General reflections: A Recap of Two Years as JESMC Chair
I was pleased and privileged to have been elected as Chair of the JESMC in January 2022, along with elected representatives from 20 other JES focussed Companies, including a number of SMEs.
techUK's Justice and Emergency Services (JES) Programme provides a forum for justice and public safety stakeholders, from national policing bodies and local forces to fire and rescue and the justice system, opportunities to collaborate with members and stakeholders to understand the latest innovations, problem-solve and develop networks. The programme creates a voice for members active in this market and champions the role technology plays in supporting the delivery of public safety services.
The Justice & Emergency Services Management Committee (JESMC) is an elected committee of JES Programme Group members that provides strategic direction, guidance and industry perspective to the JES Programme so that it is relevant and valuable to the wider membership. To do this, the JESMC will create opportunities for early, meaningful and open engagement between justice and public safety organisations and industry, particularly around new technologies, how to optimise the use of existing capabilities and trends.
As Chair of the JESMC, I have had the wonderful support of the JES Programme Lead, Georgie Morgan (née Henley) throughout the last – almost - two years. Georgie’s enthusiasm for the aims of the committee is reflected in the tireless work she has done to ensure that our objectives (i.e. the work the Committee focussed on) always pass the most important test: that the outcome must be of benefit to JES Programme suppliers, improving their knowledge as to the key issues that JES stakeholders are facing, and enabling (wherever possible) close and regular stakeholder engagement, where the ultimate objective is co-operative, addressing challenges together.
During the two-year term, Georgie’s colleagues - Raya Tsolova, Rob Walker, Jago Corry, and (latterly) Cinzia Miatto – have all been active contributors, assisting Georgie as the extent of her role in techUK grew, and taking lead roles in the Working Groups which were established to focus on key areas of work identified by the Committee two of which (the Interoperability in Policing Working Group, the Digital Justice Working Group) were established by previous JESMC’s
Having been involved in several JESMCs over 14 years prior to this one, I wanted to introduce a slightly different approach for the new Committee at our first meeting in January 2022, an approach which Georgie fully supported: with such a large number of supplier representatives on the Committee, I wanted to ensure that everyone (as far as possible) would be involved in following up actions across the areas of work we would agree were most relevant. We both felt that this approach would allow us to address more of our stakeholders’ challenges, by enabling progress between the monthly JESMC meetings, while also capitalising on the various interests and knowledge within the Committee.
After the first meeting of the new Committee in January ’22 this approach was agreed. At the February meeting we debated the focus areas suggested by Committee members, and by March, we had agreed where we would focus - noting that the following were in addition to the focus of the Interoperability in Policing Working Group, which had been active for three years:
- Workforce:
Driving diversity, inclusion, tech training and digital skills.
- Policing Digital Leaders Forum
Finding those across Policing who are passionate about tech and providing a forum for those leaders to come together with suppliers.
- Emerging Tech and Innovation
Digital ethics, emerging tech adoption by forces and Justice. Showcase innovation/ solutions – working with PDS as a strategic partner.
- Tech for Good (incorporating the work started in the previous Committee on VAWG and RASSO as new Working Groups).
Explore ethically built tech for reducing reoffending and supporting prison leavers.
- “David/Goliath” Alliances
Large and small companies working together to meet the emerging needs of policing as it moves towards disaggregated procurement and SaaS.
- Procurement
The challenge: how can we deliver 21st century technology using archaic procurement models.
Each or these focus areas had a chair and at least two members of the JESMC as part of their team. Progress on each area in the first year – as is to be expected given that everyone has full-time jobs which do need to be prioritised over techUK work – was mixed.
Some members of the Committee quickly volunteered their Company’s stance on Digital Skills, particularly with reference to colleagues of theirs who could be made available to meet police customer requirements. However, the focus team struggled to get engagement with stakeholders on this topic.
Through the efforts of Georgie and her colleagues, several “Digital Leaders” were invited to speak directly to the team in the first year (either face to face or virtually): Mark Adam, Chief People Officer at the Ministry of Justice, Patrick Goulborne, Assistant Commissioner, London Fire Brigade & NFCC Counter Terrorism National Coordinator and Omar Saad, Head of Strategy and Innovation at the Metropolitan Police. However, we struggled in our attempt to encourage the establishment of the hoped-for Policing Digital Leaders Forum.
Progress was also slow with the Procurement focus group – not because of a lack of intent or effort, rather that the challenge presented in terms of engagement and effecting change was (and still is) so substantial…!
Emerging Tech and Innovation made more positive progress – establishing a regular dialogue with PDS, working towards the establishment of a formal, PDS supported process for highlighting Innovative activity being implemented by Forces across the country.
By far the most positively progressed focus area in terms of engagement was Tech for Good, particularly since VAWG & RASSO had significant Government – and hence Policing - focus. A great rapport was established by this focus group (with Georgie’s assistance) with DCC Maggie Blythe, SRO for VAWG ,and CC Sara Crew (SRO for RASSO), with several joint workshops for both areas taking place in the second half of 2022, continuing into 2023 (see here).
The stand-out success for the Committee was with the “David & Goliath” Alliances focus group. Working with techUK, a hugely successful and well attended Supplier Partnering & Networking session took place in the summer of 2022. It is techUK’s intention to run a further event for JES suppliers in 2024, and the success of the inaugural event has led to techUK running similar events for other techUK Programmes.
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At the start of 2023 – halfway through our term, we reflected on the mixed progress with each of the seven focus areas.
The Committee discussed them each in turn, with the view that focussing on a smaller number would enable us to make better progress, and pass on more positive “works in progress” to the next JESMC (which will be in place by mid-January 2024)
The conclusion was that we focus on these four (with the Supplier Partnering and Networking now considered “BAU”):
- Interoperability in Policing (via the separately elected Working Group, whose work in this area has been summarised at each JESMC meeting)
- Innovation
- VAWG/RASSO
- Digital Skills
- MOJ Commercial/Supplier relations – and Innovation (via the separately elected Digital Justice Working Group, whose work in this area has been summarised at each JESMC meeting)
Interoperability between Policing IT systems was, and still is, considered fundamental to enabling operational policing to improve efficiency (e.g. the ability to readily access all information relating to a case/investigation) and productivity (addressing the ever-increasing volume of work forces face every day). The availability of modern orchestration tools specifically designed to enable “open” – and more easily delivered – interoperability plus the prospect of PDS encouraging suppliers to publish their APIs on the Knowledge Hub, and the inclusion of Martin Leven and Anthony Leadbetter (both from PDS) as members of the current IPWG, this key area is getting the attention and engagement it needs.
The engagement with PDS in 2022 regarding Innovation has continued, to the extent that in June this year, PDS ran their first “Police Innovation Day” which was attended by 27 forces (of the 43 invited). Several suppliers’ innovative capabilities were showcased – however, their solutions had been fully implemented and were being advocated by at least one force (i.e., they were not trials, or proofs of Concept). While this is definitely positive it still falls short of the desire to see a formal process whereby JES suppliers can showcase their technology in order to be considered for a trial or proof of concept - perhaps to be overseen by a body comprising PDS and a number of forces, and chaired by Paul Taylor, Policing Chief Scientific Advisor. Indeed, at this year’s Police Digital Summit, Paul highlighted the fact that that he was aware of around 65 examples of innovative technology trails/POCs across the 43 Forces - with a challenge (to PDS?): how to socialise these innovations and encourage interest from other forces…
Martin Leven put this rhetorical question out when he spoke at the Police Digital Summit in September: How do we get to the point where we can make available a great piece of innovation – without a protracted procurement process which may (or will) deter SMEs from being part of the process. His answer: PDS are looking at creating a framework – “A cohort approach to Innovation”. Martin admitted that this was very much in its’ early stages, but that it was a definite focus for him and PDS.
Regarding VAWG & RASSO, a video podcast will be recorded on November 8th which will be made available to all techUK JES suppliers – so I won’t cover that here. Suffice it to say, the excellent progress the JESMC focus group made in this area during 2022 continued, and strengthened, during 2023.
Digital Skills: Rather than me commenting on this, you will be better served by reviewing the blog by the JESMC members who focussed on this area which will have been published - alongside this blog - as part of the 3rd November Impact Day
And finally, MOJ: Commercial/Supplier relations and Innovation. The Commercial element of this important work across two intrinsically linked areas echoed the ambition of the JESMC focus group on Procurement as identified at the beginning of 2022, but which was dropped as we sought to reduce the number of focus areas for the JESMC for 2023. The overall objective for the DJWG has been to seek engagement with MoJ stakeholders to progress this question: How could (and should) relations between MOJ Commercial and Suppliers be improved for mutual benefit – mainly regarding accessibility to technology innovation for MOJ stakeholders where suppliers who are given access are “protected” from being commercially unable to respond to any subsequent MoJ tender.
Given the risk averse nature of MoJ Commercial, it is a testament to the DJWG’s work that (at the time of writing) they are in the process of producing a paper entitled “How can MoJ Digital Commercial Teams work better with techUK”. In addition, a date has been confirmed with the MoJ Commercial lead for a session on this topic, to be held at techUK December 5th (more details to follow.
Regarding MoJ and Innovation, techUK are running a Digital Justice focussed day on this topic on December 8th. Keep an eye out for the information on how to get involved in this!!!
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In conclusion, I hope that this end of tenure blog/report has been of interest – it has certainly been good for me to reflect on the ambition, and on the results achieved, by the current committee.
You can see that it has been a busy (almost) two years for the current JESMC. We may have given ourselves too much to focus on in the first year - particularly since members of the JESMC have to prioritise the work they do for their employers - but having reset our intent in January, I think we have done well. Engagement with – and communications from – key stakeholders across our focus areas has been regular and positive (and must continue to be so), and I believe we have honoured the intention I set out at the start of this blog (and at the first meeting of this JESMC): that the work we do should be of benefit to JES Programme Suppliers.
The good work that we have been involved in will soon be passed over to a new JESMC. Needless to say, I intend to put myself forward for a role on the new JESMC when the 2024-2026 committee elections take place at the end of this year…. Watch this space!!!
Robert Leach