Conclusions and recommendations
The New Landscape of Policing
1. During
the course of this Parliament, all the major policing bodies have
been overhauled and reformed. There is no part of the police service
that has not been or is not being restructured. It is now time
to allow these pieces of the policing puzzle to settle into the
new landscape, so that they might achieve the aim of making policing
more effective. (Paragraph 7)
2. One piece of the
policing jigsaw that has not found a settled position is counter-terrorism.
We agree with the Home Secretary's decision not to conduct a review
in this Parliament, due to the terrorism risk faced by the UK
at the moment. However, given recent national events and global
atrocities, it does not appear likely that the terrorism risk
will decrease in the near future. Therefore, we recommend that
the review take place early in the next Parliament, to maximise
the impact of the police's CT capabilities. (Paragraph 12)
3. We are concerned
that some police forces believe that they will not be able to
operate in their current form while making further efficiency
savings. We are also concerned that senior leaders in the police
appear to be keen to tear up the police forces map to make savings.
We have previously examined how forces can collaborate both with
their neighbouring forces, and with other blue light services.
We believe that potential savings from collaboration between forces
and between the emergency services at local level have not yet
been fully realised and offers the best opportunity to achieve
further efficiency gains. We recommend that where pre-existing
alliances have proved successful, and there is local support police
forces should be allowed to merge. (Paragraph 17)
4. When the National
Crime Agency was created, it was an opportunity for a new organisation
to shake off the practices of its predecessor, and to show improved
performance under a new regime. We welcome the work done by Keith
Bristow in leading the National Crime Agency - in particular the
way he has been open and transparent with the Committee. However,
we are not seeing the level of performance we would expect. The
NCA, like SOCA before them, is an organisation that can claw back
assets from those involved in criminal activity. However, like
SOCA it is not recovering assets in sufficient volume to justify
a budget of half a billion. The NCA must improve drastically in
this area so that the returns achieved equate to the resources
that are made available to it. Furthermore, the NCA needs to produce
and make public benchmarks whereby its performance can be assessed.
Parliament needs to be able to hold the NCA to account for its
performance so that there is ongoing improvement. (Paragraph 20)
5. The Committee did
initially register concern about the Child Exploitation and Online
Protection Centre (CEOP) coming under the control of this organisation,
however generally the NCA has proved to be a more effective body
than the other new organisations. The most significant remaining
concern the Committee has is regarding the intelligence received
from Toronto Police before CEOP came under the NCA upon which
no action was taken. The NCA must address the backlog of abuse
inquiry cases which it inherited from CEOP with the greatest of
urgency. (Paragraph 21)
The College of Policing in the first two years
6. The
creation of a Professional Body for policing was a great idea
that could have been the Home Secretary's legacy of her five years
in office. It has a vision and purpose, and has delivered good
work on guidance and standards. However, the foundations on which
the College of Policing was built were not as firm as they should
have been. For example, the Chair did not have the opportunity
to appoint the Board, which has since had to be reconstituted,
and the College has not been able to communicate directly with
its members. As a consequence of having to overcome these initial
hurdles, the College is not achieving the outcomes that it should
be. There is much to be done for the College to become the type
of institution that we originally hoped it would be, however it
does look like it will have the most lasting effect of all these
new organisations. (Paragraph 24)
7. It is absurd that
the College could have been created as a professional body without
direct access to its potential members. For the past two years,
to communicate directly with those working in policing, such as
sending them the first professional Code of Ethics, has required
the permission and co-operation of police forces. It is therefore
no surprise that police members are not aware of the College.
From April there will be a membership platform which will allow
the College to initiate a direct line of contact with members.
The College must now grasp this opportunity to engage directly
with frontline officers. (Paragraph 27)
8. We are glad that
the College accepted our previous recommendation and has reviewed
the constitution of its Board. We recommend that the Home Secretary
act quickly to implement the Board's proposals for a change in
its composition. We hope that this will engender a more collegiate
working atmosphere, and alleviate the tension between the Board
members' roles as directors, and as representativeness of the
organisations that nominated them. However, we remain of the view
that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, as the highest ranking
officer in the land and the person responsible for almost a quarter
of British police officers, should also be a member of the Board.
(Paragraph 34)
9. The ethnic composition
of the Board is lamentable, and no progress has been made. Policing
organisations must recognise that true representation of the communities
they serve is critical for public acceptance, and the contribution
of knowledge of communities and different mind-sets can bring
real operational advantages as well as everyday improvements in
relations with the public. The College of Policing, as the newly
created flagship professional body, should have been setting an
example to all other police organisations. . We urge the College
to seize the opportunity provided by the appointment of a new
independent non-executive director to address this. In addition,
whenever a position becomes available on the Board, the College
must make appointments that allow its composition to reflect the
population as a whole, as should be the case in all public bodies.
(Paragraph 35)
10. We recognise that
on-line training often represents better value for money than
face-to-face sessions and acknowledge the widespread praise for
the quality of the College's on-line materials. However, it is
important to ensure that officers still have time to complete
the necessary training during paid, working hours and we recommend
that, if on-line training is to become the norm, then some national
agreement should be reached between the College, forces and the
staff associations about the annual amount of rostered time that
officers can expect to be available for learning and development.
The lack of face-to-face training will leave officers ill-equipped
to deal with a growing and persistent threat, particularly with
regard to their ability to engage with communities. (Paragraph
42)
11. The College, and
forces, should not lose sight of the value of face-to-face training
in groups. Interpersonal skills are paramount in policing and
officers regularly have to deal with highly challenging situations
where they rely entirely on their people skills. These are not
skills than can easily be developed online. (Paragraph 43)
Code of Ethics
12. We
welcome the introduction of the Policing Code of Ethics, which
must now be embedded across the country. We recommend that the
policing principles set out in the Code are integrated into the
training outcomes it sets, so that they are underpinned repeatedly
over the course of a police officer's career. The Code of Ethics
needs to be in the DNA of police officers, so a policing Hippocratic
Oath is required. We recommend that everybody who is bound by
the Code should be required to acknowledge it formally by signing
a copy of the Code and swearing an oath to the Queen. For new
police constables, a reference to the Code could be incorporated
into the declaration they make when they are attested (though
this would require a change to the law). (Paragraph 48)
13. We recommend that
the Code of Ethics also incorporate the disciplinary code. It
has been argued that if someone breaks the Code of Ethics, they
will also have broken a separate disciplinary measure; we believe
that this link should be explicit. We recommend that the College
of Policing follows the example of the Police Service of Northern
Ireland and incorporates the policing discipline code into the
Code of Ethics, so that if it is breached this automatically triggers
an investigation. (Paragraph 49)
Resources
14. We
welcome the work that the College of Policing has undertaken to
generate income other than from taxpayers' money. During our visits
overseas, we have met former UK police officers who provide training
to international forces. The brand of British policing is regarded
as the best in the world, and we welcome the work the College
have done internationally to promote British policing and enhance
this reputation. However, their projected budget suggests that
growth in income generation is going to slow. If the College wants
to attain chartered status and become independent it must do more
to find additional sources of income. (Paragraph 59)
15. One additional
source of income will be the premium membership package. We agree
with the position taken by the College in distinguishing between
services that should be free and those that should be charged
for. It is right that where police officers require a service
to fulfil their role, they should not be charged for this. However,
if it is a service that will benefit their personal career development,
then a charge is reasonable. We further welcome the fact that
standard membership will be provided at no cost to police officers
for a minimum of three years and for as long as it is possible
to do so. (Paragraph 60)
Role in recruitment to the profession
16. We
welcome the clarification from the College of Policing that individuals
with a criminal conviction cannot become police officers, and
that the rules are not changing. Those who join the police should
be beyond reproach, and standards must be kept at the highest
level to maintain, and improve public confidence. (Paragraph 67)
17. We acknowledge
the concerns raised by Sir Hugh Orde with regard to the direct
entry scheme. However, the figures we have seen shows that only
1.5% of applicants to the direct entry programme, and 2.3% of
applicants to the fast track programme have been successful. This
suggests that there is a high bar to entry, whereby only the very
best talent will be able to achieve this rapid promotion. (Paragraph
71)
18. We remain of the
view that cost of obtaining the Certificate in Knowledge of Policing,
which in some police force areas is a pre-entry requirement, is
putting off talented and diverse recruits. This type of pre-recruitment
qualification, which may be prohibitively expensive for some candidates,
may stifle diversity. Means-tested support, such the bursary arrangements
set up by Chief Constable Sara Thornton, QPM, between Thames Valley
Police and local universities, should be in place to ensure that
the best candidates are not lost because of financial barriers.
(Paragraph 74)
19. We are concerned
about the standards that are set by the providers of the Certificate.
It cannot be right that one provider has a 100% success rate for
the qualification. The Certificate has the potential to deliver
a new set of standards for recruits, but to do so it needs to
be a trusted qualification. We welcome the College's decision
to commence a full implementation review of the Certificate, in
particular with regard to the approval of providers. (Paragraph
75)
20. Once the College's
review of the Certificate in Knowledge of Policing is complete,
we recommend that the College takes a stronger role in overseeing
the training and awarding of this certificate. In its current
disjointed state with seemingly different standards across providers,
we cannot ensure that certificates provided are of the same quality
throughout the UK. (Paragraph 76)
A body of knowledge
21. The
creation of the College of Policing is an opportunity to link
the world's best universities with the world's best police service.
The College should work directly with universities, and also encourage
local forces to do likewise. Additionally, the key role for the
College will be to bring together the best research, the best
evidence, the best experience and knowledge, and disseminate that
through signposting and guidance to benefit every police officer.
For some considerable time there has been an Institute of Criminology
at Cambridge University whose research and findings have been
widely recognised. (Paragraph 81)
The National Police Chief's Council
22. We
welcome the creation of the National Police Chiefs' Council, and
in particular the clear distinction between their function, which
is to co-ordinate operational policing, and that of the College,
which is responsible for policy-making and best practice. This
should help to aspects of confusion in recent years when both
the College of Policing and ACPO have issued guidance on the same
topic. (Paragraph 85)
Conclusion
23. Since
2010 the Home Secretary has set out an ambitious plan for the
new landscape of policing, with some organisations being abolished
and others created and with functions being reallocated. Her aim
was to declutter the landscape and to ensure that policing was
able to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We consider that
she was right to embark on this journey. It is too early to say
if all the changes meet this test, especially as the changes have
been initiated during a period of austerity. Furthermore, it is
far from clear that if we have been left with fewer organisations.
We hope that it will be a priority for our successor Committee
to monitor and evaluate this development. (Paragraph 86)
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