The Security Industry Authority has released their Annual Report today, revealing an increase of GB pound 5.9 million income to GB pound 33.7m.
A huge increase in applications processed combined with a raft of cost reductions meant an overall surplus of GB pound 5.4m for 2011/12, against a small deficit last year.
There were a total of 193,453 licence applications processed; an increase on the previous year of around 21%. Of these, the SIA processed 93% of applications within 25 working days or less, beating their commitment of 80% by some margin.
The SIA’s Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS) now has a membership of 736 and satisfaction ratings from members are at 90% for the year, a figure just slightly up on last year’s 89%.
Meanwhile, the SIA enforcement team has worked with a wide variety of partners to achieve 98% levels of compliance in the industry, particularly important, say the authority, ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
There have been significant operations in the past year against organised crime and several successful prosecutions of individuals and businesses including the conviction of Ernest Bewick in February who was ordered to pay GB pound 550,000 for running a security firm without a licence.
Other key information from the report includes:
The SIA have also been working on the phased transition to a new regulatory regime that would focus primarily on businesses, but would retain a register of individuals qualified to work in the private security industry.
A Strategic Consultation Group for this transition has been established and the Government are likely to look at proposals to changes to current legislation in “due course”.
The SIA also explained some of the work that has been going on to help ensure a secure Olympic Games.
They wrote in a joint statement from SIA chairman Ruth Henig and chief executive Bill Butler:
“We have been working for a number of years now with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), government, other agencies and the industry to plan for and support the delivery of effective security during the Games. In particular, we have worked to ensure that arrangements at Games’ venues meet all legal requirements, whilst ensuring that our approach supports the overall ambition for the success of the Games.”
The Annual Report also outlines a number of key proposals for the Authority’s vision of the future which includes the idea that licenses and registrations would not expire unless terminated by the business or individual, or revoked by the Regulator.
You can download the full report at the Security Industry Authority website here.
