Plan to cut police red tape 'flawed' in practice

4 Nov 11
Measures to reduce the amount of time and money the police spend on paperwork for prosecutions have been hampered by their 'flawed' introduction, according to the National Audit Office.

By Nick Mann | 4 November 2011

Measures to reduce the amount of time and money the police spend on paperwork for prosecutions have been hampered by their ‘flawed’ introduction, according to the National Audit Office.

In a report published on Wednesday, the auditor claimed there had been wide differences between individual police forces’ implementation of the ‘Streamlined Process’ initiative since it was launched nationwide in 2008.

It also said the initiative, which was jointly introduced by the Crown Prosecution Service and Association of Chief Police Officers, has yet to achieve the £10m a year it could potentially save police forces if properly implemented.

NAO head Amyas Morse said: ‘The Streamlined Process initiative holds the promise of cutting police paperwork thereby saving money and freeing officers up for other tasks, without reducing the effectiveness of courts. 

‘But its roll-out did not follow the principles of good project management, it is unclear whether savings have been made and local police areas have not all bought in equally to the need to implement the guidance.’

In particular, the NAO found that almost 80% of the police files it inspected in partnership with the inspectorates of constabulary and the CPS contained a disproportionate amount of paperwork.

It also found that more than half of the files reviewed did not summarise key evidence to a high enough standard.

The NAO concluded, however, that the Streamlined Process had not had a negative impact on the progression of cases through magistrates’ courts.

But it called on the Home Office and ACPO to make sure frontline police officers and their supervisors were all made aware of what the Streamlined Process required from them.

And it said that future initiatives should take account of the powers of the national and local bodies putting the plans into practice and the relationships between them to ensure all parties were involved.

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