Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner of Police.  This report will be presented by Baker Tilly.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Commissioner of Police which outlined the key findings of the Value for Money Analysis carried out on behalf of the Force by external consultants, Baker Tilly.

The Chairman invited representatives from Baker Tilly who undertook the analysis of the HMIC VfM profiles for the Force to present on their findings as they had identified a number of suitable forces to find more appropriate comparisons to address the Committee.

The cost performance analysis provided some evidence that indicated that the Force had an overall cost performance issue when compared with all Forces and also the notional peer group. In particular, the areas that the analysis had highlighted as consistently being of concern with regard to cost effectiveness were –

·         Police Officer Costs (across all Functions)

·         Premises Costs (across all Functions)

·         Investigation Costs 

·         Support Costs (both in functional terms and as a “Back Office” split)

Members noted that in relation to the non-financial measures of effectiveness i.e. the composite indicators identified, had shown mixed results in how cost effective the Force was in delivering its outcomes.

In relation to the population variance, the analysis has shown that an increase of 63k has a significantly favourable result for the Force and highlights the sensitivity of the analysis to this figure.  Furthermore, it was noted that all forces, including the City of London Police were measured using Office of National Statistics.

This work has produced a diagnostic model that the Force could use to analyse future HMIC VfM profiles in a more meaningful way and identify more useful areas for further scrutiny.

The Assistant Commissioner agreed to submit a report to the next meeting regarding next steps and how the Force intended to use the methodology going forward and also update on any discussion/negotiations with HMIC regarding population and other matters.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.