Give PCCs beefed-up role, says Policy Exchange

23 Aug 13
Police and crime commissioners should be given additional powers, including the ability for sack local prison governors and probation service bosses, a think-tank has said.

By Richard Johnstone | 23 August 2013

Police and crime commissioners should be given additional powers, including the ability for sack local prison governors and probation service bosses, a think-tank has said.

Policy Exchange, which claims it helped devise the role of PCCs, said the role now needed additional responsibilities to ‘fulfil the potential’ of local control of the criminal justice system.

Elections were held in England for 41 PCCs last November, while the Mayor of London holds the responsibility for the capital. The polls attracted the lowest voter turnout in a peacetime election, at just 15.1%.

However, the think-tank said that election of the first commissioners provided a ‘once-in-a-generation opportunity’ to change the balance of power in the justice system, where there is currently almost no local financial responsibility or democratic accountability.

It says that 10 PCCs should initially be given enhanced powers to appoint and dismiss prison governors and local probation chiefs, order inspections of criminal justice agencies and take over youth justice budgets.

The think-tank’s Power down: a plan to for cheaper, more effective justice report, published yesterday, said there was currently a lack of clarity over how the role will evolve over time.

Crating ‘super PCCs’ – to effectively to act as local ministers for policing and crime – would provide a boost for the role, report author Max Chambers said.

‘Currently PCCs are operating with one arm tied behind their back. They must be able to hold local criminal justice agencies to account. That includes the ability to appoint the right people as well as set the local strategy and hold criminal justice leaders to account for performance.

‘It will mean cheaper, more effective justice in a system that desperately needs an injection of dynamism and it’s the best way of making sure that PCCs fulfil their potential and meet the promises they made to the electorate.’

A Whitehall PCC strategy board should oversee the enhanced PCCs, the report stated. This would be made up of directors in the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, as well as from the Treasury, Cabinet Office and a number of outside experts.

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