Cm 8759 Leadership and Standards in the Police
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THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE THIRD REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2013-14 HC 67: Leadership and standards in the police Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty November 2013 Cm 8759 £6.25 THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE THIRD REPORT FROM THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SESSION 2013-14 HC 67: Leadership and standards in the police Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of Her Majesty November 2013 Cm 8759 £6.25 © Crown copyright 2013 You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or e-mail: [email protected]. Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: Police Workforce and Efficiency Unit, Home Office, 6th Floor Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF ISBN: 9780101875929 Printed in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office ID: 2603993 34648 11/13 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE TO THE HOME AFFAIRS COMMITTEE’S THIRD REPORT OF SESSION 2013-2014: LEADERSHIP AND STANDARDS IN THE POLICE The Government is grateful to the Home Affairs Committee for its report Leadership and standards in the police. The Government’s ambitious police reforms are working. Crime has fallen by more than 10% since May 2010. The independent Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that the chance of being a victim of crime is at its lowest level since records began. The National Crime Agency (NCA) began full shadow working in September and was formally launched on 7 October. It is now leading the UK’s fight to cut serious and organised crime. To have delivered these historic achievements as budgets fall is all the more impressive. The Government is also taking steps to make the police more accountable to their local communities. For example, it has abolished invisible police authorities and replaced them with elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). It is also ensuring that communities everywhere have the information they need to hold their police force and PCC to account. Key to this is the provision of easy access to crime and policing information. Since January 2011, this has been available via the national Police.uk website, which has received more than 56 million visits and over 601 million hits. This demonstrates the significant public appetite for the Government’s reforms. The revelations around phone hacking, Hillsborough and a number of high-profile cases, particularly involving senior police officers, have rightly concerned the public. Although recent reports commissioned by the Government and published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in December 2011 and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in September 2011 and May 2012 found no evidence of widespread corruption in the police, these reports have nevertheless made recommendations for improving police integrity and ensuring consistency in standards of professional behaviour across forces. The Committee is right to say at paragraph 127 of its report that honesty, integrity and transparency should always be part of the police’s DNA. The Government also agrees that it is important to have a consistent and rigorous approach to standards. That is why the Home Secretary announced a series of measures to improve police integrity in February, including the publication of national registers of gifts and hospitality, interests and second jobs, and a further strengthening of the IPCC’s powers and capabilities. In England and Wales we are fortunate to enjoy a model of policing by consent, in which unarmed officers are able to deal with and respond to incidents. They do not need to resort to use of force because they are seen as an extension of the public. It is essential that we preserve this model of policing. The Government will therefore continue to work closely with the police and other partners in planning the implementation of the integrity measures, which will make a significant contribution to the ongoing programme of police reforms and the further professionalisation of policing. At the heart of these reforms is the creation of the College of Policing, the world’s first police professional body. It is for all parts of the police workforce - police officers and police staff alike - and has five core areas of responsibility: i. setting standards of professional practice; ii. accrediting training providers and setting learning and development outcomes; iii. identifying, developing and promoting good practice based on evidence; iv. supporting police forces and other organisations to work together to protect the public and prevent crime; and v. identifying, developing and promoting ethics, values and standards of integrity. The College will enable officers, staff and volunteers to do their jobs most effectively and efficiently by setting standards, improving training and equipping officers with the skills they need. In doing so, it will enable the police to build on their significant achievements to date – continuing to reduce crime and deliver savings. The College’s independence will allow it to focus on the needs of the police so that it can deliver the things the police need to function successfully. It represents a great opportunity to build on the Government’s achievements to date in cutting unnecessary bureaucracy and removing targets to help the police get on with their work. It is already making a difference to leadership and standards in the police. For example, it is taking forward some of the integrity measures announced by the Home Secretary, including a Code of Ethics and improved vetting procedures. It is also taking forward work to develop the skills threshold and an annual reporting system for the police as part of the vital modernisation of pay and conditions, enabling a link between skills and pay. In addition, the College is establishing stronger links with universities as part of a three-year programme of work to build more evidence around what works in reducing crime, in conjunction with the Economic and Social Research Council. The College has a powerful mandate to set standards. To deliver successfully against its five objectives, the College will need to secure a more consistent approach in some areas of policing. The provisions in the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (‘the Bill’) will help deliver this aspiration. 2 This Government also wants to attract the very best candidates into policing – people who have the right skills and expertise to forge a force fit for the 21st century. By opening up the police to a wider pool of talent, forces will be able to bring in people with diverse backgrounds and new perspectives. Combined with the strong leaders already working in forces, and the improved nurturing of internal talent through the College, we will have a police force that is even better at fighting crime. Currently, the College is a company limited by guarantee owned by the Home Secretary. It has existed in this form since 1 October 2012 and became operational on 1 December 2012. The Government is using the Bill to provide the College with the powers it needs to establish itself as an effective professional body. We will work with the College to explore its longer-term ambition of securing a Royal Charter. The following sections deal with the Committee’s comments in more detail. THE COLLEGE OF POLICING The Committee’s recommendations in paragraphs 19 to 23 concern the financial sustainability of the College, membership and the Board. In particular, the Committee states that the British policing “brand” must be developed by the College but considers it unlikely that it would be able to sustain its operations without a membership scheme. Regarding the Board, the Committee believes that representation should be more proportional to the number of officers at each rank and include the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. In addition, while the Committee welcomes the appointment of Professor Shirley Pearce to Chair of the College, it recommends that she is able to reappoint the Board and have the discretion to appoint additional members. The Government believes that the College should be less reliant on central government for the majority of its income in the future. To achieve this goal, the College will need to seek new opportunities to raise income and take steps to reduce its cost base. As the Committee will be aware, most professional bodies are financed through membership fees. Membership fees are often paid in return for a licence to practice as a member of that profession. Alex Marshall was clear in his evidence to the Committee that the College has no current plans to introduce a similar compulsory membership scheme. However, he was also clear that the College is considering other types of membership, including voluntary membership for police officers and staff and associate membership for other individuals. The College is currently consulting on membership as part of its Strategic Intent, which was published on 24 September 2013. As a body independent of Government, the issue of membership 3 should be a matter on which the College Board, working closely with police partners, should decide. As part of the College’s ambition to generate the majority of its income from sources outside central government, it will develop a strong commercial strategy which will seek to broaden business opportunities in both new and existing markets in the UK and overseas.