Strathclyde Police and Strathclyde Police Authority
Best Value Audit and Inspection

Prepared for the Accounts Commission and Scottish ministers
July 2011

The Accounts Commission
The Accounts Commission is a statutory, independent body which, through the audit process, requests local authorities in Scotland to achieve the highest standards of financial stewardship and the economic, efficient and effective use of their resources. The Commission has four main responsibilities:
•	securing the external audit, including the audit of Best Value and Community Planning
•	following up issues of concern identified through the audit, to ensure satisfactory resolutions
•	carrying out national performance studies to improve economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local government
•	issuing an annual direction to local authorities which sets out the range of performance information they are required to publish.
The Commission secures the audit of 32 councils and 45 joint boards and committees (including police and fire and rescue services).
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland
HMICS operates independently of police forces, police authorities and the Scottish Government and exists to monitor and improve the police service in Scotland. HMICS does this on behalf of the Scottish public by:
•	monitoring, through self-assessment and inspection, how effectively the police service in Scotland is fulfilling its purpose and managing risk
•	supporting improvement by identifying good practice, making recommendations and sharing our findings in order to achieve better outcomes for Scotland’s communities
•	providing advice to Scottish ministers, police authority and joint board members and police forces and services.
Even though HMICS is independent of the Scottish Government, ministers can call upon the Inspectorate to undertake particular pieces of work.
Audit Scotland is a statutory body set up in April 2000 under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. It provides services to the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission. Together they ensure that the Scottish Government and public sector bodies in Scotland are held to account for the proper, efficient and effective use of public funds.

Commission findings

1. This is the fourth audit and inspection report on the performance by a police authority and force of their statutory duties on Best Value and Community Planning. It has been produced jointly by the Controller of Audit and Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS). The Accounts Commission accepts the report from the Controller of Audit on the Strathclyde Police Authority. In accordance with the Commission’s statutory responsibilities these findings relate only to the Best Value audit of the authority, the statutorily constituted joint police board. 
2. The Commission welcomes the conclusion from HMICS that the communities of Strathclyde receive a good police service. We recognise that Strathclyde Police Authority faces some challenges in relation to the scale, diversity and geography of the area it covers.
3. However, the authority needs to become more involved in shaping the policing priorities for the area and more proactive and consistent in its approach to scrutiny of the performance of the police force. There is scope for the authority to strengthen its governance of the police service and improve its leadership of the force’s continuous improvement agenda. Elected members of the authority need to be clearer about their role and how it relates to the chief constable’s responsibility for directing policing operations. Improved training and skills development is key and will give members greater confidence in holding the chief constable to account.
4. Strathclyde Police Authority decided to put in place substantial resources and capacity to support its work. However, it has not used that capacity to full effect and is not yet getting sufficient value from this support function. This is because the authority needs to be clearer about what professional support it expects in order to allow it to exercise its governance role more effectively and to support scrutiny of the performance of the police force. 
5. The authority is responsible for ensuring that the support function is effective and provides value for money. The authority should therefore monitor the support function’s progress and hold the chief executive to account for the performance of the support function and for its delivery of improvements within agreed timescales. 
6. It is clear to the Commission that there is a need for more effective joint working between the authority, its support function and the force to ensure they are delivering best value for people in the Strathclyde area. This, in particular, requires clarity about the roles and responsibilities of the elected members of the authority and the staff the authority employs in its support function.
7. The authority should address the improvement agenda set out in the joint audit and inspection report. The Commission requests that the Controller of Audit provides a further report in around 12 months time, to enable the Commission to review the police authority’s progress in fulfilling its role more effectively and in getting better value from the resources it has available to it.  
8. The Commission gratefully acknowledges the co-operation and assistance provided to the joint audit and inspection team by the elected members of Strathclyde Police Authority, the chief constable and officers of Strathclyde Police and other officials and community planning partners.

HM Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland findings
1. As Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland, I hold a statutory responsibility to inspect both Strathclyde Police and Strathclyde Police Authority. I concur with the Accounts Commission findings on the Best Value and Community Planning performance of Strathclyde Police Authority and offer the following comment on the performance of Strathclyde Police.
2. My overall assessment of Strathclyde Police is that it is performing well and that the force demonstrates many of the elements of best value. The force executive provide strong leadership and have created a strong performance culture within the organisation. They have embarked on a significant change programme to prepare the force for the challenges ahead. Overall, crime rates are falling and detection rates have increased. The introduction of the Integrated Service Delivery Model has further strengthened the force commitment to community policing by increasing the number of officers working directly with and within their local communities, addressing the issues most affecting their citizens.
3. As with all organisations, there is scope for continuous improvement.  In particular, I would highlight that:
•	the force should improve administrative procedures relevant to its management of complaints to ensure all relevant information is accurately recorded
•   a staff survey should be carried out to provide their workforce with an opportunity to engage and shape the future of policing in Strathclyde
•   the force should continue to develop its strategic approach to change and the integration of post implementation evaluation measures into their processes, underpinned by an effective communication strategy
•  the force should continue to develop its methodology to better understand the costs of policing activity and link to resource deployment.
4. I look forward to receiving a plan from Strathclyde Police and Strathclyde Police Authority which addresses the improvement agenda set out in this joint audit and inspection report.
5. I also wish to acknowledge my gratitude for the co-operation and assistance afforded to the joint audit and inspection team by the chief constable, officers and staff of Strathclyde Police, the convener and elected members of Strathclyde Police Authority, the chief executive and staff of the police authority office and other officials and community planning partners. 
6. The joint audit and inspection approach adopted in the preparation of this report continues to develop and is contributing towards a more effective scrutiny regime that demonstrates our commitment to achieving best value in Scottish policing.

Introduction

This joint report is made by the Controller of Audit to the Accounts Commission under section 102(1) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS) under section 33 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967.
The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 introduced new statutory duties relating to Best Value and Community Planning. Its provisions apply to local authorities, including police authorities, and require specifically that: 
•	councils and police authorities secure best value (defined as achieving continuous improvement in the performance of functions)
•	police authorities and chief constables participate in the community planning process.
The Act also amended the audit arrangements set out in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to cover Best Value and gave powers to the Accounts Commission to examine Best Value in police authorities. HMICS has a statutory duty under section 33 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 to inspect police forces and common police services, and to report to ministers on their state and efficiency. The 2003 Act extends this to include provision for HMICS to inquire into and report to Scottish ministers on whether a local authority is carrying out its functions both as a police authority and in relation toa number of matters including Best Value.
The 2003 Act is supported by more detailed statutory guidance on Best Value and Community Planning, and a series of advisory notes on specific topics such as elected member leadership. This guidance is designed to be descriptive rather than prescriptive, defining the goals that organisations should aim for but allowing them local discretion on the methods and routes they use. The Scottish Government has issued further guidance for police authorities and forces. This guidance includes Justice Department Circular 11/2003 Best Value Guidance and the Guidance for Members of Police Authorities and Joint Boards (June 2007).
The scope of Best Value and Community Planning is broad and the guidance and statute indicate that a successful police authority will:
•	work in tandem with the chief constable to develop a clear set of priorities that respond to the needs of the community in both the short and longer term
•	be organised to support the delivery of these priorities 
•	meet, and clearly demonstrate that it is meeting, the community’s needs
•	operate in a way that drives continuous improvement in all its activities.
Similarly, a successful police force will:
•	work with its partners and the police authority/police authorities to develop a clear set of priorities that respond to the needs of the community in both the short and longer term 
•	be organised to deliver these priorities
•	meet, and clearly demonstrate that it is meeting, the community’s needs
•	operate in a way that drives continuous improvement in all its activities.
The key objectives of this joint audit and inspection were to:
•	assess the extent to which Strathclyde Police Authority and Force are meeting their duties under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 and complying with Scottish Government guidance
•	agree planned improvements with the local authorities, force and the board, to be reviewed by external auditors and HMICS on an ongoing basis.
As Best Value and Community Planning encompass a wide variety of activities, it is not realistic to audit or inspect everything in depth. For this reason we planned our detailed work in three ways:
•	Where possible we drew on the findings of other scrutiny processes, such as the work carried out by other inspectorates.
•	We considered four of the force’s divisions in more detail to ensure the audit and inspection took account of the different contexts and policing demands.
•	We selected certain aspects of the force’s and board’s performance for detailed investigation. We used a wide range of sources, including the force and board’s own assessment of their performance, reports issued following external audit and inspections and the Scottish Policing Performance Framework (SPPF) to assess risks and scope our work to inform this selection. 
Our joint report reflects this proportionate approach, with detailed commentary in some areas and more limited coverage in others. It also presents the picture we found at the time our main audit and inspection work was conducted, in January 2011. The report includes a corporate assessment of the authority,1 incorporating the police authority office2 and the force,3 while the performance assessment covers only the force.
We gratefully acknowledge the co-operation and assistance provided to the team by Councillor Stephen Curran, Convener of Strathclyde Police Authority; Chief Constable Stephen House, Strathclyde Police; Authority Chief Executive Keith Mannings; and all other elected members and staff involved. We are also grateful to the representativesof the 12 councils and the force’s community partners who agreedto participate in the audit and inspection process.
The tripartite arrangements and police authorities’ leadership role
The force is governed through a tripartite arrangement between the chief constable, Strathclyde Police Authority (‘the authority’), and Scottish ministers. As the force covers more than one local authority area, a joint police board comprising members from the 12 constituent authorities acts as the police authority. Scottish ministers have responsibility for national policy on law and order as well as the power to regulate on various policing matters including pay and conditions. Strathclyde Police Authority is responsible for setting the police budget, holding the chief constable to account and ensuring that best value is achieved. The chief constable is responsible for the operational aspects of policing within the force area.
The effect of these arrangements is that the board and the chief constable, although they have different roles, must work in tandem to achieve best value. In this report, we only make judgements on the authority and force, but all parties to the arrangement, including the Scottish ministers, have responsibility for the overall performance of the police service.
Constituent authorities are responsible for appointing the members of a joint board and for allocating funding. The board is a separate legal entity and councils have no separate residual responsibilities beyond appointing members and funding. 
The existing guidance for policing (Circular 11/2003 and Guidance for Members, June 2007), sets out expectations of the board. This can be found in Appendix 1 of this report.

1	Authority – the joint police board of Strathclyde Police, made up of 34 locally elected councillors representing the 12 councils that make up the Strathclyde area.
2	Police authority office – support function for authority, headed up by the chief executive.
3	Force – Strathclyde Police Force.

Summary

Overall conclusions
1. Strathclyde Police (the force) has a clear and realistic vision for what it wants to achieve for its communities. It is delivering a good level of policing, addressing the issues which most affect its citizens and their quality of life. The force and Strathclyde Police Authority (the authority) should develop a joint approach to the production and setting of policing priorities and key strategies. There is a need to establish more effective joint working between the authority, police authority office and the force to ensure that they are delivering best value.
2. Authority members have a good understanding of local community issues but they have not been active in developing policing priorities in partnership with the chief constable. Scrutiny of the force is inconsistent. The authority is kept well informed about finance, staffing and asset management and has provided effective challenge on some key strategic decisions such as workforce modernisation. However, there is limited monitoring of the force’s approach to partnership working and community engagement activities and the authority does not proactively seek the information it needs to hold the force to account for its use of resources and improvement activity (including savings and efficiencies).
3. The authority has demonstrated good self-awareness and recognises that it needs to improve its approach to best value. Members requested the chief executive, on his appointment, to carry out a review of authority governance to assess how effectively the authority was fulfilling its duties of Best Value. It has not engaged effectively with the force over its planned changes following the review. Improvements are needed in the support provided to members. Progress with implementing the review’s recommendations has been slow and improvements are needed in the management of authority business. Members need to establish arrangements for assuring themselves that best use is being made of the support resources available to them, which are not yet adding sufficient value.
4. Strathclyde Police has a clear vision of what it wants to achieve for the Strathclyde area. The vision is informed by the views of those communities, as well as nationally agreed priorities, which take account of available resources and organisational capacity to deliver against them. This consultation is also used to develop local policing plans.
5. The chief constable and the force executive provide effective and visible leadership based on clearly articulated strategic aims for policing in Strathclyde which are well understood throughout the force. A performance management culture is embedded throughout the organisation, supported by a comprehensive performance management framework which is well integrated with the force’s service planning and delivery arrangements. 
6. Since his appointment, the chief constable has established a corporate change programme with a strong focus on reducing cost and improving efficiency. This change has been aimed primarily at focusing resources around community policing and has impacted on organisational and management structures within the force. The force needs to further develop its approach to the strategic management of change by ensuring that staff are fully engaged in the change process, critical success factors are identified, and the impact of change is subsequently evaluated to ensure that it has delivered its intended outcomes. Overall resilience in both police command structures and police staff responsibilities needs to be considered as the force takes forward its change programme. 
7. The force has effective financial controls and well-established processes for setting and monitoring budgets but, along with other Scottish forces, it needs to continue with its work to develop a better understanding of the cost of policing activity through the development of police objective analysis.
8. Service performance is good. The force is performing well against its priorities. Between 2006 and 2010, crime numbers have fallen and detection rates have increased. This improvement includes positive progress on reducing antisocial behaviour, violent crime, acquisitive crimes (eg, fraud and theft) and vandalism. Despite violent crime being at its lowest recorded level and detection rates at their highest level for seven years, the impact of violent crime on the communities of Strathclyde remains disproportionate. In 2009/10, the Scottish average for violent crimes per 10,000 of population was 21.7, whereas Strathclyde was 30.8 for the same period. This highlights the significant societal and policing challenges for Strathclyde.
9. The force has a well-developed approach to equalities which reflects a good understanding of the issues affecting its diverse communities. 
Part 1. Context
The local context
10. Strathclyde Police Authority and force covers 12 different councils spread over 5,370 square miles. The population is around 2.2 million people, accounting for 42.7 per cent of the Scottish population. The region includes both densely populated urban areas and large areas of remote countryside and island communities. It also has significant social and demographic diversity and includes some of the most deprived areas in Scotland alongside some of the most affluent. This diversity presents specific challenges for policing, including contrasting community needs, competing priorities and demands on resources.
11. Almost half of all crimes recorded in Scotland occur in the Strathclyde area. The economic and social context influences the policing priorities for the area: youth gangs, high levels of drug-related crime and violent behaviour are prevalent across many of the densely populated areas in the force. The impact of high levels of alcohol consumption and dependency have a similar effect on all types of crime and antisocial behaviour. The majority of known serious and organised crime groups in Scotland operate in and from the Strathclyde area. 
12. As well as the area’s demographic and geographic diversity, there are a number of distinct features, which affect policing across Strathclyde. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK. The city attracts significant numbers of visitors and has a large transient population due to the number of educational institutes. There are also challenges provided by the transport links across Strathclyde, including two international airports, substantial rail and road networks, and a variety of ferry services. This places significant demands on police resources.
13. The city is set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014, with training and event facilities located across much of the Strathclyde area. It will host a number of football fixtures as part of the 2012 London Olympic Games. There are also numerous regular interest group marches in and around the Glasgow area, which present specific public order challenges.
14. Glasgow has a diverse cultural and leisure industry, including a number of major sporting venues, including those of the two most high-profile football clubs in Scotland attracting fans and media attention from all over the world. Unfortunately, the sporting rivalry this generates has historically been used as an excuse for unacceptable sectarian behaviour by sections of fans from both clubs. This repeatedly occupies a significant amount of time, effort and resources by the force to deal with the direct impact on match days themselves and the wider societal problemsthis generates, including issues such as domestic abuse and other violent crime.
Strathclyde Police Authority
15. Strathclyde Police Authority’s primary role is to ensure that Strathclyde Police is accountable for the services it provides. It is the largest joint police board in Scotland made up of 34 elected members from 12 councils:
•	two each from Argyll & Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire
•	four each from North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire
•	eight from Glasgow City.
16. The authority is responsible for a revenue-policing budget of approximately £440 million. It is funded 51 per cent through specific grant funding from the Scottish Government and 49 per cent through agreed contributions from constituent local authorities (Exhibit 2). Within this overall budget, £1.3 million is set aside for the authority’s own running costs. It employs 11 staff in a range of managerial, policy support, committee administration, communication and administrative roles. The authority also provides the secretariat function to the Scottish Police Authority Convenors Forum. Its organisational chart is shown in Exhibit 3.
17. Strathclyde Police Authority (previously known as Strathclyde Joint Police Board and still statutorily constituted as a joint police board) has gone through a series of organisational and constitutional changes since 1996. These are summarised in Exhibit 4.
18. The creation of the dedicated support function of staff directly employed by the joint board in 2007 was driven by the then clerk to the board, who considered that these new arrangements would improve the quality of support to board members. The 2008 re-grading exercise and creation of additional posts, was based on consultants’ advice and a report from the clerk identifying a lack of resilience and capacity for additional work within the support arrangements at that time.
19. The most recent changes in 2009, when the joint board rebranded itself as Strathclyde Police Authority and appointed a chief executive, were driven by the previous convener. His ‘vision’ was of a modernised joint board which was more effectively discharging its obligations and making fuller use of the powers available to it in areas such as community engagement and partnership working. Unfortunately, not all authority members were clear about the need for the rebranding exercise or the previous convener’s vision for the authority. The convener has since left the authority and there were limited discussions with the force around the changes. This has contributed to difficulties in relation to elected members’ understanding of and commitment to the ongoing change programme within the authority and has led to missed opportunities in relation to improving joint working with the force.
20. In 2009, the authority instructed the chief executive to carry out a review into the governance, accountability, scrutiny and oversight by Strathclyde Police Authority for Strathclyde Police. The review was first reported to the authority in June 2010 and the improvement plan arising from the review was agreed in August 2010. The improvement plan contains 14 recommendations designed to improve performance across a range of fronts (joint working with the force, scrutiny, community planning, member training and a number of internal management matters such as the procurement of treasury management services). This is discussed in more detail in the governance and accountability section of this report. 
Strathclyde Police 
21. Strathclyde Police is Scotland’s largest police force, and one of the biggest in the UK. It currently has around 8,000 police officers, around 2,600 members of police staff and the services of approximately 570 special constables.
22. The force is led by the chief constable, supported by a force executive, comprising the deputy chief constable, assistant chief constables (ACCs) and directors. Members of the executive each have specific areas of responsibility or portfolios for different business areas such as crime and operational policing or finance and human resources (HR). 
23. Policing in Strathclyde is divided into eight geographical areas – known as divisions – each covering a number of multi-member council wards. In certain divisions they cover more than one council area, while the Glasgow City Council area spans three separate divisions. The force also has a number of non-territorial, function-specific divisions and service groups such as operational support, crime and HR.

Part 2. Corporate assessment
Vision and strategic direction

Strathclyde Police Authority

The authority endorses and supports the vision and strategic direction established by the force for policing across the Strathclyde area, but it has not been actively involved in its development.
24. The authority approves the force’s policing strategy. Authority members endorse, and are supportive of, the vision and strategic direction for policing across the Strathclyde area. However, they have not been actively involved in working with the force to identify an appropriate vision, objectives or policing priorities reflecting their understanding of local community needs and concerns.
25. Given the good links authority members have with local policing area teams, and the evidence that members have a good understanding of issues affecting their local communities, this presents a missed opportunity for the authority to add value and demonstrate its strategic influence on policing priorities for the area. This is an essential element of authority members’ duty of Best Value.
26. The authority is aware that it needs to make improvements in this area. Working jointly with Strathclyde Police to develop a long-term vision for policing for the area is an agreed improvement action arising from the chief executive’s 2010 review of the governance, accountability, scrutiny and oversight by the authority of Strathclyde Police. The introduction of the Strategic Planning and Performance Committee with a focus on future visioning will provide a forum for this to take place.
Strathclyde Police Force

The chief constable and the force executive provide effective and visible leadership based on clearly articulated strategic aims for policing in Strathclyde. These aims are informed by consultation and strong engagement with partners and local communities. However, the force needs to adopt a more collaborative approach with the authority to develop its strategic direction for policing. The chief constable has led a major programme of change to deliver efficiencies and create a stronger performance culture based on a community-based policing ethos.
27. The strategic aims of policing in Strathclyde focus operational activity on the key issues affecting its communities: alcohol abuse, violence reduction, domestic abuse and knife crime. There is clear evidence of strong leadership by the chief constable in developing and delivering key strategies to address these issues. The force’s strategy demonstrates a good balance between national and force priorities and is informed by, and reflects, the views of partners and local communities. Reflecting the need to work in tandem to deliver best value, the force and authority should develop a more collaborative approach to priority setting and developing key plans and strategies.
28. The force has a well-integrated planning process, with force priorities clearly identified and supported by robust planning and management arrangements. There is a clear alignment of performance reporting with these priorities. The Force Strategic Assessment 2010–13 outlines the threats and risks and prioritises them accordingly. This approach ensures that the force’s priorities are clearly articulated and available to all staff and other stakeholders.
29. The chief constable set out his vision for modernisation of the force upon his appointment in 2007 and the change programme, which the force is undertaking, has been dramatic and has challenged the traditional approach and structure of Strathclyde Police. The pace of change has been rapid and it is clear that the entire workforce has been considerably affected by the scale of the transformation and reorganisation necessary to achieve savings and efficiencies linked to the change programme. There was little evidence of a consultative approach to this programme.
Governance and accountability

Strathclyde Police Authority

Scrutiny of the force is inconsistent. While use of resources (finance, workforce, assets) is scrutinised effectively and authority members have demonstrated robust challenge on some key policy changes, there are important areas where scrutiny is limited. Members need better training and improved information to strengthen their scrutiny role. 
Improvements are needed in the support provided to elected members and the management of authority business as there is little evidence that the current support arrangements are adding value. Progress with improvement following the chief executive’s review of authority governance has been slow. Members need to demonstrate clearer leadership of this improvement agenda.
30. The convener works productively with the chief executive, the chief constable and authority members. However, codes of conduct and protocols have not yet been developed which would help clarify working arrangements and set out the specific roles that authority members, police authority office staff and officers from the force should play in the engagement between the authority and the force. The lack of clarity in this area is illustrated by instances where the chief executive has undertaken a scrutiny role on aspects of the force in relation to complaints and some policing operations. Developing these arrangements should lead to a better understanding as to how the authority and its police authority office can work more effectively with the chief constable and his staff to improve the quality of support provided to the authority to allow it to effectively discharge its support and challenge role. 
31. Scrutiny of the force is inconsistent. While use of resources (finance, workforce, assets) is scrutinised effectively and some key policing strategies have been subject to rigorous challenge, there are important areas where scrutiny is limited, such as partnership working, community engagement and improvement activity within the force. There is a need to clarify members’ roles at authority level in relation to scrutinising and challenging performance and key strategic developments within the force. Some members reported that a lack of clarity in this area made them reluctant to actively challenge on issues such as the introduction of the Integrated Service Delivery Model (ISDM) which they felt risked straying into the area of operational independence of the chief constable.  
32. Key to making improvements in this area is the provision of improved training and support to members to help them gain a better understanding of their roles and responsibilities. The police authority office has not provided authority members with sufficient training and development opportunities to date, nor have members shown sufficient commitment to their own training and development needs. While the force offers training on key aspects of its operational work, uptake by authority members has been poor. Reviewing continuous professional development and training requirements for members [and staff] to generate a suitable training, development and education framework for the authority was a recommendation arising from the chief executive’s review. This is being progressed; however, it is expected to be delayed pending outcomes from national policing structures work. It is essential that this work is taken forward quickly.
33. Authority meetings are open to the public and papers are readily accessible via its website. However, there are weaknesses in the management of authority business. Agendas can be lengthy and their structure can change during meetings to ensure the correct ordering of decisions. 
34. The force submits papers up to five weeks in advance of authority meetings. This provides time for the police authority office to ensure they contain sufficient information and are in the correct format before being considered at pre-agenda meetings. The police authority office could do more during this period to provide additional policy advice and analysis for authority members. The elapsed time between submission of the reports by the force and members receiving the papers (often less than one week in advance of meetings) can lead to information being out of date, requiring update reports to be tabled at meetings. This limits authority members’ ability to effectively scrutinise and challenge the content of those update reports which they are then reading for the first time. The authority should discuss options for improving support arrangements for authority members, including the timetabling for consideration of reports, with the force. 
35. The authority is committed to improving how it does business. Following the chief executive’s review it is changing its committee structure from June 2011. Two new committees are being established – strategic planning and performance, and community and citizen engagement. A new subcommittee for authority management (operation of the police authority office) is also being introduced. The aim of the new structure is to enhance the authority’s management of business to provide authority members with the opportunity to undertake more effective oversight and scrutiny of strategic policing and performance issues. 
36. The introduction of the new committees should provide a clear structure for authority members to develop expertise and focus on key areas, but training for members in their new roles will be needed if the introduction of these is to be successful. The authority should evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the new arrangements at an appropriate time after their introduction.
37. While improvements are being made to the governance arrangements in the authority through changes to committee structures and updating standing orders, overall progress with the improvement agenda arising from the chief executive’s review has been slow. Oversight and challenge of the improvement agenda from members has been weak. Members need to demonstrate clearer leadership in this area and adopt a more robust approach to reviewing and challenging the progress that is being made.
38. Strengthened scrutiny and challenge of the authority’s improvement agenda by authority members is needed. We have identified important areas where progress is being reported to the authority by the chief executive as having been completed but where we found no evidence that this is the case:
•	jointly working with Strathclyde Police to develop a long-term vision for policing for the area
•	developing joint delivery strategies for supporting resource requirements and outcomes
•	scrutiny of force partnership working and community engagement activity.
39. It is also important that the authority assures itself that it is making the best use of the support resources it has available, which at present are not adding sufficient value. To do this it needs to establish arrangements for holding the chief executive to account for the performance of the authority’s police authority office. The establishment of a subcommittee to consider authority management provides a forum for this to take place. This is an important area for development given the weaknesses we have identified in aspects of the operational support provided to the authority (eg, the administration of committee agendas) and the need for improvement to be made in areas such as policy and performance advice to authority members.  
40. The authority operates an Independent Custody Visiting Scheme (ICVS). The scheme ensures the welfare of people in custody is maintained. Visitors call at police stations unannounced and look at a number of issues from the treatment of detainees to the effectiveness of the custody process. Visitors report their findings to the authority so any indications of problems can be explored and resolved. The authority fully meets its specific obligations through the current ICVS scheme. 
Strathclyde Police Force 
 
Internal force governance structures are sound but the force’s approach to managing change could be better coordinated. The force’s major programme of change and streamlining of management structures has created risks around capacity, which need careful management moving forward. The force has a well-developed operational risk management process but needs to further develop its overall approach to corporate risk management.
41. The introduction of the Force Governance Structure in 2010, to manage business areas, was designed to provide oversight of the full range of work undertaken by the force. However, some aspects of business change remain disjointed and would benefit from being brought together into a single strategy. 
42. The chief constable’s major programme of change to deliver efficiencies and create a stronger performance culture has included a clear emphasis on streamlining management structures, with fewer management layers and broader spans of control. This is reflected across all divisions and departments where changes to command structures have altered responsibilities and functions. The restructuring of divisional command teams has meant superintendents taking portfolio leads and chief inspectors assuming the role of area commanders. This is working better in some divisions than others due to factors such as the number of local authorities covered, operational demand and volume of work. While there appears to be a degree of coordination to the overall review of structures, there was no evidence of an overarching strategy outlining the desired aims and anticipated benefits of the new approach. The recent reduction from four to three assistant chief constables has meant some realignment of portfolio responsibilities and this will need time to settle before the full impact can be assessed. 
43. We found evidence of differing views on the impact of the changes. Senior management are clear about the imperative for change in order to maintain performance and continue to provide a high level of service to the public at a time of significant reductions in police budgets. However, the combination of uncertainty over job security and concern over higher expectation of individual performance is clearly unsettling to a number of police officers and police staff. In particular, the possibility of redundancy for police staff or enforced retirement under Regulation A19,4 Police Pension Regulations 1987, and reduction in numbers of managers/supervisors have caused considerable uncertainty for those potentially affected. The impact of the change programme presents a significant challenge in terms of maintaining morale and performance and is a potential area of vulnerability for the force unless managed effectively, with a transparent and inclusive approach. 
44. The change programme has challenged some individuals beyond their capacity requiring extra effort on their part to maintain levels of performance. While this is manageable as a short-term measure it may not be sustainable in the longer term. Any further centralisation of certain police staff functions and resources, such as business management and human resources would create potential additional workload pressures, as some aspects of the centralised activity may still need to be delivered at divisional level. The force needs to continue to monitor the impact of the change programme. This would enable the force to assure itself that changes to roles and responsibilities have not compromised its ability to deliver against force priorities or created risks associated with capacity and staff resilience.  
45. During the 2009 force self-assessment exercise, the issue of communication with staff was highlighted as an area for improvement, specifically the communication of key messages to staff. The force acknowledges this as an area of concern and in an effort to improve communication has increased the frequency of its meetings with unions in 2011 from monthly to weekly to discuss developments and ensure staff are kept up to date with issues affecting them.
46. The force is also seeking to improve internal and external communication with a clearer focus on the impact of organisational change and the financial challenges facing the force. This has involved communicating specific information to staff via local communication champions, supported by seminars and local events. It also introduced weekly meetings with police authority office staff to improve the coordination of corporate messages. However, it is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of internal communication as the force has not undertaken a staff survey since 2007.
47. The force has an internal communication process to facilitate the flow of information to all officers and staff. This includes an extensive intranet which provides a platform for the dissemination of information electronically. This is supported by other briefing tools which include email briefing ‘Nformer’, editorial ‘Up Beat’ and SPtv highlight issues affecting all levels of the organisation. Video-conferencing is routinely used to improve efficiency and engage with staff throughout the force area. The force has had difficult and challenging messages to communicate to staff due to the uncertainty and lack of clarity around the detail on matters such as redundancies and retirements.
48. The force has a well-developed approach to operational risk management. The Corporate Risk Register is reviewed and updated on a quarterly basis. It is further broken down into sub-risks. Each high and medium risk has a named owner at force executive level. Key risk action plans are in place which provide a record of controls and allow monitoring of issues to take place. A Risk Management Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) provides clear guidance on the force approach to risk and links to the Business Continuity Management SOP, which also incorporates this methodology. Risk assessments are routinely carried out for operational activity and staff are briefed on the need to dynamically assess risk situations themselves. The risk register is presented at authority meetings to provide updates to members on activity and plans to address the issues identified.
49. The force has a significant number of officers in various roles (predominantly associated with antisocial behaviour) throughout the force funded by central and local government. This has been a successful approach to dedicating resources to a key area of business. It does, however, carry risks as the long-term future of this funding may come under pressure as further cuts are made to public sector budgets. There is scope to improve the force’s approach to corporate risk management as this risk is not reflected on either force or divisional risk registers. Plans do not currently exist to mitigate the effect of this risk on service delivery, and outcomes for communities, should the funding be reduced or withdrawn. The force needs to consider how it would deal with any loss of funding and manage the re-integration of officers into mainstream roles within the force (including the impact this might have on the force’s budget and its capacity to deliver in targeted business areas).
50. In order that the authority can be actively involved in all aspects of force business, consideration should be given to security vetting of certain members or officers of the authority in areas where sharing or providing information is problematic due to security classifications. The current absence of arrangements in this area is a barrier to authority members playing an appropriate public reassurance role in partnership
with the force when significant incidents occur.
Community leadership and engagement
Strathclyde Police Authority 

Authority members have a good understanding of issues affecting their local communities developed through regular meetings with local policing teams but the authority lacks a strategic approach to exercising its community engagement role.  
51. Authority members have a good understanding of issues affecting their local communities and feed them into discussions with the force. Authority members have good links with divisional policing teams. They meet regularly with local area commanders to discuss emerging issues. These meetings can provide a constructive two-way dialogue and enhance both parties’ understanding of local and neighbourhood issues. However, there is no evidence that the authority is using this intelligence to inform the shaping of policing priorities or when holding the force to account for its performance. 
52. The authority considers the force’s annual outcome of its public consultation exercise. However, the information provided is limited and this affects the ability of authority members to scrutinise the force’s community engagement activity effectively. The authority does not consider how the results of the consultation exercise shape the force’s priorities and there is no evidence that the authority is assuring itself that the force’s activity in this area is improving service performance and strengthening public confidence in the force. 
53. The authority should consider how it can adopt a more strategic and systematic approach to understanding the needs of the various communities served by Strathclyde Police and using that to inform its approach to contributing to strategy development and informing scrutiny of force performance. In doing so, it should consider the role that the police authority office could play in providing good-quality information on the communities served by the authority. Consideration should also be given to any opportunities for joint community engagement activity between the authority and the force where this is appropriate.
Strathclyde Police Force 

Community engagement and consultation is an area of strength within the force. The force has a systematic approach to actively seeking the views of its communities which are used to develop policing plans which reflect areas of significant local public concern. 
54. The force has 134 Community Policing Teams (CPTs), each of which produces a local community policing plan, which identifies the local policing priorities that will be the focus of police activity for the year ahead. The priorities identified in each plan are directly influenced by the consultation and engagement processes that are carried out within the local community. New policing plans are produced annually and six-monthly update reports describing the action taken to date to address local priorities are also produced. These plans are made available via the web pages of each CPT. Hard copy plans are also made publicly available to community groups or through public buildings such as libraries or community centres. The policing plans contain useful information to assist the public to contact the police and raise any issues of concern.
55. The force has a well-established approach to carrying out consultation across the Strathclyde Police area, and undertakes annual public consultation exercises. The force uses the information obtained from this exercise to inform its approach to planning its service and in developing priorities at multi-member ward level (for its community policing plans), divisional level and at a strategic level (force-wide). 
56. The force uses its local and area-wide consultation activity to help target its activity. There is clear evidence in strategic assessments, divisional plans and community plans of partnership working targeted at addressing local public policing priorities in areas such as violence, alcohol abuse, drug dealing and antisocial behaviour.
57. The force is piloting the use of individual officer public satisfaction surveys in four subdivisions across the force as part of its commitment to improving the level of service provided to the public. The aim of the six-month pilot is to provide members of the public with the opportunity to comment on the performance of individual officers who initially attend incidents, by means of a self-completion survey. An evaluation of the project will be conducted at the conclusion of the pilot.
58. The force also gathers survey feedback from the public on their experience of any recent contact with the force. It has now adopted a telephone-based methodology for this work which should give a more systematic evidence base than the previous postal survey. The initial pilot of the new approach from January to March 2010 was extended into a permanent feature in April 2010. 
Partnership working
Strathclyde Police Authority

The authority is not providing strategic oversight and challenge to the force’s approach to partnership working. Authority members are not assuring themselves that partnership activity is leading to improved policing outcomes.
59. Partnership working is a key focus for Strathclyde Police and there are many examples of joint working and shared resourcing for police and community safety activity but we found no evidence that the authority is providing a strategic oversight of this activity and monitoring the effectiveness of the force’s approach to this work across the Strathclyde area. It is not proactively seeking information on the force’s partnership work and using this information to assure itself that partnership working is being effectively managed and contributing to the delivery of local policing outcomes.
60. The authority does not actively request reports on the impact and outcomes from local community planning activity, such as progress reports on local Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) or community safety partnership activity. Information of this kind would enable it to hold the force to account for its involvement in local partnership activity alongside its oversight of force-wide partnership work.
61. The authority’s review recognises that there is a need to enhance its oversight and challenge of the force’s approach to partnership working, but it has not defined how it will do this. In taking this agenda forward it should consider the role that the police authority office could have in supporting elected members in this area by providing timely analysis on the progress and performance of community safety outcomes through SOA reports as well as highlighting examples of good practice in partnership working.
Strathclyde Police Force

The force engages effectively with a range of partners across the Strathclyde Police area at both strategic and tactical level to deliver better outcomes for communities.  
62. The chief constable meets chief executives of all constituent councils twice a year to discuss and agree areas for joint work and issues affecting the entire force. Chief executives welcome this opportunity to jointly consider issues and challenges facing their communities.
63. The force has a culture of collaborative working with partners at all levels of the organisation. We found evidence of strong local engagement with elected members, with good information-sharing protocols in place to support work with local authorities. Divisional officers and local partner agencies were able to provide numerous examples of effective partnership working in the area of community safety, an example of which is set out in Exhibit 6.
Exhibit 6
Saltmarket/Clydeside Working Group

The Saltmarket/Clydeside Working Group was established to examine a number of issues of concern within the Saltmarket and Clydeside area and assist in the progression of the regeneration. 
The group was chaired by a prominent local councillor and consisted of Strathclyde Police, Local Housing Associations, Glasgow Community and Safety Services, Land and Environmental Services, Salvation Army, Glasgow City Council Addiction Services, Glasgow Street Services, British Transport Police, Glasgow City Council Social Work Department, and the Development and Regeneration Services. 
Through focused and intelligence-led partnership working the group succeeded in impacting on a number of long-standing and difficult problems, such as removing the hoardings from the parapets of the Glasgow Union Bridge which had been identified as an area being used for criminal behaviour. Joint policing operations have been carried out, which successfully targeted those individuals responsible for drug dealing, drug misuse and antisocial behaviour. Additional improvements included better lighting and street furniture, close doors have been repaired and liaison with British Telecom has resulted in the removal of one of their phone boxes which was being used for drug dealing. 
Positive outcomes from this work include: increases in detections for drugs and antisocial behaviour offences, the environment visibly improved, and positive feedback received from members of the community who clearly benefited from this targeted partnership approach.
Source: Strathclyde Police/HMICS

64. The force has been effective in working with some traditionally hard to reach groups to reduce the level of police resources involved in parades and football matches. This has involved working with organisers to encourage them to take more responsibility for their event, ensuring that the impact on the community and policing resource is minimised. 
Performance management and improvement
Strathclyde Police Authority

The authority routinely considers the force’s performance against policing priorities and has a structured approach to monitoring the force’s management of complaints. However, it does not actively seek out reports of improvement work undertaken by the force and is not playing an active part in identifying and prioritising improvement areas within the force. 
65. The authority considers a performance report at each authority meeting covering key policing priorities. These reports provide the authority with much of the information it needs to monitor the force’s performance including targets and prior year comparative figures but little narrative or explanation of variances is included in the report. This is an area where police authority office staff could add considerable value in providing further analysis and advice to members in their challenge and scrutiny role. 
66. There are two subcommittees with remits to scrutinise key aspects of the force’s work. The Resources and Best Value subcommittee considers the use of all property and assets, monitors revenue and capital budgets and has lead responsibility for securing Best Value. The committee considers reports on resourcing and option appraisal reports for capital projects. The Complaints subcommittee has a structured approach to monitoring the force’s management of complaints. It considers a quarterly report prepared by the force, which provides details of the number of complaints from the public. This report contains limited data on areas of service complained about which limits members’ ability to effectively understand the issues and work with the force to recommend appropriate improvement activity in areas that will reduce the number of complaints. The authority needs to assure itself that the force’s systems and procedures are robust and that they are receiving a full and comprehensive analysis of complaints received by the force. 
67. The authority does not have a clear role in influencing or monitoring the force’s continuous improvement activity. Instead, it relies on the force to identify its areas for improvement and to keep it informed of ongoing developments. While the authority’s chief executive attends the Force Improvement Board, updates or reports on the work of the board are not provided to authority members and the authority does not have the opportunity to consider or challenge the work of the board. Authority members do not routinely receive reports on improvement activity and as a result do not have the opportunity to secure agreement with the force for improvement actions.
Strathclyde Police Force

Through strong leadership at force and divisional level, a performance management culture is embedded throughout the organisation supported by a comprehensive performance management framework which is well integrated with the force’s service planning and delivery arrangements. 
68. Strathclyde Police has a strong performance and accountability culture. This is one of the organisational values which has been clearly communicated throughout the organisation with staff at all levels of the organisation aware of force priorities and their role in supporting their delivery.
69. Strathclyde Police management style in relation to performance is described by frontline officers as very outcome focused. The chief constable challenges traditional approaches to policing and encourages staff to develop more efficient alternative approaches to delivering policing services. Within Crime Division, for example, traditional barriers between counter-terrorism and serious crime have been replaced with structures that promote capacity and capability building through enhanced joined-up intelligence and investigation resources, with officers encouraged and able to take less traditional (and less expensive) routes to dismantling organised crime activity. Through cost-effective innovative interventions and involvement of strategic partners, real value is being added to the fight against organised crime.
70. The force provides regular performance reports on its policing priorities and activities to Strathclyde Police Authority and senior managers. It demonstrates a strong commitment to public performance reporting and members of the public have access to crime data via an interactive tool on the force website. Strathclyde is the only force in Scotland to provide such a user-friendly facility providing access to relevant and detailed information at subdivisional level. 
71. The force has a well-developed framework for identifying operational risk utilising the National Intelligence Model (NIM), which is embedded at all levels of the organisation. The force has linked NIM to the Scottish Strategic Assessment and those areas identified within it as very high-priority risk areas (violence, drugs, serious and organised crime, child protection and counter-terrorism) are cascaded effectively throughout the force and are integrated in the force’s performance framework. 
72. Delivery of force priorities and operational accountability is enhanced by the force’s performance management system OMIS (Operational Management Information System). It was designed and built in-house by Strathclyde Police in partnership with the Scottish Police Services Authority, as an interim measure pending the delivery of a national performance management system. OMIS provides a weekly snapshot of performance in key operational areas including violence, domestic violence, alcohol and stop and search. By displaying historical and current data together, the chief constable and senior managers can assess performance relative to both previous year’s outputs and direction of travel trends. The use of historic trend data allows OMIS to predict snapshots of future spikes and likely performance challenges that managers can prepare for and build in to tasking and coordination processes.
73. As with all other forces in Scotland, Strathclyde does not capture resource and costs relative to performance levels. It is therefore difficult to assess to what extent resources are being deployed efficiently. In conjunction with other Scottish forces, Strathclyde Police is introducing Police Objective Analysis as a framework for common definitions of functions and cost allocation. This is intended to bridge the gap in performance management, enabling the force in future to measure the efficient and effective use of resources. Once rates of performance are measured relative to cost, police forces will be able to measure value-for-money more effectively. This process is already in use in England and Wales and has only recently been adopted by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS).
74. The force recognises the need to strengthen the coordination of its improvement activity to complement its strong performance and delivery culture. It is developing its approach to self-evaluation; however, the impact of its improvement board in driving a strategic approach to continuous improvement throughout the organisation is not yet evident.
Use of resources
Strathclyde Police Authority

The authority is kept well informed about finance, staffing and asset management arrangements within the force and is providing effective challenge on key strategic decisions such as the implications of invoking regulation A19. However, authority members are not involved in monitoring the achievement of savings and efficiencies within the force.
75. Authority members approve and monitor the force revenue budget and capital programme. The force prepares reports for each authority meeting highlighting variances. Authority members’ scrutiny is greater here than in other areas and includes consideration of the force’s medium-term financial strategy through the budget-working group, an information-sharing forum which all authority members are invited to attend.
76. The authority also plays an active role in force decisions relating to new capital investment proposals. Since June 2009, members have made decisions on the feasibility study, business case and options appraisal for a new police headquarters.
77. Authority members demonstrate their understanding and scrutiny of staff issues at both the Personnel subcommittee and authority meetings. The authority recently considered a report from the chief constable into the potential impact of invoking regulation A19. Authority members gave this report due consideration and effectively challenged the chief constable on its implications for police officers and local policing in the Strathclyde area. The Personnel subcommittee considers reports relating to terms and conditions of service, decisions on police staff posts and absence management.  
78. Members do not actively seek or receive reports on, and are not involved in monitoring of, the achievement of savings and efficiencies within the force. This is a significant area for development given the authority’s Best Value duties and the importance of savings and efficiencies for the force as funding reduces across the public sector. The authority is not proactive in determining what reports it needs to allow it to fulfil its responsibilities. The authority’s ability to request reports from the force is the key method by which it can assert its independence and it is important that it uses this power to strengthen its role in this area.
79. The authority’s police authority office costs approximately £1.3 million per annum. Given the significance of these costs it is important that the authority establishes arrangements for assuring itself that it is receiving value-for-money from these resources. At present, there is no financial monitoring by the authority of the cost of the police authority office as the chief executive has only recently started to receive detailed  information on the budget spend. The establishment of a subcommittee to consider authority management provides a forum for this to take place.
Strathclyde Police Force

Since his appointment, the chief constable has established a corporate change programme with a strong focus on reducing cost and improving efficiency. This is supported by effective financial controls and well-established processes for setting and monitoring budgets. 
Managing finance
80. Strathclyde Police’s net revenue budget for 2010/11 was £443 million. Once budgets have been adjusted to reflect changes to the funding arrangements for pensions, the 2010/11 budget is around the same level as the previous year. The force’s capital budget for 2009/10 was £38.37 million and for 2010/11, £8.36 million.
81. The force has strong financial controls in place and sound processes for setting and monitoring budgets. This feeds the revenue monitoring reports prepared for the police authority. Those reports include detailed information on significant budget variances which enables members to scrutinise and challenge the force on its financial position. 
82. At divisional level, financial management arrangements are in a period of transition. Budgets were previously devolved to divisions and departments and managed locally by a business manager in conjunction with the divisional commander or head of department. That is still the case, with the exception of staff costs, which are now managed directly by the directors of human resources and finance and resources as a consequence of the degree of reorganisation and restructuring currently taking place across the force. Consultation continues with a view to further centralise all business manager functions into a single Financial Management Unit. This will provide support to local budget holders, who will retain some elements of devolved financial control around minor issues such as stationery and consumables.
83. The cost of providing police services continues to rise but with funding from central government and councils set to fall, the force has significant levels of savings to make over the period 2011/12 to 2014/15. The force has a medium-term financial strategy covering this period which aims to achieve reductions in spending through the ongoing review of structures across the force and other cost-cutting initiatives. The force has a good track record of achieving its required levels of savings but given what it has already achieved, and that it is in the process of further implementing large-scale reductions in management and support posts across the force, this is likely to limit its scope for making further significant savings in the future.  
Managing people
84. In recent years the force has seen a steady increase in the number of police officers. However, this has not continued during 2010 when there has been reductions in supervisory and management ranks as part of a deliberate strategy of reorganisation of structures with fewer managerial posts with broader spans of responsibilities. 
85. While police officer numbers are currently stable there is a potential impact on their duties given the possibility of reductions in the number of police staff employed. Police officers may be required to cover roles previously undertaken by police staff in areas such as custody suites, enquiry offices and force control rooms. This potential for ‘reverse civilianisation’ could divert resources away from front-line policing. Should such measures be necessary the force and the authority should monitor and evaluate the impact of these changes, taking account of the effect on staff relations and considering the longer-term sustainability and cost-effectiveness of this approach.
86. As a consequence of its implementation of a community-based policing model in 2009, and the subsequent introduction of ISDM, the force has seen a significant increase in the numbers of officers deployed within communities. On 1 April 2008, there were 527 community police officers in the force area. This number had increased to 1,270 by 30 June 2009, more than double the original number employed in 2008. This increase has been achieved through the recruitment and deployment of additional officers funded by the Scottish Government, local authorities and other partner agencies and the redeployment of office-based staff at force headquarters and divisions, with minimal reductions in the number of officers deployed in response teams. 
87. The force actively manages its workforce to ensure it achieves improvements and efficiencies through effective resource deployment:
•	Office-based police officers are deployed in high-profile initiatives for a minimum of 12 days per year. During 2010/11, this amounted to 8,108 days worked by 673 officers.
•	Minimising front-line police officers being diverted to police parades, events, football matches and court buildings.
•	Centralising office-based functions through Divisional Coordination Units, realising efficiencies equivalent to £4.2 million of non-cashable savings.
88. The force performs less well than the Scottish average in terms of sickness absence rates. In 2009/10, the proportion of working days lost due to absence in Strathclyde was higher than the Scottish average for both police officers and police staff. In 2009/10, the absence rate for police officers was 4.5 per cent compared to a Scottish average of 4.1 per cent, and the absence rate for police staff was 5.4 per cent compared to a Scottish average of 5.0 per cent. While higher than the national average, absence rates in Strathclyde for both police officers and staff during 2009/10 have shown improvement when compared to the previous year. The force has moved to improve absence rates with the introduction of new attendance management operating procedures and the proactive use of absence costs data and analysis at management meetings.
89. The force’s Professional Standards Department (PSD) has made progress in addressing the high numbers of officers previously suspended from duty. A review of policy has resulted in a dramatic fall in the numbers of officers suspended, from 21 officers in 2009 to seven officers in 2010. This positive trend has been achieved despite a reduction in establishment of the PSD, which is now smaller than similar sized forces elsewhere
in the UK. 
Managing assets and other resources
90. For some years, the force has sought to re-locate to a new headquarters building and the police authority has recently granted approval to the force to develop a full business case for a new building. Since then discussions between the force, authority and Scottish Government are ongoing to give fuller consideration to the propriety of progressing this initiative in the context of the current debate regarding the restructuring of the Scottish Police Service.
91. Beyond some shared accommodation in areas such as public protection units at divisional level, the force has made limited progress in sharing other functions such as procurement, payroll services and fleet management with other public bodies. The force is involved in a pan-Ayrshire group looking at options for future joint service delivery. This group involves the leaders and chief executives of North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire councils, and representatives from NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Strathclyde Police and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service. No firm plan yet exists in this area.
92. The force and the authority have recently developed a new property strategy. The new strategy includes the creation of a Force Asset Management Board chaired by the deputy chief constable with Strathclyde Police Authority represented by the chief executive. This process has created a formal structure which allows the force to work with the authority to ensure that strategic business and operational need can be translated into future property requirements which are key to the continued delivery of frontline policing. Their strategy will be further informed once longer-term budgets are finalised and the debate on the restructuring of the Scottish Police Service concluded. In common with many other Scottish Police Forces, we found little evidence of a coordinated and proactive strategy for establishing shared accommodation with other agencies.
Equalities
Strathclyde Police Authority

The authority does not provide effective leadership of equalities and does not effectively scrutinise the force’s equality and diversity activity.
93. The authority does not provide good leadership of equalities. There is no spokesperson or portfolio holder for equalities within the authority and there is no elected member involved in the force’s Equality and Diversity Steering Group, which coordinates the force’s activities in this area. The authority’s own review found that it did not receive comprehensive updates from the force on its equalities activities and members have a limited awareness and opportunity to deliver their role in this area. The authority should consider how the police authority office can more effectively support it through providing good-quality data analysis and information on the impact of equalities initiatives as well as providing examples of good practice from other organisations.
94. The authority’s Personnel subcommittee is responsible for considering equalities issues, however, there have been no equalities reports submitted to the committee in the last two years. The force does report aspects of its performance on equalities to the full authority meeting; however, this is part of a wider performance report and limits the effective scrutiny of equality issues.
95. Given the demographic and cultural diversity within the Strathclyde area and the significant work undertaken by the force on diversity and equality, the authority needs to take a more proactive approach to enable it to demonstrate effective leadership in the area. 
Strathclyde Police Force

The force has a well-developed approach to equalities and diversity led by the deputy chief constable, which is promoted at all levels of the organisation. The Equality and Diversity Strategy 2009–2011 sets out clearly the commitment of the force to address these issues both as an employer and service provider. This acknowledges legislative demands while setting out the aims of the force in terms of their commitment to mainstreaming equality and diversity into everyday business.  
96. The equality and diversity strategy was produced following consultation with stakeholders both internally and externally. It also facilitates the development of locally produced action plans specific to each division and department tailored to meet local needs. While managed locally, central monitoring ensures actions are achieved. 
97. Strathclyde Police has launched a public consultation programme to inform and develop its equality and diversity strategy for 2011–2014. They have already written to and met with a wide range of community organisations seeking their views on what Strathclyde Police’s equality and diversity priorities should be over the next three years. 
98. The force publishes its diversity action plan on its website and is using this to reflect its current work, while asking participants in the consultation programme to consider if the content is still relevant.
99. Examination of divisional action plans confirmed they are active, specific to divisional issues and provide an audit of activity. As an example, the North Lanarkshire Division Equality and Diversity Strategy Action Log provides a detailed account of actions with date-specific evidence logs. It describes linked activity with partners and provides lists of organisations and contacts for each diversity strand. Its appendices outline internal and external communication strategies and a public reassurance strategy.  
100. The force has a Diversity Unit and its role is to advise the force on diversity issues, work together with groups to help tackle all hate incidents and crimes and promote the force as an organisation that can be trusted. The work of the Diversity Unit includes preparing information and briefings for the force and ACPOS, attending meetings with representative groups and the agencies who work with them, advising force policy and attending the many cultural and community events that take place throughout the Strathclyde Police Force area.
101. Through the work of the force’s Equality and Diversity Steering Group led by the depute chief constable, all diversity and equalities activity is monitored and directed. The absence of direct involvement by Strathclyde Police Authority limits their opportunity to contribute to the development of strategies and policies. The force should consider how it can improve on the information it provides to the authority to expand on the quantitative elements of the performance data it supplies and reflect the more qualitative aspects of the work it does. This would give more scope for the authority to challenge and scrutinise the variety of activities undertaken by the force when discharging its duties in relation to equalities.
102. The composition of the workforce is gradually changing. During 2008/09 to 2009/10, the force recorded rises in the number of female officers from 25.8 per cent to 27.3 per cent, police officers with declared ethnicity as black and ethnic minority 1.3 per cent to 1.4 per cent and those with a declared disability 1.4 per cent to 1.8 per cent. All these increases are above the Scottish national average.
103. The force works in partnership with the Independent Advisory Group (IAG) which acts as a steering group for the Force Community Advisors and can also be utilised to provide advice in the event of a major incident occurring within a local community. The IAG has individual members who represent race, faith, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT); and disability, but can expand this further when required from the cadre of community advisers. The force and the IAG also recognise the need to continue to develop the levels of representation from all its diverse communities.
Sustainability
Strathclyde Police Authority

The authority does not have systematic approach to considering sustainability issues. 
104. The authority receives limited reporting on the force’s approach to sustainability. Reports do not clearly outline the sustainability implications of proposals. Reports tend to focus on environmental sustainability, for example the force’s carbon management plan. The Budget Working Group considers issues relating to financial sustainability and members show a good awareness of the current financial context. There is no clear evidence of social sustainability issues being reported on or monitored. 
105. The authority has acknowledged through its recent review that members are not as aware and active in relation to sustainability as they should be. The recommendations of the review include establishing a members’ special interest scheme, which includes ‘policing sustainability’ as one theme. Due to the early stage of developing this scheme, it is too early to have assurance that this initiative will effectively address the identified weakness.  
Strathclyde Police Force

Sustainability is important to Strathclyde Police due to a combination of legislative requirements and the operational characteristics of the force. Their approach is developing; however, further work is required to reflect this is a composite action plan.
106. The guiding principle of the force’s sustainability policy, and supporting guidance, is to pre-empt environmental liability and the overall reduction of the risk posed by environmental, social and economic accountability.
107. The force has signposted on its website the areas where it focuses activity around sustainability including carbon management, buildings, procurement, transport and waste management. This provides information about the progress they are making in addressing such matters. 
108. The force was the first police force in Scotland to sign up to the Carbon Trust’s Management Programme in 2009. This was a voluntary undertaking, one in which all local authorities and NHS Trusts participate. The aim of the programme is to provide a formal structure for organisations to identify their carbon footprint and reduce their CO2 emissions. This will assess buildings’ energy consumption, transport, waste and procurement and investigate ways of reducing the footprint over a five-year period. This will in turn provide financial savings primarily through the implementation of property and services infrastructure upgrades with a greater emphasis being placed on projects with a ‘carbon bias’. The force conforms to the legislation by displaying energy performance certificates on their website for their buildings.
4	Regulation A19 (Police Pension Regulation – Release of Police Officers under regulation A19, which allows the authority to compulsorily retire officers with over 30 years’ service).
Part 3. Strathclyde Police performance assessment
Performance outcomes
The force has a clear understanding of the key policing issues, which affect its communities, with a significant underlying factor being alcohol abuse. The focus of the majority of its activity is in addressing violence, domestic abuse and knife crime, and performance in relation to these themes is encouraging. It is demonstrating improved outcomes for its citizens. Overall crime trends show a positive direction of travel. Between 2006 and 2010, crime numbers have fallen and detection rates have increased. This improvement includes positive progress on reducing antisocial behaviour, violent crime, acquisitive crimes and vandalism.
Recorded and detected crime
109. The force’s priorities for 2009/10 were violence, disorder and antisocial behaviour, serious and organised crime, drugs, terrorism and child protection. Overall, the force is performing well against these priorities and delivering reduced levels of recorded crime and improved detection rates.
110. In 2009/10, Strathclyde Police delivered a decrease in overall crime recorded in groups 1-5 (violence, indecency, dishonesty, vandalism and malicious misconduct and drugs) of 10.3 per cent (or 18,419 crimes) from 2008/09. This reflects a downward trend in recorded crime which has decreased steadily over the last four years from 193,669 in 2006/07 to 160,835 in 2009/10. This is consistent with the fall in recorded crime throughout Scotland over the same period.
111. In 2009/10, the force has improved detection rates for crimes of violence, indecency, dishonesty, fire raising, vandalism and reckless conduct since 2006/07, reflecting an overall rise year on year against a backdrop of decreasing levels of crime and disorder. In 2009/10, the force detection rates increased in line with the Scottish average in groups 1, 3 and 4, with a corresponding slight decrease in group 2.
112. Crimes of violence (group 1) reduced in 2009/10 (6,813) by 670 from 2008/09 (7,483) while detection rates increased from 54.4 per cent to 60.6 per cent for the same period. This includes an
11.6 per cent decrease in serious assaults, 14.3 per cent reduction in robberies, 15.9 per cent reduction in offences related to knife carrying and 26.7 per cent fewer murders when compared with 2008/09. Strathclyde accounted for 60.8 per cent of all violent crimes in Scotland, and Strathclyde Police’s detection rate is slightly lower than the national figure of 66.9 per cent.  
113. In crimes of indecency (group 2), the force performance is less clear with a relatively stable level of offending, but a reducing detection rate. The overall trend is one of marginal decreases in the number of crimes in this category, mainly by reductions in prostitution, but an increase of 17 per cent (52 rapes) and 6.5 per cent (45) indecent assaults for 2009/10. Of the 6,458 crimes of indecency recorded in Scotland
in 2009/10, Strathclyde recorded 2,502 (38.7 per cent).
114. Since 2006/07, crimes of dishonesty (group 3) have fallen from 79,185 to 67,417 while the detection rate for the period has increased from 30.7 to 34.2 per cent. This is against a backdrop of falls in this crime category recorded by all forces in Scotland in 2009/10. The largest reductions in Strathclyde have been seen in attempted theft of a motor vehicle (down 31.2 per cent), theft by opening (or attempting to open) a locked motor vehicle (down 27 per cent) and thefts by opening (or attempting to open) other lock-fast places (down 25 per cent).
115. Vandalism and malicious conduct (group 4) crimes have steadily fallen since the introduction of the national crime recording standard in 2004/05 as detection rates have steadily increased. The force has prioritised the reduction of vandalism and has supported this in a number of ways, including a specific vandalism review team. This has been successful and the number of recorded vandalism crimes reduced by 7,221 (15.1 per cent) during 2009/10 to 40,644. Over the same period, detection rates rose slightly from 16.3 per cent to 16.9 per cent; however, this is an issue the force needs to continue to address with its partners in order to sustain positive outcomes.  
116. Tackling drugs (group 5) forms part of the force’s serious and organised crime strategy. Seizures of drugs in Scotland fluctuate from year to year and between forces; it is arguably a poor indicator of performance. Strathclyde was one of only two forces in Scotland to increase drug seizures in 2009/10: 79,451 grams of class A drugs were seized, a 24.5 per cent increase on 2008/09 and by far the largest haul in Scotland. The total weight of drugs seized in Scotland in 2009/10 fell by 14.3 per cent. The number of drug offences recorded fell in every force in Scotland by an aggregate of 10.3 per cent, and in Strathclyde by 8.6 per cent.
117. The 10.5 per cent increase in miscellaneous offences (group 6) recorded can be attributed to the detection of consumption of alcohol in public and urinating in public. Both offences were targeted as part of the force’s control strategy for 2009/10. Again, this is a good indication of Strathclyde’s intelligence-led approach, targeting signal crimes and achieving good performance returns. Strathclyde was the only force to show an increase in reporting in this area which contributed significantly to a 1.4 per cent increase in the figure for Scotland.
118. The increase in miscellaneous offences – road traffic offences (group 7) – recorded can be attributed to detections for seatbelt/mobile phone offences.
Violence   
119. The force has performed well in its efforts to reduce violent crime. Offences are at their lowest recorded level and detection rates are at their highest for seven years. The number of recorded crimes of violence fell by 19.6 per cent between 2006/07 and 2009/10. In 2009/10, there was 30.8 violent crimes per 10,000 head of population in Strathclyde, this is significantly higher than the Scottish average of 22. Sixty per cent of all violent crime in Scotland is committed in the Strathclyde area. Of the
11,201 violent crimes recorded in Scotland, 6,813 occurred in Strathclyde. Strathclyde Police detected 60.6 per cent of these crimes (group 1 offences) against a whole of Scotland figure of 66.9 per cent. 
120. The force’s commitment to tackling domestic abuse is at the forefront of its drive to reduce violence (Exhibit 10). In 2009/10, the force had 113 domestic abuse incidents per 10,000 of population, (compared to the Scottish average of 101) which was a decrease on 2008/09, but higher than 2007/08. Strathclyde continues to have the largest proportion of this type of crime in Scotland and the force has made it an integral part of its strategy to tackle and reduce violent behaviour.
Exhibit 10
Domestic Abuse Task Force

In 2008, the force committed to the creation of a Domestic Abuse Task Force, the first of its kind in the UK, designed to increase the visibility and accountability of perpetrators. Its declared objective: ‘to reduce the overall harm of domestic abuse, particularly in respect of victims who are of high risk of serious violence and by these means ultimately reduce incidents of domestic abuse homicide in the Strathclyde Police Force area’.

In 2009, the area Procurator Fiscal for Glasgow established the first Domestic Abuse Unit in Scotland to work in conjunction with the force unit. This approach was in conjunction with the Violence Reduction Strategy and the force commitment to tackle domestic abuse and rape and serious sexual offences. The force established a Multi-Agency Tasking and Coordinating process, which enables the group to effectively prioritise and tackle the most problematic perpetrators of domestic abuse. 

In its first year of operation, officers from the Domestic Abuse Task Force have arrested 105 dangerous offenders for a total of 370 crimes including attempted murder, rape, serious assault, breach of the peace and stalking cases. The task force works proactively to tackle offenders. Of those 370 crimes, 320 had previously never been made known to the police. This approach is innovative and engages at divisional level focusing on victims and force-wide targeting of high-risk offenders. 

This is an area of best practice, which continues to evolve and develop the skills of practitioners in a high-risk area, which impacts on some of the most vulnerable members of society.

Source: Strathclyde Police/HMICS

121. Together with good arrangements for victim and offender management, the force has taken positive steps in impacting on a significant culture of violence in the home. In support of front-line officers the force has developed a number of ‘toolkits’ identifying performance standards and best practice. The Domestic Violence toolkit sets very high standards for officers attending domestic violence incidents, setting out extensive enquiries to be made when responding, including door-to-door enquiries and listening to recordings of 999 calls while at the scene.  
Antisocial behaviour
122. A priority area for the force is antisocial behaviour. The force recorded 131,278 antisocial behaviour community crimes in 2009/10, which represents 54.5 per cent of all crimes of this type in Scotland, but was a decrease in the force area of 13,498 from the previous year. The detection rate of 72.7 per cent, for 2009/10 was 5.6 per cent higher than the Scottish average. This reflects a considerable effort by the force to address the impact on quality-of-life issues in the community.
123. The force has also been very proactive in utilising social networking sites as sources of intelligence to disrupt and deter antisocial behaviour and violent conduct. Enforcement activity such as Operation Rose targeted individuals carrying knives or other weapons in public, while employing some innovative technology, mobile metal detecting poles in a variety of locations throughout the force. This operation received positive feedback from the media, elected members and the public.
Stop and search 
124. The force considers that stop and search is an essential police tactic to be deployed when circumstances merit its use and it is applied intelligently, targeting searches in the right areas, at the right time which will lead to less violence and less knives being carried. This activity is directly aligned to the priorities of violence, disorder and antisocial behaviour. 
125. Compared to 2008/09, there has been an increase of 35 per cent (83,357) in the number of stop and search procedures conducted by Strathclyde officers in 2009/10 (from 237,945 to 321,302). Searches for drugs (37.8 per cent) and offensive weapons (33.2 per cent) continue to constitute the primary reasons for stopping and searching people.
126. With regards to proportionality, there was a total of 7,707 searches conducted with people who declared themselves as being from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups. This accounts for 2.4 per cent of all searches conducted last year, and is approximately the same as the BME population of Strathclyde (2.4 per cent, at the 2001 population census).  
127. The force highlights that it targets males aged 15–26 as a result of intelligence-led policing, particularly in relation to knives, drugs and alcohol. There is evidence of community support and understanding of the need to target areas where antisocial behaviour or knife carrying are prevalent. However, there is always a danger that such high levels of stop and search can have a negative impact on particular sections of the community and alienate individuals. The force should continue to monitor the use of stop and search to avoid adverse impact on sections of the community, while at the same time recognising the enormous gains made by intelligent use of the tactic in making Strathclyde communities safer.  
Serious and organised crime 
128. In 2009, the force restructured its crime division to alter its approach to major crime enquiries and while providing capacity to focus on serious and organised crime groups (OCGs). The force’s Tasking and Interventions Unit was formed to target resources and disrupt the activities of these groups and bring individuals to justice. The interventions toolkit is designed to provide officers with access to best practice and a range of measures available to them to engage locally with OCGs and to disrupt criminal activities. In its first year of being formally measured, the Tasking and Interventions Unit has been responsible for diverting some £26 million worth of business away from criminal groups and back into the legitimate economy.
129. This approach is in line with Scottish Government strategy to target the OCGs who pose the greatest threat with the intention of disrupting and dismantling each group, reducing the economic impact of this type of crime and increasing public reassurance.
Terrorism
130. The force continues to work with partners to review and develop its contingency plans and approach to national security strategies. This response is based on the principles of the national CONTEST strategy and work has been carried out in each of the four strands, ‘Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare’.  
131. The recent HMICS Thematic Inspection of CONTEST Strategy ‘Prepare’, considers the force’s Contest Board to be an example of good practice offering considerable potential for coordinating key responders’ preparations to deal with a terrorist incident. The model is underpinned by a clear governance structure and recently introduced a range of key performance indicators.  
Force reputation, standards and community focus
132. All forces carry out surveys to establish public satisfaction with policing services. However, due to the differences in survey methodologies comparisons of user satisfaction between forces should be treated with caution. That said, direction of travel or changing trends within a force can be compared year to year (where data is available). 
133. Exhibit 12 demonstrates how well Strathclyde Police has performed in terms of user satisfaction between 2007 and 2010. Satisfaction rates have improved in all areas except for one, where satisfaction rates have dropped in relation to the treatment by officers who attend incidents.
134. Significant improvement in the initial contact between public and police is recorded as are satisfaction rates with the overall way police dealt with the incident. The reduction in how satisfied users were with the treatment by attending police officers from 68 per cent to 60 per cent is concerning. However, the introduction of individual officer public satisfaction surveys will address this directly and provide the force with specific data on officer performance.
Complaints about the police
135. In 2009/10, there were 12.2 complaints per 10,000 incidents, this was significantly lower than the Scottish average of 17.5. However, the force is aware of, and is currently addressing, an issue of under recording of complaints. In particular some of those made electronically, which have not been identified, recorded and assessed centrally.  
136. This has affected the quality and accuracy of the data provided to the Police Authority Complaints subcommittee, who are also not provided with a breakdown of complaint type. This prevents them from effectively challenging and holding the force to account. The force has identified the reasons for this shortfall and aims to develop more robust processes capable of accurately capturing all relevant information reflecting public dissatisfaction with the police and improving the quality of the information it provides to the police authority. An initial submission outlining the position has been sent to the authority to propose changes to existing practices to address the deficiencies in recording processes. 
Part 4. Improvement recommendations
The improvement programme
137. Continuous improvement in public services and local governance are central to the Best Value and Community Planning policy framework. In striving to achieve the highest possible standards of service, members of the joint board must focus on key policy objectives and the needs of service users and communities. This requires a culture where areas in need of improvement are identified and openly discussed and in which service performance is constructively challenged.
138. Strathclyde Police and the authority are aware of the key areas where improvements are needed and are addressing them. 
139. Strathclyde Police Authority and Strathclyde Police must work together and take shared responsibility in order to deliver best value to its local communities. The table below sets out the key areas where the force and the authority need to improve. 
Improvement agenda
Joint improvements

1.	The authority and the force should establish more effective joint working arrangements to allow them to better discharge their shared duty of Best Value. This should include clarifying the role of the police authority office.
2.	They should work jointly to develop a shared vision for policing across the Strathclyde area.
Strathclyde Police Authority

1.	The authority should adopt a more proactive approach to gathering performance and improvement information from the force to enable it to more effectively exercise its oversight and scrutiny role. Key areas for development include:
•	force partnership working
•	community engagement
•	force improvement activity
•	the monitoring of savings and efficiencies. 
2.	The authority should identify opportunities for increased involvement in equality and diversity activity.
3.	The authority should strengthen member training and development, with a focus on improving member understanding of their roles and responsibilities. 
4.	The authority should adopt a more robust approach to the monitoring of the authority’s improvement agenda arising from the chief executive’s review of authority governance. 
5.	The authority should establish arrangements for monitoring the cost and effectiveness of its support function to ensure that it is sufficiently adding value.
Strathclyde Police Force

1.	The force should further develop its strategic approach to change, ensuring that robust options appraisal, risk identification/mitigation and post-implementation evaluation measures are fully integrated into the change process and that an effective communications strategy underpins this. 
2.	Acknowledging the scale and complexity of the change over recent years, the force should undertake a staff survey as a matter of priority to provide their workforce with an opportunity to engage and shape the future of policing in Strathclyde. 
3.	The force should continue to develop its methodology to understand the cost of policing activity and its link to resource deployment. 
4.	The force should review the process of recording complaints to ensure all relevant information is accurately recorded and effectively scrutinised by the force and authority to improve service delivery.
Appendix 1. Expectations of police authorities
The Scottish government has issued two main sources of guidance on the role of elected members and police authorities:
•	Circular 11/2003, Implementing Best Value in the Scottish Police Service, issued in December 2003.
•	Guidance to Members, issued in June 2007.
Taken together, these two documents set out six main areas of activity for police authorities and their members:
•	Police authorities need to pursue best value in tandem with chief constables who are responsible for police operations in their force. Members of the police authorities should take joint responsibility for the overarching plan to achieve best value and other duties in the force, and work with the chief constable to ensure that it is carried out effectively.
•	Best value requires elected members and senior managers to develop a vision of how best value will contribute to the corporate goals of the authorities, inform the direction of services and be communicated to staff.
•	Police authorities are expected to demonstrate responsiveness to the needs of the public and other stakeholders. Plans, priorities and actions should be informed by an understanding of those needs. Police authorities may make clear publicly how they engage and work with chief constables, delivering and reporting on, best value. They have a particular role to play in ensuring effective public consultation on aspects of policing.  
•	It is a matter for each authority to determine how it fulfils these roles. However, one option might be for the police authorities to contribute to and endorse the chief constable’s annual plan.  
•	Members of the police authorities should be able to demonstrate that they are making the best use of public resources and demonstrate an approach to review that is rigorous, robust and covers all aspects of their work.  
•	Police authorities need to make sure that the force collects and reports good quality performance data to them. Police authorities should analyse the data and any accompanying commentary. They may then want to investigate further by asking questions of the chief constable as part of a continuous discussion and review of force performance.