Regulator unveils key performance statistics

17 Nov 08

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) has published some key figures about its regulatory work to date, highlighting the processing time for licences and the performance of its Call Centre.

According to an official statement issued this morning: “Regulation by the SIA has led to a more professional private security industry which is needed to help protect people, property and assets.”

The following figures illustrate how the Regulator is performing in its day-to-day operations

Licensing figures (as of 12 November 2008)

485,554 security qualifications held
288,208 valid licences
12,360 applications refused
9,258 licences revoked

Licence processing times (September–October 2008)

84% of properly completed licence applications from UK/EEA nationals processed within 33 working days (the target is 80%)
81% of ALL properly completed licence applications processed within 40 working days (the target is 80%)
60% were processed in under 25 working days

Call Centre Performance (October 2008)

99.6% of calls made it through
95% of 34,000 incoming calls were answered
Average call wait was under one minute
69% of successful calls answered within 30 seconds
95% of successful calls answered within 5 minutes

Approved Contractor Scheme (as of 31 October 2008)

The total number of Approved Contractors stands at 558. More than More than 117,000 licensed operatives were working for these companies.

Intelligence received (in October)

The SIA received 1,076 pieces of intelligence, which included:

499 pieces of information sent directly to the SIA by members of the public and individuals working in the private security industry
102 intelligence reports provided through partner Crimestoppers
386 pieces of information provided by the police and other law enforcement agencies

Assisted by this information, the Regulator was able to revoke 37 SIA licences and suspend 35 SIA licences

It was also able to undertake a risk assessment of 123 companies – 50 companies were assessed as being either a high or medium risk and brought to the attention of the Compliance and Investigation Team. Issues were investigated relating to ACS companies, with nine companies being brought to the attention of the Compliance and Investigation Team.

120 key pieces of information and intelligence were shared with other law enforcement partners in order to reduce crime, disorder and the fear of crime.

Compliance and Enforcement (since April)

The SIA engaged in over 90 operations led by partners, usually the police. The Regulator found 95% compliance at large-scale events such as T in the Park, Glastonbury and the Leeds and Reading Festivals.

To test the intelligence-led approach:

1,294 operatives were checked during random operations
1,185 operatives were compliant (equating to 92% compliance)

The SIA secured 13 convictions against businesses and individuals in the criminal Courts.

Since SIA regulation began, and as a direct result of targeted operations and investigations, the Regulator has issued 981 warning notices to security operatives and 79 improvement notices to security businesses.