Home affairsLetter from Stephen Rimmer, Chair, Serious Organised Crime Agency, to the Chair of the Committee, 20 September 2013

Thank you for your letter of 1 0 September in which you ask for further information on potential conflicts of interest and on the transition to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

2. SOCA Board procedures include a requirement for members to complete and maintain a register of declaration of interests including financial and non-financial interests. The register of interests must be kept up to date and is a public document. In the declaration itself, a section covers companies and it notes that should a Board member need to update this declaration they are required to do so as soon as possible.

3. There is a clear delineation between the roles and responsibilities of the SOCA Board and that of the Director General of SOCA, who has general operational control over SOCA’s activities including oversight of SOCA’s operational functions and how such operations are conducted. The SOCA Board, with a majority of non-executive members, has corporate responsibility for ensuring that SOCA discharges its statutory responsibilities. For this reason, with the exception of the former SOCA Chair, it was in line with standard practice for the non-executive directors not to have seen the client lists that were provided to the Committee on 22 July. At the SOCA Board meeting on 24 July, the Director General informed the Board about current issues in respect of private investigators, and SOCA’s engagement with the Committee over this issue.

4. Given the Committee’s concerns raised at the session on 3 September, I made arrangements to sight each of the current Board members—executive and non-executive and on an individual basis—on the contents of the lists accordingly and to seek their reassurances. I can confirm that I am completely satisfied that no conflicts of interest around this issue were identified with any individual member of the Board.

5. As you know, I separately wrote to you on 10 September about the incorrect statement made by the Committee that Francis Plowden was a ‘director of Serco Plc.’ SOCA Board procedures require Board members to avoid any risk of being influenced, or appearing to be influenced, by their personal interests when carrying out SOCA duties. Any personal interest or business interest that might influence, or appear to influence, a Board member’s judgement must be declared. Under this provision, when Francis became a SOCA nonexecutive director, he declared his Serco shareholding- because, at the time, Serco was a

supplier to SOCA and bidding for the renewal of SOCA’s IT contract. When Serco ceased to be a supplier, this potential conflict of interest ceased and it became no longer necessary to declare this shareholding. Francis continues to hold these shares.

6. Peter Clarke was also specifically referred to in the session. He has asked me to reaffirm that he has never conducted private investigations, has never to his knowledge worked with or for anyone who conducts private investigations, and so far as he is aware has no connections to any organisation that has used private investigators. Other than his charitable and academic interests, his work mainly consists of advising clients in the public and private sectors, in the UK and overseas, on matters such as crisis management, counter terrorism, the protection of critical national infrastructure and related subjects.

7. For completeness, can I just again make the point- as I did at the Committee hearing that Sir Ian Andrews’ resignation was not linked to any conflict of interest in respect of private investigators. It was directly and solely as a consequence of a failure to register a specific business appointment.

8. I should also add that my own financial and non-financial interests extend only to being a trustee of the Civil Service Charity.

9. On the transition to the NCA, I understand Keith Bristow wrote to you on 18 September setting out the number of SOCA officers transferring to the NCA. The number of retirees since the inception of SOCA is set out in the table at Annex A. A Cabinet Office early exit scheme has been carried out, targeted at senior officers, in support of the NCA’s ambition of a leaner management structure and a further realignment of resources to focus on front-line operational delivery. 27 staff have exited SOCA as part of this, at a total cost of £2.6m.

10. SOCA casework will transfer to NCA in its entirety when it goes live. SOCA has been participating in shadow working since February to assist in a smooth transition, and have done so effectively in my judgement.

11. Trevor Pearce will be writing to you separately in respect of the operational matters on which he agreed to provide you further information.

Stephen Rimmer
Chair
Serious Organised Crime Agency

Annex A

NUMBER OF RETIREMENTS FROM SOCA

Year	Number
200607	119
200708	245
200809	292
200910	172
201011	238
201112	219
201213	176
2013 to date	143