By Vivienne Russell
26 October 2010
Most police authorities are under-prepared for the financial difficulties that lie ahead, inspectors warned today.
Police governance in austerity, a report from the Inspectorate of Constabulary, found that few authorities were able to provide proper direction to their forces or ensure value for money.
Only seven out of 22 authorities inspected were found to be performing well, and of these only four scored highly on setting strategy and achieving value for money. These were: Gwent, Hertfordshire, West Mercia and Surrey.
Inspector of constabulary Zoe Billingham said: ‘Police authorities have a crucial role to play over the next 18 months as it is their job to decide what the priorities should be for the police and to secure value for money.
‘But, of the 22 authorities we looked at, only four were good at this part of their job. HMIC has identified the characteristics that made these four authorities stand out. All the other authorities need to take a hard and honest look at how they might improve in these areas and transform their approach.’
Inspectors found that strong performers benchmarked costs and challenged what their police force was doing with their money in both the short and long term. They also actively enabled collaboration with other forces and struck a balance between local issues and national responsibilities, such as terrorism, drugs and people trafficking.
The government plans to phase out police authorities and replace them with elected police and crime commissioners.
Billingham said: ‘While it is too soon to consider all of the issues that might arise from [police authorities’] replacement by police and crime commissioners, the characteristics of good governance that we are publishing today might usefully inform the new design.’
She acknowledged that it would be difficult for authorities to improve in the face of abolition, saying the inspectorate had ‘real concerns about how police authorities will change their approach to deal with the cuts while minimising reductions to public services’.
Commenting on the report, Rob Garnham, chair of the Association of Police Authorities, said: ‘We recognise that along with the rest of the public sector we face significant financial challenges. Inevitably any changes to the system of policing governance will put additional strain on our resources. Police authorities are ready to deal with the difficult financial environment, demonstrated by our good record in making efficiency savings.’
