Home Office: Police and Crime Commissioner events begin

In just ten months from now members of the public across England and Wales in each of the 41 police force areas outside of London will take to the ballot box in order to elect their own Police and Crime Commissioner.

The job of police and crime commissioners (PCCs) will be to:

• cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service within their force area
• consult with the public to set policing priorities
• ensure local and national priorities are suitably funded by setting a budget and the local precept
• hold to account the local chief constable for the performance of the force
• ensure community needs are met as effectively as possible and deliver a real, tangible difference to the lives of the electorate they represent

Opportunities for close working

In preparation for the arrival of PCCs, Home Office representatives met with local authorities and criminal justice, voluntary, community safety and health organisations in Lancashire and Cumbria to discuss opportunities for close working with PCCs.

It was also a chance for organisations to raise questions about Police and Crime Commissioners ahead of their election later this year.

Nick Herbert, the Government minister for policing and criminal justice, commented: “The arrival of Police and Crime Commissioners will be the most significant democratic reform of policing in our lifetime. From November, the people of Lancashire and Cumbria will have a stronger voice in how their streets are policed and will be able to turn to their local Commissioner to hold the police to account on their behalf.”

Assembly urges Mayor to cut costs within his new policing organisation

The London Mayor’s new body for overseeing policing and crime should cut its costs in line with other organisations in the capital such as the Metropolitan Police Service itself, the London Assembly has commented.

The London Assembly’s Budget and Performance Committee says the planned budget for running the new Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC) is no lower than it was for the Metropolitan Police Authority which it replaces. Its budget is also not set to reduce over the next three years.

However, other organisations within the GLA group are being asked to make significant efficiency savings, including the Metropolitan Police Service whose budget is set to reduce by 8% over the next three years.

In its response to the Mayor’s consultation draft budget for 2012-2013, the Committee therefore calls on Mayor Boris Johnson to set out the savings he expects from the MOPC in his next version of the budget proposals.

Unresolved funding for the police

Assembly members also highlight unresolved funding for the police going forward, and call for more details of how the GLA will fund its areas of responsibility including skills and employment, youth and volunteering, business support, sport, the Olympics, regeneration, climate change and the environment.

The Committee additionally suggests replacing current targets on shared services within City Hall to make them more meaningful and focus on collaboration between the organisations that fall under the Mayor’s control.

John Biggs, chairman of the Budget and Performance Committee, said: “In the current financial climate, organisations all across the capital including the Metropolitan Police Service are being asked to make huge savings. It’s therefore only right that the Mayor’s new Office for Policing and Crime finds efficiencies, too.”

Biggs continued: “The Mayor needs to set out the savings he expects from this new organisation so Londoners can be sure their money is being well spent. He also needs to make it clearer just how he will fund a whole range of existing programmes, including those designed to meet his employment and environmental aims for the Capital.”

Funding to run the MOPC next year is expected to be GB pound 16.6 million with GB pound 3.7 million relating to the transfer of new functions compared to the MPA’s budget of GB pound 12.5 million in 2011-2012.