Best Value audit and inspection – Tayside police and Tayside joint police board.

Podcast script

Fiona: I’m joined by the Chair of the Accounts Commission, John Baillie and Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Bill Skelly to discuss the Best Value audit and inspection of Tayside police and Tayside joint police board.  

If we can just start off by being clear about the distinction between a police force and a police joint board because some people may not be aware of joint boards and their work.  A police force deals with the day to day operational aspects of policing but what exactly is a board, what are its responsibilities and how important is it?

John: A joint police board is made up of councillors from each local authority the police force covers.  In the case of Tayside there are 18 members; seven from Dundee City; six from Perth and Kinross and five from Angus.  The joint board is very important.  It has a number of key responsibilities including: setting the budget for the police force; ensuring that best value is achieved; holding the chief constable to account and participating in community planning.  Local authorities are part of a tripartite arrangement comprising of themselves, the Association of Chief Police Officers and government ministers.

Fiona: John, if you can start off by telling me what the Tayside joint police board is doing well.

John: We found that the joint board is strongly committed to supporting the chief constable and also that the working relationships between the board and the police force are good.  The report also found that the board is fully engaged in monitoring the force’s financial and staffing matters.  

Fiona: Where does the board need to improve?

John: The board has a duty to achieve best value and it’s not meeting that objective.  

For example, it needs to do more work on ensuring continuous improvement. 

The board should be involved in deciding areas for improvement and in challenging the way things are done.  

It also needs to work on holding the Chief Constable to account. 

In short, board members need to have a clearer understanding of their role.

Fiona:  Bill, is there anything the force can do to help the board improve?

Bill: The report found that the force has good working relationships with the board and these have developed over a considerable period of time. Where we feel that they can improve is to give the board more opportunities to discharge its duties under best value.  For example, the majority of the reports submitted to the board  are for noting and that really limits the opportunity of the board to scrutinise what the force is doing.

Fiona:  John, what else can the board do to make progress?

John: The Commission and HMICS believe the board members need to improve their knowledge and understanding of their role.  This will help them play a more active part in core activities, like setting direction and priorities and scrutinising the force’s performance.  

We also feel that the board should secure resources that are independent of the councils and the police force in order to support it in its role.

At the moment the board doesn’t have its own dedicated support.  Staff from Angus Council provide support to the board as well as carrying out other council duties. 

The board needs to discuss this with the constituent councils as a matter of urgency.  

Fiona: You said that board members need to improve their understanding of their role. Do you think this is just an issue in Tayside?

John: The report on the Tayside area is the first in a series on Scotland’s eight police forces and police authorities. That means we have to be cautious when considering whether the same lack of a full understanding exists elsewhere.  However, it’s clear to us that part of the reason for the board not fully exercising its role comes from a lack of clarity about the respective responsibilities of the joint board and the chief constable and is an issue we suspect may not be unique to Tayside. 

Fiona: So if you suspect this might be a wider issue - how might it be resolved?

John: We’ll be keeping an eye on this as more Best Value audit and inspection reports are carried out on other police forces and police authorities.  If we see this issue elsewhere the Accounts Commission intends to recommend that the Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers have a discussion about the existing guidance and consider if it’s a clear as it could be and how to make sure it is followed.  

Fiona:  Bill, this report also considered how well the police force in Tayside is meeting its best value duties.  What did the report find?

Bill: We found that Tayside police force is making good progress with some important aspects of best value, including improving services, equalities and working with partners to deliver joint solutions on local issues.  We feel the force could improve the way it co-ordinates approaches to some force-wide issues.  This would mean that the potential impact of local work could be increased.

Fiona: You mentioned working with partners.  Can you give any examples of the way it works well with partners?

Bill: A good example is a partnership piece of work which happens in Western Division which covers Perth and Kinross. An anti-social behaviour group meets fortnightly.  It brings together representatives from the police and a number of local agencies like Youth Justice, Environmental Health and Drugs and Alcohol workers.  It’s an information-sharing forum set-up to tackle and resolve anti-social behaviour and there’s a clear focus on child protection.

Fiona:  We've been hearing a lot about police finances being under pressure.  How are things at Tayside?

Bill: The joint board is active in financial monitoring and the police force has robust processes in place for setting and monitoring budgets. The force realises that future funding may not be guaranteed as is the case in the public sector as a whole and has been looking for ways to create efficiencies.

Fiona: There’s also a performance assessment of the force in the report.  How well is the force performing?

Bill: I think it’s reassuring for the public in the Tayside area that the performance assessment showed that the force works well particularly with partners, as I’ve said already, to address local issues in their area.  We also found that it’s been successful in reducing recorded crimes and increasing detection rates in several key areas.  

Fiona:  Where have they had success?

Bill: Vandalism is often used as an indicator of anti-social behaviour.  It is encouraging to see that in Tayside recorded vandalism went down by 10 per cent in 2008-09.  The force’s approach to drug dealing also resulted in it recording its highest ever number of class A offences in that year – class A covers drugs such as heroin and cocaine.  One thing that we did find is that there’s a difference between the public perception of anti-social behaviour and drug related problems in their area and the reality and we feel that the force needs to emphasise to the community the progress that’s been made.

Fiona: John, what happens next?

John: There is an agenda for improvement in the report which suggests areas on which the board, the force and the constituent councils should consider working.  The board and the force will now need to produce improvement plans to address the points set out in that agenda.