Case study

The Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is the largest UK police service covering a population of 7.2 million and
works alongside the City of London and British Transport Police to police Greater London. The MPS employs a total
of 48,634 staff including 31,209 officers, 14,449 police staff, 409 traffic wardens and 2,569 Police Community
Support Officers (PCSOs). As a large complex organisation with over 600 sites, the MPS has a significant impact
on the environment.

Sustainable procurement

The MPS procurement budget is £855 million and it is acknowledged that purchasing influences must be used to
reduce the environmental impacts of the supply chain. The MPS can therefore influence purchasing decisions to
ensure it fulfils the requirements set for public bodies to implement sustainable procurement including: Government
objectives for the UK to be leaders in sustainable procurement within the EU by 2009. The MPS environmental
strategy includes the objective to ‘Work with suppliers and contractors to improve environmental performance in the
supply chain through a purchasing policy founded, on stewardship, and maximise the purchase of sustainable
materials’.

The MPS has developed a sustainable procurement policy and supplier evaluation questionnaire, which requires
suppliers to provide information on their environmental performance. In addition, the MPS reviews all contract
renewals and tenders for environmental best practice. As one of the Greater London Authority functional bodies the
MPS attends the Sustainable Procurement Working Group and has agreed a group wide sustainable procurement
policy.

Work is being carried out within property services procurement teams to ensure that environmental best practice is
considered in the purchase of goods and materials in construction projects. The MPS supports the procurement of
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) timber and is committed to purchasing timber from a 100% certified sustainable
source; in line with wider government and Mayoral policy. The MPS is currently working with suppliers to ensure that
contractor’s record and report data on the quantity of certified timber purchased.

As part of the sustainable procurement policy the MPS is committed to purchasing recycled content products and has
an environmental target for 2006/07 to ‘Increase spend on recycled products by 5% on 2004/05 levels’. In 2005/06
the MPS procured recycled products including animal bedding, copier paper, washroom products and furniture worth
over £2.8 million. This is a 170% increase on the previous year due to improved reporting from suppliers and
procurement initiatives. The purchase of recycled products has contributed to a number of environmental savings
including waste being diverted from landfill.

The MPS also ensures that sustainable procurement is considered when purchasing products through food
Sustainablecontracts.
consumables purchasing In 2005 the MPS became involved in the London Food Link project funded by the London
Development Agency (LDA). The MPS held a number of supplier workshops to discuss more sustainable food
options including organic, Fair Trade and the reduction of food miles. For example, a range of organic produce is
available to unit catering managers to purchase via MPS contracts depending on local demand. In addition, the MPS
supported Fair Trade Fortnight 2006 to increase awareness of the issues to staff. The MPS worked in partnership
with a Fair Trade chocolate manufacturer to promote their chocolate to staff. This included an intranet competition as
well as point of sale advertising at MPS staff restaurants. The MPS as a major employer also contributed to London
Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham achieving Fair Trade Borough status due to Fair Trade tea, coffee and
chocolate available in staff restaurants.
Overcoming
In 2005/06 the obstacles
MPS achieved level B2, the highest level of the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code.
The MPS has been assigned a Mayor’s Code project manager who has provided details of sustainable flooring
options to be used within refurbishments of MPS buildings. The MPS regularly attends events and seminars
organised by London Remade on various topics including use of biodiesel and green procurement.

Other activity

The MPS has implemented an environmental management programme since 1993 and a new look five year
strategy was launched in February 2005, which aligns very strongly with the Mayor of London’s environmental
strategies. The strategy was developed to show how the MPS will implement strategic environmental
objectives through the achievement of annual targets in the following areas:

• environmental crime
• transport
• procurement
• resource management and consumption (including energy, water, waste and paper)
• environmental training and awareness
• sustainable design, and
• financial aspects of environmental management.

Responsibility for achievements of objectives and targets has been assigned to senior staff members within the
MPS and a governance process has been developed to monitor progress. This is quoted annually in the MPA
environment report along with performance data and case studies. Delivery of the environmental strategy has
senior management commitment, as the MPS director of resources is also the MPS environmental champion.

Results

In 2005/06, MPS office waste recycling schemes resulted in a recycling level of 20% of the total waste
The Future The MPS continues to roll out recycling schemes across its operations and has exceeded targets to
generated.
increase recycling levels to 15% in line with Mayoral targets. In addition, the MPS recycles a number of waste
streams including horse waste, vehicles, firearms, fluorescent tubes and mobile phones.

The future

The MPS has investigated switching to more sustainable food packaging. As part of the tender process for one
of the catering procurement contracts, suppliers were asked to supply details of the availability of
biodegradable, recyclable and recycled content disposable packaging products. Biodegradable salad
containers have been purchased and are being trialled at a number of catering units as well as trials of
polylactide (PLA) packaging made from cornstarch.

The MPS has a continuous commitment to diversity and recognises its responsibility to embed supplier diversity
into procedures and policies. Introductory meetings have begun with local SMEs who have expressed an
interest in working with the MPS. This work will enable the MPS to source products and services locally to
reduce the environmental impacts of transport.
The MPS will continue working with the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code to further explore the
range of recycled content products available. In addition, the Green Procurement Code construction specialist
will be presenting at a sustainable construction seminar to improve awareness within construction services.
Contact details

Contact: Lucy Poole

Tel: 020 7161 2077

Email: lucy.poole@met.police.uk