Recommendations & Conclusions
30 items
2
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
The Home Office does not understand how wider policy changes affect the demand on police resources. Police forces face growing demands as they take on additional responsibilities and tackle increasing volumes of more complex crimes, for example, the number of fraud crimes, sexual offences, and stalking and harassment offences, which …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, citing the Police Reform White Paper and existing Consolidated Budgeting Guidance for considering policy impacts on policing. It is currently working with policing stakeholders and relevant departments to assess existing processes and identify …
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
Police forces have limited flexibility to recruit people with the skills they need. Since the Police Uplift Programme was established in 2019, the government has ringfenced funding on the condition that forces maintain officer numbers, allocating £270 million to forces in 2025–26 via the officer maintenance grant. It has also …
Government response. The government states it has assessed the implications of maintaining police officer numbers, concluding that the officer maintenance grant was a barrier to visible policing. As a result, the grant and officer headcount targets will be abolished from April 2026 …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
The Home Office has not established how it will achieve the planned savings in its police efficiency and collaboration programme. The Home Office has identified £354 million of potential savings over the period to 2028–29 but recognises that achieving this is high risk. As at November 2025, the Home Office …
Government response. The government states the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) targets £354 million in cashable efficiencies by 2028-29, and thousands of officer hours saved. It details how savings will be achieved through commercial strategies, productivity improvements, data, and shared services, …
HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
It is taking too long to identify and scale-up innovative practices and roll-out new technologies to improve police productivity. There are many examples of police forces exploiting innovative technologies—including audio-visual multimedia redaction, live facial recognition and enhanced video response—but scaling these across all 43 police forces has been slow. The …
Government response. The government agrees and is accelerating the adoption of new technologies by supporting the College of Policing, prioritising key digital technologies like AI and data analytics, and scaling productivity-enabling systems nationally. It will consider further recommendations as part of implementing …
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
The outdated and piecemeal approach to funding police forces is frustrating efforts to secure long-term productivity improvements. In November 2025, the Home Office was still working to develop an affordable plan to increase the number of personnel in neighbourhood policing roles by 13,000 by 2029. The government provided £200 million …
Government response. The government accepted the recommendation, noting the publication of the Police Reform White Paper detailing new governance arrangements and a review of the police funding formula following an independent review of force structures. The Home Office also confirmed it wrote …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Not Addressed
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office and College of Policing on how they are supporting policing to improve efficiency and productivity, and help meet the government’s policing commitments.1
Government response. The government's response describes its Police Reform White Paper and a new performance framework aimed at improving police efficiency and productivity. It commits to writing to the Committee by July 2026 to detail key metrics and plans for public reporting …
HM Treasury
7
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
We asked the Home Office whether it has the data it needs to understand the financial risks facing police forces and the impact that this has on police productivity.9 The Home Office said there are multiple datasets scattered across bodies in the policing system, including police forces. It told us …
Government response. The Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and plans for public reporting of performance data.
HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
In 2015, our predecessor Committee concluded that the Home Office’s “hands off” approach to monitoring police forces had limited its ability to ensure value for money.13 The Home Office told us it is now adopting a stronger central role and has established a Police Standards and Performance Improvements Directorate. As …
Government response. The Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and plans for public reporting of performance data.
HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
Written evidence from Leapwise raised the importance of having a measure of police productivity to assess and reward police forces. It noted that the absence of such a measure has meant that the current decline in police productivity is hidden.18 The Home Office told us that it has not yet …
Government response. The Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and plans for public reporting of performance data.
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
We asked the Home Office about its plans for publishing data on the performance of police forces. Written evidence from The Productivity Institute highlighted that ‘public trust’ is an important productivity outcome.20 The College of Policing agreed that the antidote to public mistrust is transparency and openness.21 The Home Office …
Government response. The government has published the first iteration of the Police Performance Framework and will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations and plans for public reporting of performance data …
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
Police forces are facing growing demands. This includes an increase in the number of crimes which require more specialist resources to investigate; for example, fraud crimes, sexual offences, and stalking and harassment offences increased from 768,000 cases in 2014–15 (18% of police recorded crime) to 2.1 million cases in 2024–25 …
Government response. The government agrees and will work closely with policing to understand the impact of policy changes, consider impacts of policies on local authorities, and work with policing to identify if processes in place to manage burdens are sufficient.
HM Treasury
12
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
In his written submission, Sir Stephen House highlighted how policing productivity must be considered in the context of an effective end-to-end process.26 We asked the Home Office how it is working with other departments to understand how policy decisions might affect policing. The Home Office told us it works closely …
Government response. The Home Office will work closely with policing to fully understand the impact of any policy changes that affect policing, and is working with policing and relevant departments to understand what changes are required to help policing meet these costs.
HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
The Home Office acknowledged that further work is required with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions to understand the whole system join-up and ensure the impact of policy changes on policing is properly considered.29 It told us it …
Government response. The Home Office will work closely with policing to fully understand the impact of any policy changes that affect policing, and is working with policing and relevant departments to understand what changes are required to help policing meet these costs.
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
Since the Police Uplift Programme was established in 2019, the government has ringfenced funding to increase and maintain police officer numbers. In 2025–26, the government allocated £270 million to police forces through the officer maintenance grant, which forces are only eligible for if they meet their officer number targets.32 Most …
Government response. The government has abolished the Police Officer Maintenance Grant from 1 April 2026 and will focus on what officers are doing rather than officer numbers, allocating £363 million to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams towards 13,000 additional personnel …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
A number of stakeholders identified that the officer maintenance grant has led to police forces increasingly using officers in staff roles (that do not require a warranted police officer) – an expensive and inefficient practice.34 In written evidence, Leapwise estimated that this practice is costing policing at least £55 million …
Government response. The officer maintenance grant and the requirement to achieve officer headcount targets has been abolished from 1 April 2026, and has allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams towards the aim of 13,000 …
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
Police forces face difficulties recruiting and retaining staff with specialist skills, including IT staff, inhibiting their ability to deploy new technology. The Home Office told us that part of the challenge is that all 43 forces are seeking to recruit individuals with highly specialist skills, putting them in competition with …
Government response. The government agrees, has abolished the officer maintenance grant, provides funding to strengthen neighbourhood policing and modernise frontline capability, and outlines plans to improve leadership, professional development and create a new national workforce strategy.
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
Police forces must also invest in the skills of their workforce to be able to respond to the changing nature of crime. Evidence submitted by ADS Group Ltd stated that, according to a 2025 Police Foundation report, half of police officers surveyed didn’t believe they had adequate skills to investigate …
Government response. The government agrees, has abolished the officer maintenance grant, provides funding to strengthen neighbourhood policing and modernise frontline capability, and outlines plans to improve leadership, professional development and create a new national workforce strategy.
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
Written evidence from Leapwise, Sir Stephen House and the City of London Police all highlighted how an inflexible workforce model can undermine police productivity.42 Leapwise highlighted how poor workforce wellbeing is reducing workforce capacity, identifying that the proportion of police officers on long-term sick leave has increased from 1.5% in …
Government response. The officer maintenance grant and the requirement to achieve officer headcount targets has been abolished from 1 April 2026, and has allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams towards the aim of 13,000 …
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
The Labour Party manifesto set out that the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee would be paid for by tackling waste through a Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme.44 The Home Office has identified efficiency savings of £354 million over the period 2025–26 to 2028–29.45 We sought reassurances that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration …
Government response. The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) has an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29 and a non-cashable efficiencies target of saving thousands of officer hours to support government priorities such as neighbourhood policing.
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
The Home Office told us that about that half of the planned £354 million of savings will come from commercial savings, such as national purchasing, with the remainder from cost recovery and improved productivity.48 We asked whether there has been any investigation into policing’s purchases of basic services, noting the …
Government response. The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) has an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29 and a non-cashable efficiencies target of saving thousands of officer hours to support government priorities such as neighbourhood policing.
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
We sought reassurances that the Home Office was considering simplifying police systems, such as those used in human resources. The Home Office recognised police forces use many different systems and it is a highly fragmented picture. It told us that it is trialling standardisation in “some areas”.52 It has included …
Government response. The government agrees and states that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) aims to achieve savings through various workstreams and greater consistency across policing in IT, fleet, and energy spend, with consideration given to mandating approaches where appropriate.
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
We asked the Home Office whether BlueLight Commercial had been a success. The Home Office said it has made some progress changing the behaviours and culture of police forces to generate savings, but it had not been used to the extent that was intended.55 BlueLight Commercial manages 300 contracts on …
Government response. The government agrees and states that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) aims to achieve savings through various workstreams and greater consistency across policing in IT, fleet, and energy spend, with consideration given to mandating approaches where appropriate.
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
We asked whether the Home Office had the data needed to monitor progress towards its planned savings of £354 million by 2028–29.58 The Home Office said it is important to get the right data to hold police 51 Qq 75-77, 95, 96, 103-106, 111 52 Q 51 53 Qq 71, …
Government response. The government agrees and states that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) aims to achieve savings through various workstreams and greater consistency across policing in IT, fleet, and energy spend, with consideration given to mandating approaches where appropriate.
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted
There are many examples of police forces exploiting innovative technologies, including audio-visual multimedia redaction, live facial recognition and enhanced video response.62 These technologies can help to improve police productivity and performance. For example, the College of Policing estimated that scaling the use of enhanced video response could save up to …
Government response. The government agrees that it is working to accelerate the adoption of new technologies to improve police productivity by providing financial and practical support to the College of Policing and its Centre for Police Productivity and investing in new secure …
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Deferred
Despite these opportunities, scaling innovation and new technologies across the 43 police forces in England and Wales has been slow. The Home Office and College of Policing acknowledged the lack of speed and told us that scale-up was the biggest barrier.65 We asked about the mechanisms needed to scale innovation.66 …
Government response. The government agrees to provide an update in July 2027 on the steps taken to speed up the adoption of new technologies and support police forces to improve their productivity, including the technologies with the greatest potential, support for the …
HM Treasury
26
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Deferred
We asked if police forces had sufficient funding to improve their IT systems,71 particularly given the financial pressures they are facing, which has led them to increase borrowing to fund capital programmes.72 Forces also spend around 80% of their funding on officer and staff pay, which means they have limited …
Government response. The government agrees and sets a target implementation date of December 2029, noting that the National Police Service will consider these recommendations further once established; meanwhile, the Home Office is working closely with policing to modernise IT systems and is …
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
We asked what progress the Home Office has made implementing the recommendations of the 2023 Policing Productivity Review, which identified the potential to save 38 million hours of police time over five years. The Home Office said it had taken a number of initiatives forward, such as the establishment of …
Government response. The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) has an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29 and a non-cashable efficiencies target of saving thousands of officer hours. PECP will achieve savings through four workstreams: commercial including cost recovery, …
HM Treasury
28
Recommendation
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Accepted in Part
We asked how the government’s commitment to put 13,000 extra personnel into neighbourhood policing roles by 2029 will be funded. The government provided £200 million in 2025–26 to recruit 3,000 additional neighbourhood 69 Q 115 70 Q 130 71 Q 67 72 Q 7; C&AG’s Report, para 1.12 73 C&AG’s …
Government response. The government allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams, but prioritising neighbourhood policing may place some limitations on workforce flexibility which the Home Office will keep under review.
HM Treasury
29
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Deferred
In its 2015 report on the financial sustainability of police forces, our predecessor Committee recommended that a new police funding formula be introduced in 2016–17.80 In our evidence session, we asked whether changing demographics meant the out-of-date formula had led to a structural funding gap.81 We were also concerned about …
Government response. The Home Office will review the police funding formula once the implementation of police reform is underway and will launch an independent review into police force structures to consider the right model for local policing, which will report in the …
HM Treasury
30
Conclusion
63rd Report - Increasing police product…
Acknowledged
The Home Office said that it expects the police reform White Paper to start having an impact from 2026–27.86 As part of this, the Home Office said that it will work out implementation plans to establish new arrangements following the abolition of the role of police and crime commissioners.87 The …
Government response. The government published the Police Reform White Paper, setting out an ambitious programme to improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of policing. Plans to abolish the Police and Crime Commissioner model at the end of their current term in May …
HM Treasury