Recommendations & Conclusions
33 items
2
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The Programme has demonstrated the value of standardising recruitment practices across police forces. Our work has repeatedly highlighted the importance of collaboration between police forces and consistency in their approaches in improving value for money. The creation of the Programme has helped converge standards and approaches relating to recruitment and …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and will undertake a review led by Sir Stephen House to improve the department’s understanding of effectiveness and productivity in policing.
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We are not yet convinced that the new training routes introduced by the College of Policing best meet the needs of police forces. The College of Policing introduced the Police Education and Qualifications Framework (PEQF) in 2016 and initially planned for the new approach to be fully in place by …
Government response. The College of Policing is reviewing the impact of the Police Education and Qualifications Framework, with a final report expected by Spring 2024 and a follow-up report planned for publication in early 2023; the department will also work with partners …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We are concerned that the distribution of new officers may not give police forces what they need to respond to the demands they face. The Department has set recruitment targets for each police force based on the Police Allocation Formula (the Formula). But it was already significantly out of date …
Government response. The government has committed to reviewing the Police Funding Formula before the next General Election, with the technical phase underway including engagement with policing representatives and experts, and assurances of well-planned transition arrangements and a full public consultation.
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted in Part
Despite their successes so far, the Department and its partners face a challenging final year to deliver the remainder of the Programme. We are encouraged that the Programme met and exceeded its second-year target of recruiting 12,000 additional officers. To achieve the 20,000 extra officers promised, it still needs to …
Government response. The government agrees to respond to the Macpherson report and the need for police forces to be representative of the communities they serve; it has published a response and made improvements to workforce data, but does not agree with setting …
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted in Part
Government has not yet set out what impact the Programme will have on forces’ ability to tackle crime, the public’s trust in policing or the wider Criminal Justice System. The success of the Programme to date is in part due to its tight focus on recruiting 20,000 additional officers. But …
Government response. The government agrees to implement a framework to evaluate the medium to long-term impact of the Programme by Autumn 2022, alongside a performance framework to reduce crime and improve public confidence. They will continue to share relevant analysis from the …
HM Treasury
1
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office (the Department) about the Police Uplift Programme (the Programme).1
Government response. The government will produce a lessons learned report and a best practice document for the Home Office, other parts of government and policing, to be shared in August 2023.
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
As of March 2022, the Programme was on track to deliver the planned number of additional officers. By the end of its first year (2020–21) the Programme had helped police forces to recruit 8,762 police officers, against a target of 6,000. The Programme benefited from commencing recruitment six months prior …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Not Addressed
Diversity in policing is slowly improving, but it has continued along the same trend for the past ten years. Prior to the launch of the Programme in September 2019, almost 32% of police officers were female, and by December 2021 this had increased to 34%.10 The Department told us that …
Government response. The government's response discusses police diversity data and initiatives, and does not address the point made in the conclusion.
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Not Addressed
Policing in England and Wales has struggled with increasing ethnic diversity within its ranks. Based on the 2011 census some 14% of the population of England and Wales are from ethnic minority groups, but in 2019 only 6.9% of serving police officers were from these backgrounds.12 The Department told us …
Government response. The government's response discusses police diversity data and initiatives, and does not address the point made in the conclusion.
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The National Audit Office reported that the vetting process used during recruitment had a disproportionate effect on ethnic minority applicants. Applicants of Asian and Black heritage had lower pass rates than those of White heritage and were more likely to succeed in an appeal.14 The Department told us there were …
Government response. The government agreed to include a table setting out the diversity of individual police forces compared to their 2021 local populations within each Uplift statistical release, after the ONS releases the 2021 census data.
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
In July 2021, the Home Affairs Select Committee reported that it was extremely disappointing that 22 years after the publication of the Macpherson report the police service is still a very long way from being representative of the diverse communities it serves. It said that despite commitments made over many …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it has implemented it by publishing its response to ‘The Macpherson Report: twenty-two years on’.
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Not Addressed
The recent Strategic Review of Policing also concluded that the Programme was ‘having a negligible impact on workforce diversity’.18 We asked the Department if it was disappointed that the comment had been made. The Department told us that it did not believe this was still the case, and that while …
Government response. The government's response discusses police diversity data and initiatives, and does not address the point made in the conclusion.
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Acknowledged
The government’s decision to recruit an unprecedented number of new police officers over a relatively short period of time impacted on the implementation of a fundamental reform of how police officers are trained and developed. From 2016 onwards, police forces began to adopt the new Police Education and Qualifications Framework …
Government response. The government agreed to the recommendation that the College of Policing should review the impact of the Police Education and Qualifications Framework and publish the results by Spring 2024.
HM Treasury
14
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The PEQF was originally supposed to fully replace the existing training route (the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme – IPLDP) by December 2019. In 14 C&AG’s report, Figure 10 15 Q 47 16 Home Affairs Select Committee, The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on, HC 139, 30 July 2021, paras …
Government response. The government agreed to the recommendation that the College of Policing should review the impact of the Police Education and Qualifications Framework and publish the results by Spring 2024.
HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We asked the Department if it still believed that a ‘degree only’ route was the right approach to police recruitment, given the operational impact of taking officers away for college learning. We noted that stakeholders had suggested that such a one size fits all approach might discourage some candidates, such …
Government response. The College of Policing will review the impact of the Police Education and Qualifications Framework (PEQF) to ensure it meets the needs of both new police officers and their forces, with a final report expected by Spring 2024.
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Acknowledged
The NAO reported that experienced police tutor constables (who supervise new officers for periods of their training) had shared concerns about the extra effort this role required in addition to their normal duties, and this was echoed by staff from police training teams. The National Audit Office’s survey of chief …
Government response. The government acknowledges concerns about supporting experienced police tutor constables and is working with the NPCC and College of Policing to improve support, including developing materials and guidance, ensuring recognition and reward, reviewing training, and monitoring wellbeing.
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We previously found that poor cooperation between the Department and police forces has contributed to a failure to achieve value-for-money for taxpayers. In our December 2021 report into the National Law Enforcement Data Service, we concluded that working effectively with the police was critical to the delivery of NLEDS and …
Government response. The Department and the NPCC will identify and pursue other opportunities for standardisation across policing (for example procurement and IT), led by a review of operational productivity, with findings expected in Spring 2023 and a final report within 12 months; …
HM Treasury
18
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
In contrast, in March 2022 the National Audit Office concluded that the Police Uplift Programme was on track to deliver value for money within its narrowly defined objective of recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers over three years. It reported that the tightly scoped objectives had helped to maintain a …
Government response. The Department will systematically capture and disseminate lessons from the Police Uplift Programme, producing a lessons learned report and a best practice document by August 2023.
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The Department told us that the second lesson was that the Programme had benefited from a high degree of stability within its programme team, with very little staff turnover since the Programme began. Finally, the Department told us that the success to date of the Programme was also due to …
Government response. The government agreed to capture and disseminate lessons from the Police Uplift Programme and will produce a lessons learned report and a best practice document by August 2023.
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Deferred
The NAO report highlighted a number of changes to police recruitment that the Programme has facilitated. These include a more standardised approach to recruitment 25 Committee of Public Accounts, The National Law Enforcement Data Programme, Twenty-Ninth Report of Session 2021–22, 8 December 2021 26 C&AG’s report, paras 7, 15 27 …
Government response. The Home Secretary has asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council to lead a review of operational productivity in policing, reporting within 12 months with interim findings in spring 2023.
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Acknowledged
We asked the Department how it was confident that these changes in approach, particularly the online assessment process, were ensuring police forces were recruiting the right people and avoiding the recurrence of historic issues. The Department told us that the majority of forces hold virtual interviews as part of the …
Government response. The government states forces are responsible for ensuring new recruits meet required standards, and the College of Policing continually monitors and evaluates the online assessment process. They continue to work with forces to improve the process and have commissioned research …
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
Our predecessor Committee highlighted the issues arising from a lack of standardisation and cooperation between the 43 police forces in England and Wales. In the 2013 report on Police Procurement, it noted that despite some efforts by police forces to collaborate with each other, there remained an unacceptable variation in …
Government response. The Department and the NPCC will identify and pursue other opportunities for standardisation across policing (for example procurement and IT), led by a review of operational productivity, with findings expected in Spring 2023 and a final report within 12 months; …
HM Treasury
23
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We also heard evidence on the potential wider lessons which could be derived from this programme, including learning that could inform how police forces recruit, train and deploy other personnel. The National Police Chiefs Council told us that lessons from the Programme had been used to review the recruitment processes …
Government response. The Department will systematically capture and disseminate lessons from the Police Uplift Programme, producing a lessons learned report and a best practice document by August 2023.
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
At the end of March 2022, the Department was ahead of its second-year target of 12,000 additional officers, having recruited some 13,500. This means that in the Programme’s final year police forces will have to recruit a further 6,500 additional officers to meet the 20,000 target.36
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Not Addressed
The Department told us that it expected the recruitment of the remaining officers to be more challenging than the proceeding two years. Firstly, it explained that the final year of the Programme required a greater number of officers to be recruited than in the preceding two. The Department set the …
Government response. The government's response discusses police diversity data and initiatives, and does not address the challenges of meeting recruitment targets.
HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Not Addressed
These challenges were particularly evident in relation to the Metropolitan Police Service, which has faced a number of recent high-profile incidents involving serving police officers. In his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in April 2022, the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service stated that he was less …
Government response. The government's response discusses police diversity data and initiatives, and does not address the point made in the conclusion.
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Acknowledged
We asked the Department whether it was concerned about retaining new officers. The Department acknowledged that if increasing numbers of officers left the service, this would in turn increase the number of new officers the Programme would need to recruit. The Department told us that it was losing around 9% …
Government response. The government recognizes retaining new officers is essential and is working with forces to understand reasons for leaving and develop strategies to improve retention rates, including improving support, reviewing training, and ensuring challenging and rewarding roles.
HM Treasury
28
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The Department based the allocation of the 20,000 additional officers between police forces on the long-outdated Police Allocation Formula.41 Our predecessor Committee noted that this formula was obsolete and in 2018 recommended that “The Department must urgently commit to reviewing the funding formula, and after consultation, deploy a new funding …
Government response. The government agreed to revise the police funding formula, aiming for completion before the next General Election, and assured well-planned transition arrangements and a full public consultation.
HM Treasury
29
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The Department recognised that the Formula was out of date but told us that, as there was no credible alternative available, it was confident that it was appropriate to use the existing formula to allocate the 20,000 officers.44 The National Audit Office, however, reported that because the Department has used …
Government response. The government agreed to revise the police funding formula, aiming for completion before the next General Election, and assured well-planned transition arrangements and a full public consultation.
HM Treasury
30
Conclusion
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We asked whether the Programme was about more ‘bobbies on the beat’ rather than tackling the more complex areas of crime that are growing, such as serious sexual offences and fraud. The Department told us that the Programme would not have a direct and immediate impact on such issues, as …
Government response. The government states it is committed to tackling all types of crime, including serious sexual offences and fraud, and is working with forces to ensure they have the right skills and resources. They also mention the NPCC-led review of operational …
HM Treasury
31
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
The National Audit Office reported that to demonstrate value for money in the longer term, the Department must show that the investment in additional officers has better enabled police forces to reduce crime and increase public confidence in policing. To date, the Department’s management of the Programme has largely focused …
Government response. The Home Office is developing a medium to long-term evaluation framework, expected to be in place in Autumn 2022, to assess the impact of the Police Uplift Programme on crime outcomes and public confidence.
HM Treasury
32
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
We challenged the Department on this issue, noting that it had calculated that as a result of the Programme some additional 500,000 crimes prevented annually from 2024–
Government response. The government agreed to develop a framework to evaluate the medium to long-term impact of the Programme. The framework was expected to be in place in Autumn 2022, but the evaluation will continue for several years.
HM Treasury
33
Recommendation
Fifteenth Report - The Police Uplift Pr…
Accepted
In our March 2022 report on reducing the backlog in criminal courts, we reported there were 59,928 Crown Court cases awaiting trial in September 2021, increasing from 33,290 cases since March 2019 (an increase of 80%). We concluded that the government was unlikely to succeed in addressing the unacceptable delays …
Government response. The government agreed to develop a framework to evaluate the medium to long-term impact of the Programme. The framework was expected to be in place in Autumn 2022, but the evaluation will continue for several years.
HM Treasury