Scrutiny - police and crime panels
How much funding will the Home Office provide?
The Home Office will provide funding to help panels to do the job required of them under the new legislation. This funding will be a total of £53,300 for support and running costs. In addition we will make available up to £920 per member of the panel (including additional co-optees) to fund necessary expenses.Has the funding increased?
The original funding allocation was based on the first draft of the legislation. Since then, additional legislation has clarified the role and potentially increased the size of panels. This includes legislation derived from amendments to the Bill during its passage through the House of Lords and the development of specific regulations in relation to complaints against the commissioner.
We have been clear that we will fund panels to do the job set out for them under the legislation. As a result, we have increased the funding allocation for panels to £53,300 per area for support and running costs. We have also made available funding to cover the necessary expenses of all panel members, including the additional co-opted members.
When will funding begin?
Funding will begin in October 2012. This will ensure that the panel can meet and agree procedures before commissioners are in place in November, when the work of PCPs really begins.Who will scrutinise the PCC's expenditure?
The PCC is required to publish details of expenditure, which will be scrutinise by the PCP and the public. The PCC will also be required to appoint a chief financial officer, who is duty bound to ensure that all payments and grants made by the PCC are in accordance with his or her statutory duties.
The PCC will also publish an annual report which will set out performance against spending and provide the platform on which the PCP will seek to challenge and support the PCC in developing their police and crime plan.
How will the public know how their PCC is performing?
A key responsibility of the PCC will be to report to the public in a transparent and open way how funding is being used; hold the force to account in an annual report for their local use of resources, including any national arrangements for buying goods and services and of nationally provided services; and to hold the force to account for their contribution to and use of collaboratively provided services within their region.
The public will benefit from objective accounts on the force from HMIC, as well as crime data from police.uk. In addition, PCCs will have to publish details of their staff salaries in the interests of transparency. The public can then judge whether they are making best use of public money.
What exactly is a police and crime plan?
The PCC will need a document that sets out clearly the priorities for local policing for the whole force area, their term of office and how they are going to be addressed. Essentially it must set out the PCC's objectives for policing and reducing crime and disorder in the area, how policing resources will be allocated and agreements for funding and reporting on the work.
In developing the plan the PCC must consult the chief constable, who acts as their principle adviser on policing matters. They must also obtain views on the plan from local people and the victims of crime in that area.
The PCC's role is to ensure that the plan includes and addresses the views on local policing of the electorate; it will be a public document and a key mechanism for the PCC to hold the chief constable to account.
Is the funding for PCPs enough?
PCPs are not a replacement for the police authority. They will fulfil an important role in scrutinising the commissioner, but this reform is about reconnecting the police and the people, which will be achieved through a directly elected police and crime commissioner not through the police and crime panel.
It is the commissioner who is taking on the role of the police authority and who the public will hold to account for the performance of their force.
Can local authorities spend their own money on PCPs to make them more robust?
Local authorities are free to use their own budgets to resource the PCP as they see fit, although central funding is being provided to deliver the function described in legislation. It will be up to local areas to work out how they want their PCP to function although the legislation sets out a framework for this.
PCPs will not be replacement police authorities. They do not have the same powers or responsibilities. They will be a critical friend to the PCC, providing as much support as challenge, so when considering how to develop their local PCP, areas should consider examples of scrutiny good practice.
Isn't the PCP more than just a scrutiny body? It has decision making powers
The PCP is a scrutiny body, acting as a critical friend to commissioners. However it does have some important, if limited decision making powers in that it can veto the precept and the chief constable appointment. These are powers that the PCP can use as a last resort. We expect the relationship between the PCC and the PCP to be one of support and challenge.Will there not be political conflict between the PCC and the PCP, especially if there are mayors on it?
Local authorities and PCCs will both have the same overarching aim which is to respond to the needs of their local communities. With this principle in mind it should be possible for both parties to work together to address any perceived areas of conflict.Does the PCP not need to represent the people?
The PCC who is tasked with gathering the views of the local community on policing and crime and incorporating these into their police and crime plan. PCPs will have a role in reviewing that plan and ensuring that local priorities have been considered.Who will sit on a PCP?
PCPs will comprise of one elected representative (councillors and, where relevant, elected mayors) from each local authority within the force area and two independent members or co-optees.
There must be a minimum of ten elected representatives therefore in those areas that have fewer than ten local authorities, each authority will be required to send one member with the remaining seats to be negotiated locally and filled by the member authorities.
Both top-tier and district councils will need to be represented on the PCP. It will be the first time district councils have formal involvement in policing governance.
Independent members could, for example, be experts in their field, or representatives of community organisations (e.g. the voluntary sector), or appointed on the basis of other relevant knowledge and skills.
The intention is to allow PCPs and member councils to decide what membership works best for their force area, taking into account the legislative framework and the balanced appointment objective.
The balanced appointment objective states that in appointing panel members local authorities must as far as is practicable consider the make-up of the local areas, including the political make-up, and the required skills, knowledge and experience for the panel to function effectively.
Once established, panels will be free to co-opt further members, both elected and independent, where required, up to a maximum panel size of twenty.
What happens if local authorities cannot agree on a PCP's membership?
The Home Secretary will have powers (to be exercised as a last resort) to intervene where local authorities have failed to nominate members to the PCP, or have collectively failed to establish a PCP. We do not expect these powers to be needed, but the PCP is a critical part of the model and so we have ensured that arrangements are in place should the PCP fail to form.