House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Leadership and standards in the police Third Report of Session 2013–14 Volume III Additional written evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be published 16 and 31 October, 13, 20 and 27 November, and 11 December 2012, 15 January, and 16, 18 and 23 April 2013 Published on 22 July 2013 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited Home Affairs Committee The Home Affairs Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Home Office and its associated public bodies. Current membership Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP (Labour, Leicester East) (Chair) Nicola Blackwood MP (Conservative, Oxford West and Abingdon) James Clappison MP (Conservative, Hertsmere) Michael Ellis MP (Conservative, Northampton North) Lorraine Fullbrook MP (Conservative, South Ribble) Dr Julian Huppert MP (Liberal Democrat, Cambridge) Steve McCabe MP (Labour, Birmingham Selly Oak) Bridget Phillipson MP (Labour, Houghton and Sunderland South) Mark Reckless MP (Conservative, Rochester and Strood) Chris Ruane MP (Labour, Vale of Clwyd) Mr David Winnick MP (Labour, Walsall North) The following Member was also a member of the Committee during the Parliament. Rt Hon Alun Michael MP (Labour & Co-operative, Cardiff South and Penarth) Karl Turner MP (Labour, Kingston upon Hull East) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/homeaffairscom. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Tom Healey (Clerk), Dr Richard Benwell and Robert Cope (Second Clerks), Eleanor Scarnell (Committee Specialist), Andy Boyd (Senior Committee Assistant), Michelle Garratty (Committee Assistant), Iwona Hankin (Committee Support Officer) and Alex Paterson (Select Committee Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Home Affairs Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 3276; the Committee’s email address is [email protected]. List of additional written evidence LSP Submitter 1 Rachel Kearton Ev w1 2 Paul Veltman Ev w3 3 David Treadwell Ev w5 4 Department of Law, Policing and Investigation and the Centre for Forensic Investigation at Teesside University Ev w5 5 Police Foundation Ev w9 6 Stonewall Ev w13 7 Public and Commercial Services Union Ev w15 8 Higher Education Forum for Learning and Development in Policing Ev w17 9 Victim Support Ev w20 10 Independent Police Complaints Commission Ev w21 11 Skills for Justice Ev w24 12 Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales Ev w27 13 The Forensic Science Society Ev w30 14 Police Federation Ev w32 15 Dr Rodger Patrick Ev w36 16 Department of Law & Criminal Justice Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University Ev w42 17 Chartered Management Institute Ev w46 20 National Policing Improvement Agency Ev w51 22 John Kenny Ev w73 23 James Satherley Ev w74 24 Nigel Lloyd Ev w75 25 Hugh Oliver-Bellasis Ev w76 26 Chris Panther Ev w76 27 Colin Taylor Ev w77 28 Allen Jordan Ev w78 29 Vicky Robinson Ev w78 30 Gary Jackson Ev w79 31 Viv Nicholas Ev w80 34 Professor Simon Holdaway Ev w81 35 A. J. Wright Ev w84 41 Nick Gargan QPM, Chief Constable, Avon and Somerset Constabulary Ev w86 42 Stephen Kavanagh, Chief Constable, Essex Police Ev w88 43 Mick Creedon, Chief Constable, Derbyshire Constabulary Ev w90 44 British Naturism Ev w92 45 Patricia Gallan QPM, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police Ev w92 47 Kevin Maxwell Ev w93 cobber Pack: U PL: CWE1 [SO] Processed: [19-07-2013 11:12] Job: 030943 Unit: PG01 Home Affairs Committee: Evidence Ev w1 Written evidence Written evidence submitted by Rachel Kearton [LSP 01] 1. Executive Summary of Points 1.1 There are three contextual requirements to consider when changing the landscape for police leadership and standards. Firstly, the need for greater sophistication in negotiating, communication and political awareness skills of police leaders to operate in a new environment of less autocracy and more joint ownership. 1.2 Secondly, the ability as credible leaders to drive cultural change, to assist the workforce to adapt to a new structure, to direct senior officers to balance operational responsibilities with the requirements of the Police Crime Commissioner to hold the force to account. By negotiating shared responsibilities with PCCs, senior officers can be freed from bureaucratic performance processes to concentrate more expertly on the analysis of the prevention and resolution of crime and antisocial behaviour. 1.3 Finally, by developing a culture of evidence-based policing driven by the College of Policing, police leaders will establish themselves as professionals—technocratic problem-solvers with the scientific arguments to support their approaches—who seize the initiative and hold their own in respect of their critical and indispensable professional expertise. 1.4 Studies of other policing models beyond the UK demonstrate the need for a professional, coordinating body concentrating on the development of these three factors: a single voice for the profession that can advise and inform the public, stakeholders and strategic partners alike; strong accountability processes that provide continuity in the face of political change; and strategic direction in ethical leadership, in addition to support for learning and development, and workforce issues. 1.5 Through a tripartite faculty structure that interchanges research development, professional development, and the setting of policy and ethical standards, the College of Policing must assume an essentiality that has been absent from police training and development for a long time. With appropriate powers and resources it will provide cohesion, independence, opportunity, diversity and a framework that will unify policing nationwide, embrace local difference, initiate a personal responsibility for constant professional development, and deliver a public-focused service across the country. 2. Brief Personal Introduction 2.1 I started my police career in Hampshire in 1989, later moving to West Yorkshire and Northumbria where, as a chief superintendent, I fulfilled roles as head of operations command, head of corporate development and most recently as BCU commander in Sunderland and South Tyneside. Prior to promotion to chief superintendent I was seconded to the Home Office where I worked on the Police Reform programme developing a new strategy for national race and diversity learning and development, and led the development of various leadership programmes including the introduction of work-based assessments for the promotion of sergeants and inspectors. 2.2 I am a qualified strategic firearms commander, advanced public order commander and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 2.3 Having completed the strategic command course earlier in 2012 I am currently taking a career break working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as Executive Assistant to the British Ambassador in Turkey. 3. Personal Recommendations 3.1 Powers, responsibilities and resources of the College of Policing: it is recommended that the College is provided a legal status to require officers and staff to undertake professional reviews at appropriate stages of their careers. The resources should draw from the exceptional, both within and external to the service: any option to do otherwise will lessen the credibility of the College and lead to the undervaluing of the college by forces from its instigation. 3.2 The college will be well-placed to use such professional evaluations to openly facilitate access to temporary or permanent opportunities across the country and beyond, both within and outside of the service. Currently such opportunities, if advertised, are generally kept within forces, the larger metropolitan forces logically offering many more opportunities than the smaller. Such a system stagnates the free-flow of ideas and experience, placing an unhealthy reliance on networking and limiting opportunities to those who are supported by their senior officers. The converse applies: those who are not favourably supported, for good reason or ill, are currently unable to be proactive and take responsibility for its resolution. Staff in these circumstances are dependent on a generally poor and subjective performance management system, disempowered of choice other than to curry favour with their line managers. They cannot build a CV of their choosing, cannot move from an unsuitable position, or alternatively are moved so frequently as to not have the opportunity to build a portfolio to evidence their abilities. 3.3 The balance of responsibilities for: representing police services; setting and upholding standards; testing and rewarding; training; and guarding public interests: it is recommended that the College is not a provider, cobber Pack: U PL: CWE1 [E] Processed: [19-07-2013 11:12] Job: 030943 Unit: PG01 Ev w2 Home Affairs Committee: Evidence but the sole determiner of standards. Providers would tender for the delivery of functions, whether as single providers or competitive deliverers of parallel services, and would be re-evaluated