Police authorities ‘unready for austerity’
By Peter Wozniak
Police authorities in the UK are poorly placed to provide value for money in an age of spending cuts, a report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has concluded.
HMIC inspected 22 police authorities and found only seven performed well overall. Even fewer were rated highly for providing strategic direction and value for money, making the vast majority unready for the cuts they will have to implement.
Zoe Billingham, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said: “All the other authorities need to take a hard and honest look at how they might improve in these areas and transform their approach.”
The government is bringing forward proposals to install directly elected police commissioners to take charge of oversight of forces, meaning the current authorities will be abolished in 18 months’ time.
The report argued however that their role for the meantime is critical.
“Until their abolition, police authorities should focus on setting an affordable direction for policing and probing costs and alternatives that offer better value for money for the public,” it read.
“To succeed, action has to be taken now.”
“However, the reality remains that few authorities are well positioned, or well prepared, to do what is needed to ensure smart direction and value for money.”
The impact of the spending review means a total of 20% cuts to police budgets.
The government has argued that the axe will fall primarily on backroom staff, and even though there may be redundancies, police will have more time to perform their frontline duties with the coalition’s cull of bureaucratic procedures and form-filling.
Opponents have warned there will be an inevitable shortfall in frontline services with the cuts programme, increasing the risks to public safety.
HMIC’s report comes at an unfortunate time for the government as it desperately tries to defend the spending review in the wake of across the board 19% cuts to government departments.
The coalition’s insistence that ‘frontline’ services, including the police, will escape comparatively unaffected is undermined by Ms Billingham’s conclusions.
She added: “HMIC have real concerns about how police authorities will change their approach to deal with the cuts while minimising reductions to public services.”
