Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 27
63rd Report - Increasing police productivity
Published 28 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Increasing police productivity All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
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 the Centre for Police Productivity, and others would be taken forward as part of the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme or police reforms.76 The College of Policing has also developed a diagnostic tool which will allow police forces to examine their processes for tackling burglary, robbery and shoplifting. The College is testing the tool with nine forces and hopes to make this available to all forces by April 2026, after previously expecting to launch this in December 2025.77 Implementing the White Paper on police reform
From: Public Accounts Committee, 63rd Report - Increasing police productivity (HC 1239), 28 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 April 2026 (deadline 28 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on every recommendation, marking some as implemented and setting target dates for others.
- On performance data, 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 its plans for public reporting of performance data.
- On officer numbers, the officer maintenance grant and the requirement to achieve officer headcount targets "has been abolished from 1 April 2026". The government adds that prioritising neighbourhood policing "may place some limitations on workforce flexibility" which the Home Office "will keep under review".
- On efficiency savings, the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme has "an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29". Mandating approaches to policing "will be considered where there is a case to do so".
- On police IT systems, the government gives a target implementation date of December 2029. It says the National Police Service, once established, "will consider these recommendations further then", and that force-level IT updates "must align" with the implementation of force mergers.