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Strong support for radical policing reform |
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Monday, 21 December 2009 11:33 |
Scottish policing would improve by increased sharing of services across forces and with other public bodies, according to delegates at Holyrood’s Future of Policing conference.
And echoing the headlinegrabbing call for there to be debate on the number of police forces in Scotland made by Strathclyde Police Chief Constable Stephen House, delegates disagree with maintaining the status quo of eight forces.
Describing the issue of the number of forces as the “elephant in the room”, House told last week’s conference that the impending budget squeeze made for “clear drivers for a reduction in the number of forces”.
Delegates agreed with this view, with 42 per cent of voters in a poll strongly disagreeing with the idea of keeping the eight forces while 18 per cent slightly disagreed, a clear majority.
House also called for a major rethink in the way police forces are funded, pointing out that local authorities cannot be relied upon to continue funding a service they do not ‘own’.
He said: “Police is not a council provided service. We cannot therefore expect council finance directors, chief executives and leaders, who are the key players, to feel the same way about policing as they do about the services they provide and are held accountable because they know funding that they provide locally will go to services that are not delivered in their local area. National services, such as counter terrorism or funding serious and organised crime funding. Any council would think, how can we shed money off that budget.
“The first solution is the obvious one that we have already discussed and that is a return to ringfencing. This will ensure the foundations of policing remain in place but central government could choose to reduce the budget and then subsequently explain its decision with the public and everyone else. But at least the public is part of the tripartite structure as it currently exists and could be held to account and asked to discuss it.
“The second option for funding and frankly, the one I think is favourite, is to give police authorities, police boards, the ability to raise their own local tax and transfer that requirement to local authorities, not a request, but a requirement to local councils to levy on behalf of the police authority. In other words, they have their own tax raising powers.
“This would then re-balance the books and allow the authority that has responsibility for policing, which owns it, which understands it and crucially can be held accountable to properly understand what the funding is.
If there is less funding than in previous years, then so be it but at least we would have a logical process.” Delegates also approved of plans expressed by House as well as former Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Paddy Tomkins, for greater sharing of services between forces and between local authorities.
Asked if sharing services across Scotland’s police forces will improve performance and efficiency, 80 per cent of delegates agreed. Asked if sharing services between police forces and other public bodies like councils, health services and fire and rescue would improve performance and efficiencies, 84 per cent agreed.
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Independent Budget Review announces findings
