Memorandum by the Association of Police
Authorities (APA) (DRA 70)
INTRODUCTION
1. The Association of Police Authorities
(APA) represents all police authorities in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland, as well as the newly established British Transport
Police Authority[112]Centrex[113]and
the Service Authorities for the National Crime Squad and National
Criminal Intelligence Service are associate members.
2. The APA welcomes the opportunity to submit
evidence to the Select Committee on the Draft Regional Assemblies
Bill.
GENERAL COMMENTS
3. The APA welcomes the Government's commitment
that the establishment of regional assemblies will not create
an extra tier of government and that the powers of such assemblies
will be devolved from central government rather than drawn upwards
from existing local government structures.
4. The Committee will be aware of the ongoing
programme of police reform. The APA strongly supports the principles
underlying the Government's police reform agenda, particularly
the aims of giving local people a greater say in policing and
connecting police forces more closely with the communities they
serve. The APA therefore welcomes the fact that there is no intention
for regional assemblies to have any direct role in, or responsibilities
for, policing.
BACKGROUND—ABOUT
POLICE AUTHORITIES
5. It might be helpful to first explain
briefly the constitution and role of police authorities. Police
authorities outside London were set up in their present form by
the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994[114]The
Metropolitan Police Authority came into being in July 2000 following
implementation of the Greater London Authority Act 1999.
6. There are 43 police authorities in England
and Wales, each of which oversees the work of its local police
force. Police authorities are independent bodies made up of local
people. Together with the Home Secretary and chief police officers,
they are responsible for the governance of policing in England
and Wales—the "tripartite relationship".
7. Most police authorities have 17 members,
made up of 9 councillors, 3 magistrates and 5 independent members.
However, five authorities—Devon & Cornwall, Dyfed-Powys,
Greater Manchester, South Wales and Thames Valley—have 19
members: 10 councillors, 3 magistrates and 6 Independent members.
The Metropolitan Police Authority comprises 12 Greater London
Assembly members, 4 magistrates and 7 independent members.
Statutory role and responsibilities of police
authorities
8. The fundamental statutory duty of every
police authority is to secure the maintenance of an efficient
and effective police force in its area. This duty is delivered
through a variety of statutory responsibilities, including:
— appointing (and, if necessary, dismissing)
the chief officer and other ACPO ranks, subject to the approval
of the Home Secretary;
— consulting local people about policing
issues and, in the light of that consultation and the views of
the chief officer, determining local policing priorities each
year;
— publishing a three year strategy
plan setting out the medium and long term strategies for the policing
of the area;
— publishing an annual local policing
and best value performance plan, containing both national and
local policing objectives, the performance targets set by the
authority and the financial resources available to achieve them;
— setting the policing budget and the
level of local council tax to be raised for policing locally;
— securing continuous improvement in
policing services through best value;
— publishing an annual report on the
force's performance against the policing plan;
— acting as responsible authorities
as part of local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs);
— keeping informed of the workings
of the procedures for handling police complaints locally; and
dealing with complaints against, and disciplining, chief officers.
9. Police authorities' strategic role means
that they have a wide remit to enquire about the management of
their forces. Chief officers, operationally independent for delivery
of local policing, are accountable to their authorities for the
full range of strategies used to ensure that the aim is achieved.
KEY ISSUES
FOR POLICING
AND COMMUNITY
SAFETY
The introduction of regional assemblies raises
the following key issues for policing and community safety:
— Policing structures and organisation.
— Role of regional assemblies in community
safety and security.
— Interface and liaison between regional
assemblies, police authorities, forces and other partners.
POLICING STRUCTURES
AND ORGANISATION
10. As the Committee may be aware, the Government's
Green Paper "Policing: Building Safer Communities Together"[115]raised
questions about the current configuration of police areas and
floated the concept of larger "strategic forces", although
this was not explicitly linked to a regional structure.
11. The APA's response to the Green Paper
recognised that it is sensible to review regularly whether current
policing structures are fit for the purpose of delivering efficient
and effective policing services which meet modern demands.
12. We share the Government's view that
crucial to any policing structure is the need for the service
to "connect to real people in their neighbourhoods"
and that "remote, disconnected" forces would undermine
the community engagement and involvement in policing which we
all wish to see.
13. We have made clear that, in our view,
structures should be driven both by operational needs and community
identities. Alterations to force boundaries do not solve the problem
of cross-border crime, since the issues will need to be addressed
however the boundaries are drawn. What is needed is force-level
flexible cross border capability that can be deployed in line
with needs as they change.
14. Whilst the APA has no difficulties with
the concept of strategic forces, we have yet to see the evidence
that the benefits to be gained from any reconfiguration of the
current pattern of police forces would outweigh the very considerable
disruption and costs, both financial and in relation to communities'
confidence and partnership working, which would result from major
restructuring at this time. The most appropriate size is that
which makes the force best able to engage with, and be accountable
to, the local communities it serves. In particular, the APA is
strongly opposed to any structural change which would weaken local
accountability for policing.
15. We consider that there are significant
gains to be made through the development of specialist/lead forces
and greater strategic collaboration between forces, and there
are already good examples of this happening in practice. Such
collaboration affords both economies of scale and the opportunity
to develop centres of excellence. Where appropriate, such collaboration
may take a regional form, as for example, in relation to the development
of regional intelligence capacity but we see no reason why this
need be confined to regional or geographic areas, and encourage
strategic collaboration between any authorities and forces where
this best meets the needs of the organisations and their communities.
16. The Committee will, of course, be aware
of the Boundary Committee's Review of Local Government Structure,
carried out in preparation for referenda on regional assemblies
which has developed proposals for unitary local government in
areas where regional assemblies are proposed. Certainly, there
are advantages for the police service in working with a single
rather than dual tier of local government, particularly in relation
to multi-agency and partnership working. However, we were concerned
that in developing proposals for unitary local government structures,
the Committee's work should not have unintended consequences for
policing. In our evidence to the Boundary Committee made clear
our view that:
— the structure of police areas should
be a by-product of local authority restructuring but be driven
by community identities and policing and operational needs, as
indicated above; and
— as the current configuration of police
areas is the building block for the wider criminal justice system
(for example, Local Criminal Justice Boards, the Crown Prosecution
Service and probation are now all aligned to police force areas)
any changes to police areas would be potentially disruptive and
have substantive implications for inter-agency working.
ROLE OF
REGIONAL ASSEMBLIES
IN COMMUNITY
SAFETY AND
SECURITY
17. One of the three main purposes of regional
assemblies as set out in the draft Bill is "the promotion
of social development"[116]which
is defined as including "promoting the health, safety and
security of the community"[117]
18. In addition, the draft Bill would give
assemblies far-reaching powers to engage in any "activity
which it thinks appropriate"[118]if
this is likely to further one of its purposes or is likely to
facilitate or be conducive or incidental to any power or function
which it has[119]
19. As the Explanatory Notes accompanying
the Bill make clear, this could include giving grants, working
with other bodies or making proposals and indeed use of the powers
to "finance initiatives to reduce crime" is cited as
a specific example.[120]
20. The Government's Policy Statement which
accompanied the draft Bill, explicitly envisages a role for regional
assemblies in crime reduction (paragraph 76), including working
with and supporting local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
(CDRPs) and drugs action teams. We note that the Government intends
that regional assemblies should be consulted and engaged by partnerships
in carrying our local crime audits and developing strategies.
21. Whilst assemblies will therefore have
no direct remit for policing, the draft Bill gives assemblies
a clear locus in relation to community safety and security.
22. This raises a number of interesting
questions. Firstly, it is unclear how the role of assemblies fits
with the work currently carried out by Regional Crime Reduction
Directors (RCRDs) in Government Offices for the Regions (GOs)
and what the relationships would be between the GOs and the assemblies.
RCRDS play a useful coordinating role and provide a valuable source
of help and support for CDRPS which are based at district or unitary
level. For example, RCRDs have been particularly helpful in co-ordinating
and helping local CDRPs put in place strategies to implement the
Government's major initiative to target prolific and priority
prolific offenders.
23. Will RCRDs be subsumed into the staff
of regional assemblies to support their work on community safety?
Or will RCRDs continue to exist alongside any regional assembly
input into the community safety agenda? If the latter, there would
appear to be potential for significant duplication of activity
and yet further proliferation of bodies and agencies with an involvement
in the community safety sphere.
24. Whilst we have no objection to regional
assemblies being "statutory consultees" in local CDRP
audits and strategies, given that such strategies are intended
to focus on very local crime and disorder issues, it is difficult
to see how assemblies would be able to input effectively into
such very local agendas.
25. We do, however, consider that regional
assemblies could potentially add value, for example, in taking
a strategic approach across a region, for example in developing
regional drug rehabilitation and treatment strategies and policies
so as to ensure that there is effective capacity to provide such
treatment across the region.
Interface between Regional Assemblies and Police
Authorities/Forces
26. The Government's Police Reform Green
Paper[121]also
raised the question of accountability for policing locally. The
APA strongly believes that "policing by consent" is
the fundamental cornerstone of our policing system—crucial
to this is that policing is a locally accountable service. The
APA's response to the Green Paper made clear that we strongly
consider that there needs to be a strategic body made up of local
people, equivalent to the current police authority, with effective
powers to hold the police accountable on behalf of their communities.
27. The Government's recent reaffirmation
in the Home Office Strategic Plan 2004-8[122]that
any future plans for police reform will not damage the principles
of the tripartite approach is therefore welcome.
28. However, as previously recognised, crime
and, indeed other policing issues, is not organised neatly along
police (or indeed any other governmental) boundaries. Although
the APA does not have a formal regional structure in place, many
police authorities engage in joint working on a regional basis.
In other areas, both police authority chairs and police chiefs
meet regularly at regional level and authorities ands forces have
specific regional networks in place—for example on issues
such as delivery of police training or regional purchasing consortia.
Regional collaboration on operational issues also takes place
where appropriate.
29. Clearly, it would be sensible and mutually
beneficial to develop connections and to put in place arrangements
for regular liaison at this level between assemblies and police
authorities and forces in the region. We do not see the need for
any prescriptive or bureaucratic structures to enable this to
happen but would expect that such arrangements could be built
on existing working arrangements.
30. We note that, potentially, assemblies
could use their scrutiny role to examine community safety and
crime issues. However, given the existing plethora of oversight,
scrutiny, audit and inspection of policing, there would be little
appetite for assemblies to make this a major focus for scrutiny
attention.
31. London and Wales, of course, provide
two existing models of interaction between regional governance
and policing. In London, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA),
as a functional body of the Greater London Assembly (GLA), is
already effectively organised at a regional level. However, as
the Committee will appreciate the existence of the Metropolitan
Police covering the greater London area (except the city) predates
the existence of London regional government. As a functional body
of the GLA, the relationship between the MPA and the Assembly,
and indeed the mayor is more directly connected.
32. The Welsh Assembly perhaps represents a
more directly relevant model. The National Assembly currently
has no formal role over policing, although it does have a role
(equivalent to that of the ODPM in England) in relation to the
Revenue Support Grant element of police funding. There are close
working relationships with the four welsh authorities and forces
and there is no doubt that the existence of the Assembly has provided
an impetus for more collaborative working between the four welsh
forces. However, equally, operational necessity demands close
working relationships between North Wales and forces in the North
West region and between the forces in South Wales and the South
West region.
Emergency Services
33. It is noted that the bill also provides
for regional fire and rescue services to be functional bodies
of assemblies. Clearly, in those areas with regional fire and
rescue services, it will be important to ensure that effective
working relationships are in place. Fire authority and police
boundaries are not universally co-terminus at present and this
has not prevented such effective working relationships in the
past. However, it could make it more difficult in future for example
to secure joint control rooms or shared, inter-operable equipment,
such as radios. It might therefore be helpful for the Bill to
include specific provision to support and encourage inter-emergency
service collaboration.
34. The APA hopes the above is helpful but
would be happy to elaborate or provide any further information
which may assist the Committee's deliberations.
112 The British Transport Police Authority came into
being on 1 July 2004, its predecessor, the British Transport Police
Committee was an associate member of the APA. Back
113
The Central Police Training and Development Authority. Back
114
Subsequently consolidated in the Police Act 1996, and since amended
by the Police Reform Act 2002. Back
115
Home Office, November 2003. Back
116
Part 3, clause 43 (1) (b). Back
117
Part 3, clause 43 (5) (a). Back
118
Part 3, clause 43 (3) (i). Back
119
Part 3, clause 43 (2). Back
120
Explanatory Notes, paragraph 150. Back
121
ibid. Back
122
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