Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk (copy attached).

The Committee received a report of the Town Clerk outlining the key findings of a study by the National Audit Office (NAO) on how police procurement is currently undertaken nationally and whether the Home Office was effective in discharging its responsibility to support forces in this area. The study concludes that there were tensions between the Home Office’s strategies to increase collaboration and centralised procurement, and the Government’s aim to increase local autonomy and accountability for police forces.

The study echoed some of the concerns held by a number of local policing bodies, including the City of London Corporation, about the way ‘aggregated procurement’ was being developed in the police service. The report advised how officers had been working to ensure that national procurement policies gave sufficient flexibility to forces to achieve the best value for money.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its contents noted.