It really doesn’t seem as long ago as five and a half years since I spoke at my first Security Industry Authority Stakeholder Conference in Leicester. Well, time does race by when you’re enjoying yourself!
Since then, we’ve met at some wonderful venues in Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and a couple of times in London.
Alas, today is my last Stakeholder Conference as chairman of the Regulator as my contract ends in mid-January. I would like to say a big Thank You to everyone from across the industry who has helped me, guided me, advised me and befriended me in the last few years. Without your support I would have found the job much more difficult.
Thanks also to everyone in the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Government and those working in the security sector across Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have had some memorable events in these parts of the UK, and you have helped to drive our improvement agenda in a number of important ways.
Some things haven’t changed since 2007. One of the hot topics at that first Stakeholder Conference was training malpractice, and there was also the issue of front line security officers whose grasp of the English language was poor yet they still passed the training course. These issues are with us still. We’re working vigorously to combat them.
On a more positive note, there have been enormous improvements in our service to you and in our financial performance. Back in 2007, in front of what I can best describe as a sceptical and quite critical audience, I promised that the SIA would ‘up its game’, provide a better, more efficient and cost-effective service and listen more carefully to what the industry was telling us.
Improving relationships, developing networks
Since that time, we’ve worked to improve relations with the leading industry bodies and have developed a range of networks involving large and small companies across the private security industry, as well as door supervisors, to enable us to exchange views and remain in close contact.
We have had our ups and downs along the way. Who could forget our computer malfunction in late 2007, with all the problems it caused for individuals desperate to renew their licenses and stay on the right side of the law? Or the right to work issues of Autumn 2008, when the departure of our then CEO hit the national headlines?
More recently, of course, there was our threatened demise in the so-called Bonfire of the Quangos when it was you, the industry, who campaigned so hard and so effectively to win us a reprieve, and to put across to the Government our joint vision for lighter touch regulation and for industry to play a bigger role in the governance and oversight of the regulatory regime.
None of this has deflected us from our main task, though, which is to improve and to extend the regulatory service we offer to the industry, and to work with the industry to raise standards and ensure good levels of public protection.
I’m happy to report that the SIA is a much more efficient and effective Regulator now than it was back in 2007. Licences are issued much more quickly, and we operate more cost-effectively (no doubt as a result of having had an ex-auditor as CEO for the past three years).
Hence, we have been able to bring the licence fee down from GB pound 245 to GB pound 220, which compares favourably to the cost of a licence in 2007 (which, in real terms, would now come in at around GB pound 253).
That reduction in the individual licence fee is a real benefit for those who work in the industry, most of them earning very basic wages.
Enforcement policies and licensing processes
Another area for improvement – and one which was demanded loudly in 2007 – is our much more targeted and effective enforcement policies and willingness to take serious offenders to court.
There have been some celebrated successful prosecutions in the last three years. Our working relations with the police, the CRB and with the UKBA staff are close, and there have been many successful joint operations around the country (notably in Merseyside and Glasgow).
Our licensing processes have become much more streamlined and available electronically, with more flexible means of payment. Further improvements are in the pipeline.
The number of ACS-registered companies continues to rise, and presently sits at around 750. Our regime now covers Scotland and Northern Ireland, and our relationships with the Home Office, Scotland and Northern Ireland are good.
Despite our best efforts, there are changes that haven’t yet taken place. Since 2007, I have been firmly convinced that private investigators should be subject to our licensing regime. By the end of 2009, this had been agreed in principle by ministers and by the Home Office, and work began to map out a feasible timetable that would enable this to happen.
However, in May 2010 the new coalition Government put this work on hold – perhaps not surprising since, although we didn’t know it at the time, we were being lined up for abolition.
Well, as I mentioned before this didn’t happen, and before too much longer all the revelations about phone hacking emerged and The Leveson Inquiry was set up. Now, the regulation of private investigators is back on the agenda as we wait to see what recommendations the judge will make.
Push for private investigator licensing
On the grounds of public protection, I very much hope that the licensing of private investigators will go ahead. The SIA is certainly ready to work with the Home Office and a supportive industry to bring this about as soon as is feasibly practicable.
The other major change I have always wanted to see in the Private Security Industry Act was the licensing not of individuals but of companies and businesses. I was therefore delighted when this change was accepted by the Government as an essential part of the transition to a new regulatory regime.
It’s one which the industry is keen to implement and, working with industry representatives, we’ve already made a lot of progress in outlining how the new regime based on company regulation could work, and what changes we would need to bring in to underpin it.
I thought the Home Secretary was being just a little bit optimistic when she told Bill and I in early 2011 that she hoped the new regime could be in place by the end of 2013, but we certainly thought it might be up-and-running by 2014. We’ve done everything we can to make that a real possibility.
Alas, the timetable has now slipped badly. We are still awaiting the publication by the Home Office of the Impact Assessment and Consultation document on the change, which will not be available before the end of November, and it will be many months after that before comments are received and analysed and legislation can be considered.
Even here there are big uncertainties. The Security Industry Authority and our existing way of regulation was created through primary legislation: the will of Parliament. To change also requires primary legislation. We can evolve regulation through secondary legislation, but it’s not clear how much of the change we want to see can be carried through by secondary legislation alone.
We’ve been advised that there’s no prospect of primary legislation being introduced before 2014 at the earliest. At this rate of progress, we won’t be seeing business licensing introduced until late 2014 or 2015 at the earliest.
That’s only the first of the many changes in our transition to a new regulatory regime that we’ve been promised.
It’s going to be a very long transition indeed. Certainly not what was hoped for back in 2010, and a continuation of the uncertainty for individuals and businesses as to the final form, timing and impact of a new regime.
Reflecting on the Olympic and Paralympic Games
Let me end, however, on a positive note. The Jubilee, Olympic and Paralympic Games were huge successes, so too the Olympic Torch Relays. Some particular problems apart, it was a good Games for private security: everything went off without a hitch, and large numbers of young people gained experience of working in the sector. Hopefully, they’ll choose to remain within it.
No doubt lessons will be learned, but there are a lot of positives to take forward to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow come 2014 and some interesting questions for the industry to address in terms of the legacy of London 2012 – not least the way in which we value and treat those working in the security sector.
Many recent studies of the sector still show that so many who work within are putting in very long hours for minimum wages, and that too many contracts are still secured on the basis of security being a commodity sold on cheap cost and cheap labour.
This has to change, and we are working with industry leaders and representative bodies to improve standards and to enhance public safety.
There has been a lot of change in the past five years, and we have seen some welcome developments of late such as the drawing up of the Register of Chartered Security Professionals by The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals and The Security Institute, as well as the Chartered Security Professional certification scheme.
The industry’s voice has been growing louder and more unified, and I’ve been delighted to assist in this process.
Building The Future Special Award
At the recent Security Excellence Awards, I was overwhelmed to receive the Building the Future Special Award for an outstanding contribution to the private security industry from Bobby Logue of Interconnective and Brian Sims of UBM Live.
I can only say it again: that it has been a close and productive partnership both with the leading industry bodies and with lots of individuals working in the industry which has taken us forward so strongly – and I thank you all for your part in our collaboration.
In conclusion, can I thank everyone at the Security Industry Authority for all of their hard work, support, help and friendship over the past five years, most notably Bill Butler and all the directors and assistant directors, and the best people of all – those who have served so ably in Private Office.
I don’t imagine I’ll completely disappear. I suspect I shall be keeping a close eye on developments, but perhaps from a somewhat different vantage point.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but we can be proud of what has been achieved thus far by way of sensible and proportionate regulation.
I have every confidence that the future for the private security industry, and for all those who work within it, will be successful and bright.
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