Information Manager role has now been appointed to. However

due to the implementation and delivery of GDPR, KP is asking for support in the form of another Information Manager due to the volume of work and handover period. The total cost of these posts would be £39k. JB questioned whether it would be worthwhile appointing a consultant to come in to ACRO instead. JF informed colleagues he has spoken with the Data Protection Officer who advises ACRO on their DP issues, has confirmed ACRO are in a good position for when GDPR comes into effect. TF stated that we should be supporting the new Information Manager as she is new to the business area and has not got the knowledge before starting the role. RP felt that he had no issue with the two weeks extension. CB was supportive of the business case and felt that the two individuals would be of benefit with KP sitting above them to advise and guide them on what they need to learn. This would only be for six months.

RP confirmed the paper was agreed in principle however there needs to be further

discussion about who would be the most suitable person to undertake the six month act up. The only option the SMT can foresee is consideration of KP being released for six months and having a Deputy Manager act up as SMT for six months. RP and JF to discuss outside of this meeting.

9. Any Other Business 9.1 JF updated the board in regards to the foreign criminality work and meetings he has attended in the last week. The date for Brexit to commence could be extended to January 2021 but the Home Office are unable to commit at present to which date everyone should be working towards. 9.2 KP stated that the revised Records Deletion Guidance was discussed at the last IMORCC meeting to obtain sign off however this was not agreed and further changes were required. KP would like to resubmit to IMORCC for sign off with RP and JF’s approval. This was agreed. 9.2 Proposal for increased resources to support ACRO’s Brexit Contingency Planning LS circulated a report in advance of the meeting in relation to support ACRO’s Brexit

contingency planning. JF spoke to the paper and gave colleagues a brief overview of the amount of work LS currently has and how extra resources would be of benefit to support her and the work ACRO is required to undertake. It is recommended that a dedicated ACRO Deputy and 2 ACRO Researchers are required for a 12 month period to assist with the delivery of Brexit. CB stated there may be capacity within the

Page 6 of 6


Development Team for CB to release the Researchers from her team. This will be discussed outside of the meeting.

10. Next Meeting Date 10.1 The next meeting will be held on 9th May 2018 at 9am in the Ante Room.

Page 1 of 6


ACRO Strategic Management Minutes Minutes of the meeting held at ACRO Criminal Records Office on the 31st January 2018 at 9am in the ACRO Ante Room

1. Attendance 1.1 Present Supt James Fulton (JF) Head of ACRO (Chair) Susan Francis (SF) Senior Manager, Business Facilities and Finance Tim Feltham (TF) Communications Manager Julia Barnard (JB) ACRO IT Manager Chloe Bowler (CB) Senior Manager, Business Development and Projects Karen Garrett (KG) Senior Manager, HR Lucy Saunders (LS) Senior Manager, International Services Karen Progl (KP) Senior Manager, National Services Tanya Smith (TS) Personal Assistant (Minutes) 1.2 Observers Anne Saxton (AS) Deputy Manager, Business Facilities and Finance Kim Squires (KS) Deputy Manager, National Services

2. Apologies 2.1 No apologies were received.

3. Minutes and Action Log 3.1 The minutes of the previous Strategic Meeting held on 15th December 2017 were

agreed as an accurate record. 3.2 The action log was discussed and updated.

4. Central Services 4.1 ACRO Finance Update SF reported the income and expenditure account for 2017/18 as at the 31st December

2017 showed ACRO received an income of £8,827,599 with an expenditure of £8,709,902 leaving a surplus of £118,697. ACRO’s reserves currently total £5.8m however this will be required in future financial years especially when Brexit happens.

4.2 Facilities Update – including future estate strategy SF confirmed that there will be remedial lighting works carried out this weekend with

a further survey to be carried out at a later date to ensure ACRO are using the space in the best possible way.

Closed section of 4.2

Page 2 of 6


JF asked SF if the power was sufficient for the building. SF confirmed it was, it just needs to be slightly realigned to ensure the power is distributed proportionately. SF further stated there is still work ongoing with the renewal of the lease but Hampshire Constabulary have asked that they manage this directly and keep SF in the loop.

4.3 HR Update KG advised that working hours lost through sickness for December were 3.52% which

is a slight decrease from November’s figures. In terms of long term sick, three cases have been managed back to work, and there is no expected return date for the fourth. In regards to flu jabs, KG has been exploring whether ACRO should have someone come to site and administer them here but is unsure if there will be enough uptake. TF will add into the weekly briefing in order to gauge numbers.

The intake for the last Operator bulk recruiting campaign are due to start on the 12th

and 26th February. There are just three personnel who have their vetting and references outstanding. The next intake will focus on College and University leavers and KG has been liaising with TF to redevelop the internet to be more inviting. Hampshire Constabulary’s FaceBook page will also be used for advertising as well as the usual internal communications. KG wanted to ask the SMT their opinion of the bulk campaigns and if they have an operational impact on their business areas. The campaigns happen twice a year, Feb/March with a view to starting in August and September with a view to starting in Feb/March. The SMT were all fairly happy with the recruiting and at present did not raise any concerns with KG.

The role review work is continuing and Kelly Glitheroe is leading on this for ACRO.

Kelly has now met with the SMT, Deps and HoS’s and is due to meet the Champions of each area. The general feedback received is that de-linking the roles is the correct way to go, an observation was should there be specific role profiles in each business area however KG was unsure if that was perception or if the work is quite different.

Finally the Police Staff pay award has been passed back to the Unison (staff side) with

a final offer of 1% backdated to 1st September 2017. KG believes this will more than likely be agreed so SF/AS should be aware of this for the impact on the finances.

4.4 IT and Systems Support and Compliance Update JB gave a brief IT update and confirmed the Go Live date for the NEU was the 7th

February. GSA were due to attend ACRO today to look at NaVCIS. Furthermore the BT monitoring has been approved and signed off by the Force. JB will be participating in a conference call later today to find out more information on when the roll out is expected. Lastly the storage configuration is due to take place on the 1st February, this should not have any impact on staff.

4.5 Communications Update TF confirmed that the engagement with Police Forces promoting ACRO is progressing

well. POLKA is being utilised more and the Comms Team are directing forces/Police

Page 3 of 6


Officers to POLKA with the membership rising because of this action. The amount of Twitter follows have also grown from 489 to 684. TF submitted a request for internal comms to 22 forces, out of these 9 forces have published key messaged internally. There is a press release in relation to Requests Out which will be in Police Professional over the forthcoming months.

CB spoke about the upcoming Security and Policing Event which is to be held in

Farnborough. There seems to be lots of exhibitors and good speakers over the two days. The event is free to attend. CB asked whether ACRO should attend or attend and exhibit. After a discussion by all, it was agreed that ACRO would send 2 people on each day and would not exhibit this year.

In regards to the ICPC changes, emails have been sent to all stakeholders and as of yet

no queries have been raised, work is to start on phase 2 of the communications which is liaising with applicants.

The NaVCIS Strategic Plan was agreed earlier this month and a communication

strategy is now being progressed. TF informed the board that he does recharge any communications time to NaVCIS and has spoken to Gordon Roberts about having a NaVCIS specific in-house Communications Officers.

Lastly, TF informed all that there are three applications for the Communications

Officers Role with interviews taking place next Thursday.

4.6 Strategic Risk Register / Business Continuity Project SF went through the risk register and advised on a couple of changes. JF asked that

the Risk Register be reviewed and that the summary updates are refreshed and shortened.

- BS10 Amber – moving forward with this - ICCE1 Red – remains the same. Need to split into 2 separate scenarios - ICCE44 Amber – risk to stay on the register - IT21 Amber – remains the same - SYS25 Green – to be removed the risk register - IT1 Red – remains the same - DB1 Amber – new risk to note – however the rating should be downgraded to Green

following the AITB meeting. - IT2 Green – new risk to note

6. Business Developments and Projects 6.1 Projects CB stated that herself along with Ken Littlewood and Drew Linton have been in talks with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office about developing the work on criminal records digitalisation in the Caribbean Islands. Jamaica is progressing well and is now in the final stages of the roll out. Ken Littlewood will be leaving ACRO at the end of February and JB will take over as the Project Executive. Chloe Bowler will be the lead

Page 4 of 6


for the wider Caribbean.

6.2 Intelligence CB advised that the PIE work is now business as usual and the first stage of work was

conducted really well. There were 9,500 records of prisoners who are foreign nationals. Of those 3,500 have already been checked with 5,000 left the other circa 1,000 records have been removed from the workflow as no checking is required. Out of those that have been checked, 181 had no nationality recorded and 295 PNC records have been rectified.

In regards to the Co-Location work, this is currently paused and will restart in

February. Op Pala is coming into the final couple of months and is due to finish by April. Lastly, staff have been trained by the NCA on ‘Green Notices’ so they can now

complete this task.

6.3 International Development In regards to the Secondee to Bermuda, the timeframe for being in country is likely to

be no less than 8 weeks. The work will be updating records on the Bermuda database to ensure these are up to date and fit for purpose. There is a presentation to ACRO staff w/c 5th February to hopefully be in a position to send somebody by the end of March.

In relation to Albania, India and Pakistan, there is pre project scoping work being

undertaken, however CB has been in conversation with the Home Office who have advised there is no movement on these countries at present.

In relation to the national and international development amalgamation work, CB will

be preparing a paper for the February or March Strategic meeting.

6.4 National Development CB stated the team are scoping some work in relation to vetting. They will look at process and costings and put together an options paper for the SMT/National Group. The next National Vetting Group meeting is on the 21st March where a further update may be given. LS and GW will be attending this for ACRO.

6.5 Marketing and Development Strategy CB updated and circulated the revised recommendations for the Marketing and

Development Strategy. These were agreed by all SMT members.

7. National Services 7.1 Complaints Procedure KP stated that she has recently been dealing with a complaint and has been in contact

Page 5 of 6


with the Professional Standards Department (PSD) as to what complaint procedures are adhered to in force and whether they would be appropriate for ACRO. However Hampshire have a Resolution Team who deal with all low level complaints and then Professional Standards deal with all complaints the Resolution Team cannot resolve. KP is awaiting further information from PSD in order that she can then review the policy and meet with SMT to discuss further. Action: KP to update the board at the next meeting re complaints procedure.

7.2 General Overview KP confirmed the ICPC new certificates went live on the 8th January which now

incorporates a step down. The process is still to be streamlined and process maps are being looked at.

In relation to Customer Services, the volumes have increased significantly but at

present there is no idea why. KP is monitoring this. National IMORCC Update The restructure of the Data Protection, FOI and Information Sharing portfolios have

now been agreed. DP and FOI will remain together with Information Sharing being included in the DBS and Safeguarding Portfolio.

8. International Services 8.1 Brexit Contingency Planning Closed item.

8.2 General Overview LS confirmed that the volumes are still very high in the unit and there are a large

number of outstanding PNC updates. GSA is still on track to go live on the 7th February. Furthermore there has been positive contact with Portugal who are the last country the unit need to connect with.

9. Any Other Business 9.1 LS express some concern that for members of staff who regularly travel away for

work will be continually out of pocket due to the new rules that have been circulated. JF stated that there is a need to get a better explanation from Hampshire’s Compliance Team regarding the overnight allowance but also that members of staff should be speaking to ACRO’s Finance Team as no-one should not be out of pocket attending meetings for work.

9.2 CB spoke about the usage of MA’s and in particular how she uses her MA. She has had produced a document detailing what her MA does for her and will share this with the SMT. TS reiterated that the MA’s could be used more and is happy to work with the SMT to achieve this goal.

Page 6 of 6


10. Next Meeting Date 10.1 The next meeting will be held on 13th March 2018 at 9am in the Ante Room.

Documents

ACRO Strategic Management Minutes Meeting, AITB and Governance Board will now be published on the publication scheme. Lastly, the Annual Report is progressing well with an anticipated