6th Special Report - Police and Crime Commissioners: here to stay: Government response to the Committee's Seventh Report of Session 2015–16

This is the government's response, published 21 November 2016.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government welcomes the Committee's finding that Police and Crime Commissioners are here to stay, agrees with several recommendations, and on others says it will consider, or leaves action to other bodies.

• On police funding, the government says reforming the formula "remains our ambition", with detailed engagement under way, "to be followed, in due course, by a further public consultation". It will "provide updates" as the process continues.
• It welcomes the Committee's support for requiring PCCs to respond to HMIC reports, and says the new legislation will require a response to every recommendation "within 56 days".
• On first-past-the-post, it says the Committee is "right to point out the flaws" of the supplementary vote system and that it "will consider" the recommendation to align PCC elections with those for MPs and councillors. No timetable is stated.
• On publishing applicant numbers and higher chief constable pay, it supports "open and transparent recruitment" but sees the Committee's suggested practices as "a matter for individual PCCs, supported by the College of Policing".

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