By Richard Johnstone | 23 January 2014
More than one in seven police and crime commissioners share a chief financial officer with their force, risking potential conflicts of interests, according to the National Audit Office.
Across England and Wales, six of the 41 commissioners share a chief financial officer with their force, its Police accountability report found. Shared chief financial officers might struggle to provide unfettered advice to both the chief constable and commissioner when they disagree, the NAO warned.
PCCs replaced local police authorities in holding chief constables to account and approving budgets. While the NAO said yesterday that the new system had the potential to be an improvement on the one it replaced, it highlighted ‘gaps’ in the Home Office’s oversight framework.
This aims to balance an increase in local autonomy with Whitehall’s need for assurances on value for money.
But the NAO concluded that gaps in the regime could limit the degree of assurance the Home Office could take from the structure.
Auditor general Amyas Morse said: ‘More work is needed to ensure that all elements of the [oversight] framework are working effectively to minimise risks to value for money.’
Responding to the report, policing minister Damian Green: ‘There are obviously still challenges ahead while police and crime panels adjust to their new roles, but the powers set out in legislation enable them to effectively scrutinise the actions and decisions of Police and Crime Commissioners.
‘Elected police and crime commissioners represent the most significant democratic reform of the police since Robert Peel. They have replaced faceless and ineffective police authorities and use their powers to hold chief constables and forces to greater account. They have increased public engagement and scrutinise force budgets to drive down costs and encourage innovation.’
The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners welcomed the NAO’s report, which it said recognised the increases public engagement provided by PCCs.
‘This supports other research which suggests commissioners are much more visible than former police authorities,’ the association said in a statement.
All police and crime commissioners were introducing their own checks and balances to monitor force spending and drive greater collaboration between constabularies to increase service resilience and reduce costs, it added.
