Police and Crime Panels event

Local Government Association

14 March 2014

Effective scrutiny Tim Young Centre for Public Scrutiny Frontline Consulting

Associate Associate, Lead on

Policing and Crime

Police and Crime Panels and scrutiny

• Legitimacy of PCPs carrying out scrutiny

• Police & Social Responsibility Act 2011,

Chapter 4, ‘Accountability of elected

policing bodies’, sub-headed ‘Scrutiny of

police and crime commissioners’

• Policing Protocol: “The Panel does not

scrutinise the Chief Constable – it

scrutinises the PCC‘s exercise of their

statutory functions.”

• Support and challenge through PCP

scrutiny work

Defining our terms: what is “effective

scrutiny”?

Effective scrutiny:

• provides a 'critical friend' challenge to

executive policy-makers and decision-

makers

• enables the voice and concerns of the

public and its communities to be heard

• is carried out by 'independent minded

governors‘, leading and own the scrutiny

process

• helps drive improvement in public services

adding value and promoting transparency

What are the requirements for “effective

scrutiny”?

• Sufficiently resourced and informed to be

‘a critical friend’

• Clear about a Panel’s objectives and how

to go about achieving them

• Having a prioritised work programme

• Able to draw on co-operative relationships

for information etc

• Preparing thoroughly (scoping work,

developing Key Lines of Enquiry) and

engaging, listening and questioning

What can scrutiny by Panels provide?

• A forum for evidence gathering or

discussion about views not readily

accessed by other methods

• Stakeholder and public input, without

duplicating the PCC’s work

• Additional capacity to examine

performance by external agencies

• Helpful challenge to or support for a

decision-maker’s [PCC’s] stance on

an issue

• Help to unblock problems with other

agencies

Growth of PCPs’ proactive scrutiny work

• 2014 - “Just over half of Panels are

now actively planning to engage in

what some call ‘proactive’ scrutiny

work.... Of the remainder, only a

handful have been categoric in saying

that they do not plan to undertake

such work.” (Police and Crime Panels;

the first year, CfPS/LGA, p.17)

• 2016 - Frontline Consulting/Grant

Thornton survey (to which ⅔ of PCPs

responded): 90% of Panels answering

now carry out proactive scrutiny

Ways of carrying out proactive scrutiny: an

agenda item at a regular Panel meeting

• Cumbria PCP takes a ‘Police and

Crime Plan - Monitoring of Objectives’

report at each meeting

• Derbyshire PCP: programmes in an

in-depth look at individual strategic

objectives in the Police and Crime

Plan

• Gloucestershire PCP: examined the

delivery plans underpinning the PCC’s

plan priorities at separate meetings

• Suffolk PCP undertakes a ‘Status

Review’ of PCC Plan objectives four

times a year

Ways of carrying out proactive scrutiny: a

themed or dedicated Panel meeting

• Thames Valley PCP has held

themed meetings on topics such as

rural crime and Female Genital

Mutilation, with input from external

partners

• “The Panel held a themed meeting

on safeguarding. This meeting

involved input from the Chairs of the

local Adult and Children

Safeguarding Boards. Key lines of

enquiry were agreed prior to the

meeting.”

Ways of carrying out proactive scrutiny: a

Task and Finish Group (or similar)

• Bedfordshire PCP: T & F Gp on the

PCC’s Estates Strategy

• Warwickshire PCP: T & Gp on

Victims' Services

• Wiltshire PCP: Volunteers and Special

Constables Task Group

• Lincolnshire PCP Task Group on the

PCC’s decision to suspend the

temporary Chief Constable from duty

• Notts PCP T & F Gp on the issues of

public engagement with the Panel and

the Commissioner

Ways of carrying out proactive scrutiny: T. &

F. Group work on the budget and precept

• Budget Working Groups, to monitor the

budget and/or examine budget information

and forecasts, to inform scrutiny of the

precept (eg Warwickshire, West Mercia,

Cleveland, Sussex PCPs)

• NB also preparation for effective scrutiny: – Training sessions with OPCC and/or

host authority finance staff (eg

Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire,

Nottinghamshire PCPs) – Workshop preparation by Panels before

precept meetings, scoping Key Lines of

Enquiry (eg Suffolk, Essex PCPs)

Ways of carrying out proactive scrutiny: a

specially convened evidence-gathering event

• Cheshire PCP: two stakeholder

events, on Community Safety and

Domestic Abuse

• West Midlands PCP has conducted

‘mini-scrutiny’ inquiries, on the

regional Safer Travel Plan and the

PCC’s new procurement policy

• Hampshire PCP uses the afternoon

session of its all-day meetings to carry

out proactive scrutiny evidence

gathering sessions (on Child Sexual

Exploitation, ASB, Mental Wellbeing etc)

How successful do Panels think their

proactive scrutiny been?

• Panels’ view in Frontline

Consulting/ Grant Thornton 2016

survey: – Over 40% of the Panels rated

their proactive scrutiny work as

extremely or very successful at

adding value

– Slightly less than 40% thought they had

been moderately successful

– The remaining 20% assessed themselves

as being only slightly successful at adding

value through their proactive scrutiny work

What do PCCs think of Panels’ proactive

scrutiny?

• “These [Task and Finish Group] processes

helped ensure that I and the Panel had

shared confidence that the Plan had

correctly identified and was properly

addressing the ‘right’ priorities of the

communities and stakeholders across the

Thames Valley...” Antony Stansfeld, Thames Valley PCC

• “My panel has adopted a "select

committee" style at times with witnesses’

testimony. This has worked quite well but

needs further development.” Survey participant

• “The Panel needs to be reminded that its role is

scrutiny ─ not policy development...” Survey participant

Monitoring and communicating outcomes

• Best practice from local government overview

and scrutiny suggests:

– Checking what’s agreed re

recommendations

– Liaison to check progress in order to report

back to the Panel

– Reporting back at appropriate time interval

(often 6 months, but depends on the recs)

– Informing review participants about

outcome and what the Panel will be doing

– Publicising what the Panel has done, on its

website and using social media

Evaluating how well a Panel’s scrutiny work

has been carried out

• Discussing the scrutiny activity in

order to evaluate the work:

– what did we learn?

– how well did it go?

– what could have been done

better or differently?

– what lessons have been learned?

• Panels increasingly using learning

and development sessions to

evaluate their work and plan for the

future

Some practical tips

• Communicate clearly who you are and

what you are doing (and your limits, to

manage expectations)

• Involve stakeholders in your work

programming and share with the PCC

and others

• Be proactive in seeking out issues to

examine that will add most value

• Reach out widely to foster involvement

in scrutiny activity, and build

relationships

• Aim for ‘win-win’ outcomes

Contact details

Tim Young

web: www.frontlineconsulting.co.uk and

www.pcps-direct.net

email: timy@frontlineconsulting.co.uk

tel: 020 8904 2815 / 07985 072979 Twitter: @PCPsdirect

Centre For Public Scrutiny

web: www.cfps.org.uk

email:info@cfps.org.uk

tel: 020 7187 7362 Twitter: @cfpscrutiny