There is a lot of interest in the CBI report on policing released this morning ( I particularly enjoyed the Police Federation sideswipe at the CBI. Do Turkey’s ever vote for Christmas?). To save you the trouble of going to find the details I have reproduced the CBI Press Release below.

I have placed the full report on the Agency Reports page. Enjoy..

The CBI is calling for more police forces to share back office functions, including human resources and IT, and for greater private-sector involvement in providing support services, such as running custody suites. Since these services do not require warranted officers, this would boost the number available for frontline duties and save money.

In a new report, A Frontline Force: Proposals for more effective policing, the UK’s leading business group argues that a major overhaul in the way police services are delivered is needed in order to maintain frontline services as Government budgets cuts start to bite.

This should include greater collaboration between forces to allow them to pool resources and share back office; joint procurement for uniforms and other equipment to secure bulk discounts; and allowing independent providers to deliver support services that do not need warranted officers.

The report includes examples of forces already collaborating to good effect. For example, South Wales Police has employed a private firm to run its custody services, including finger-printing and delivering meals. This has saved £1.2m a year and freed up 53 officers for frontline duties. Extending this kind of partnership across England and Wales could save around £45m a year and strengthen frontline policing.

As well as greater collaboration, steps should be taken to support forces wishing to merge by removing financial barriers. Since staff costs account for around 80% of police spending, smarter ways of working to raise productivity also need to be introduced. For example, forces sharing resources to meet peaks in demand. There also needs to be a shift from the ‘time served’ pay system to one linked to individual pay and performance.

John Cridland, CBI Deputy Director-General, said:

“The public sector investment boom of recent years is coming to an end just at a time when our police forces are facing increasing pressure to fight terrorism and sophisticated computer fraud.

“There is considerable scope for the police to find savings without compromising frontline policing. But this will require a major re-think of what we expect the police to do. Does a highly-qualified warranted police officer really need to be the first port of call for someone reporting an item of lost property?

”We believe that the time has come to liberate police officers from back office and administrative duties and allow them to concentrate on what they do best – fighting crime and protecting the public.

“Some forces are already increasing their purchasing power by joining together to buy uniforms and cars, and sharing services from human resources to helicopters. Others are making good use of private sector partnerships in non-frontline roles. Our report shows that the enormous potential for widening collaboration and the role of the private sector to assist policing.”

The CBI’s recommendations for ensuring the number of frontline police officers is maintained while saving money include:

• Mandating collaboration between police forces and tasking a single body to ensure a coordinated approach. This would build on successful examples of collaboration already taking place. For example, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire forces pool officers and budgets to investigate major crimes, while the Metropolitan Police share the human resources function across London’s 32 boroughs.
• A national procurement strategy to encourage forces to buy uniforms and vehicles in bulk. For example, Kent & Essex police’s joint procurement department has saved around £3m since 2007.
• Sharing back office services and identifying services suitable for delivery by alternative providers. For example, a joint venture between Avon and Somerset Constabulary, two county councils and IBM called Southwest One provides shared services for back office, administration and benefits. It is expected to produce savings of up to £200m over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, G4S Secure Solutions provided extra security services to the Metropolitan Police throughout the G20 Summit in 2009.
• Developing smarter ways of working to increase productivity and reduce costs. For example, Norfolk Constabulary has changed shift patterns to better match resources to demand.
• Reforming police pay to ensure salary and career progression is linked to the outcomes of performance and development reviews. The total police pay bill should also be frozen. This is not the same as a pay freeze for individual officers and pay rises could still be awarded, but the costs should be offset elsewhere so that the overall pay bill does not increase.
• Introducing a new non-urgent telephone number to run alongside the current 999 service for police, ambulance, fire and health services. This could operate in a similar way to the NHS Direct telephone service and could handle the 70% of non-urgent calls currently made to 999. This could save £1m a year for each partner.

Related posts:

1. Changes announced to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act
2. CBI: A frontline force
3. Policing for the 21st Century
4. Front Office Shared Services Conference
5. Audit Commission flags the need for councils to face up to the new economic realities.