Memorandum from the Police Service
1. Please could you indicate the four most
significant services you provide to individual citizens, including
how many receive each service and the costs involved?
The net cost to the public purse is £10.5billion
annually. It could be argued that victims, witnesses or even suspects
are the main users of the police service, but the entire population
benefits from this work.
2. What formal systems do you have for gathering
customer feedback?
Every police force in England and Wales is required
to carry out User Satisfaction surveys. A representative sample
of victims of domestic burglary, vehicle crime, violent crime,
road traffic collisions, racist incidents and reporters of anti
social-behaviour are asked about their satisfaction in the following
areas:
— Ease of contacting police.
— Follow—up, that is being kept
informed of progress with their case.
Results for each force are analysed centrally
and reported through the Citizen Focus domain of PPAF (Police
Performance Assessment Framework). This domain includes a measure
which looks at the level of satisfaction of white respondents
compared with that of BME respondents.
Results are also used to inform where Home Office
intervention is necessary.
The cost of carrying out User Satisfaction surveys
varies between forces due to variation in local populations and
therefore sample sizes. Information on costs is not collected
centrally.
A question is also included in the BCS (British
Crime Survey) which asks how good a job respondents feel the police
in their local area are doing. These results also feed into the
Citizens Focus domain of PPAF.
The BCS also asks respondents who have had contact
with the police whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied with
the way the police handled the matter in hand.
Forces do gather customer feedback in other
ways such as through their website or through focus groups, however
this is not prescribed centrally and forces are encouraged to
tailor this to local need and resources.
4. Can you identify any changes made as a
result of gathering user feedback?
User Satisfaction results are used by the Home
Office, PCSD (Police and Crime Standards Directorate) to identify
forces where there are performance issues in this area. Based
on results for the year 2004-05, PCSD worked with all forces who
were graded as "poor" for Citizen Focus. This has led
to improved results with all these forces achieving at least a
"fair" grading for 2005-06.
User Satisfaction results are also used to inform
policy development in this area. For example it has been identified
that satisfaction is poorest for the measure on "follow up".
The OCJR (Office of Criminal Justice Reform) in collaboration
with PRU (Police Reform Unit) and PCSD, have worked to produce
good practice guidance on how to improve performance in this area.
Forces are encouraged to use their user satisfaction
results to address performance issues locally.
5. If you undertake user surveys how often
are they repeated, and how much is spent on each survey?
Surveys are conducted throughout the year. Every
force is required to submit quarterly User Satisfaction data to
the Home Office. The cost varies dependent on the size of the
force; information on costs is not collected centrally.
6. What targets for customer service, if
any, are in place?
There are no national improvement targets for
customer service, however PPAF is an incentive to improvement
at a local level.
7. Do you have a complaint handling unit,
or are complaints handled where they are received?
Each force is required to have a complaints
procedure in place. Members of the public can also make complaints
to the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) or the
Parliamentary Ombudsman for certain types of complaint.
8. How many full time equivalents are involved
in complaint handling, and at what grades?
This will vary between forces. This information
is not collected centrally.
Additional information on Neighbourhood Policing
and community engagement
Neighbourhood Policing is a key and permanent
element of reforms to make the police service more responsive,
locally accountable and citizen-focused, transforming policing
at a local level to meet the needs of communities. This is a programme
which is still being rolled out across England and Wales but the
Government is committed to introducing Neighbourhood Policing
to every area by April 2007 and to ensuring that every community
has a Neighbourhood Policy team by April 2008.
A core aim of Neighbourhood Policing is to engage
with local people to identify and tackle local issues. The police
service has committed to provide communities with access to policing
or community safety services through a named point of contact;
influence over community safety priorities in their neighbourhood;
interventions through joint action with communities and partners
to solve problems; and, answers, which provide sustainable solutions
to problems and feed back on results.
In practical terms, Neighbourhood Policing Teams,
and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in particular, use
a number of different methods to engage with their local communities.
These might include neighbourhood panels, open community meetings,
street briefings and simply being visible in the community. Often
the Neighbourhood Policing Team will use existing means of communication,
linking in with Neighbourhood Watch groups, local residents associations,
faith groups and youth groups.
February 2007
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