Agenda item

SCRUTINY OF THE POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER'S STAFF AND CONSULTANCY APPOINTMENTS, AND EXPENSES AND ALLOWANCES

The panel will be asked to scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner’s staff and consultancy appointments, along with his expenses and allowances.

Minutes:

In accordance with its agreed work programme, the Panel welcomed the Police and Crime Commissioner who, prior to commencement of the scrutiny process –

 

·         made a brief statement on the departure of his former Chief Executive who had left to pursue new opportunities;

·         announced that a joint project team would be created to explore how Devon and Cornwall and Dorset Police Forces could collaborate effectively across all areas of policing.

 

The Police and Crime Panel Co-ordinator first outlined the process to be followed for this item of reactive scrutiny, following which the Police and Crime Commissioner provided an overview of his report.

 

Issues raised by Members for the Commissioner’s consideration and response included –

 

·         the number of consultants which transferred directly from the former Police Authority;

·         how many staff had been appointed directly by the Commissioner since and at what cost;

·         the total number of staff now employed by the Commissioner and his total salary bill;

·         the policy/procedures used by the Commissioner to recruit staff and consultants, including that of his new Chief Executive;

·         how his commissioning intentions had been reflected in his staffing and office structures;

·         details of how the Commissioning Board had been established, together with  allowance entitlements;

·         sight of the terms of reference and membership details for the Commissioner’s various Boards;

·         discrepancy between consultancy costs detailed in the report and the response provided as a result of a freedom of information request;

·         whether the Police and Crime Commissioner represented value for money.

 

The Police and Crime Commissioner extended an invitation to the Panel to visit his offices and observe his team in action

 

Following lengthy consideration and questioning of the Police and Crime Commissioner on this matter, it was agreed that –

 

(1)

 

he would provide details concerning the Boards that sit under the auspices of the Police and Crime Commissioner, including –

 

·         how many Boards there are;

·         who sits on them;

·         how Board members are appointed;

·         terms of reference;

·         recruitment and selection process;

·         allowances entitlement of Board members;

·         how long the Boards sit;

·         a breakdown of how Board members are made up in terms of Protected Characteristics;

·         a forecast of where the Boards are going in terms of scrutiny;

 

(2)

 

he would provide the Panel with clarification / a breakdown of expenditure on use of consultants, particularly an explanation of the discrepancy between figures quoted in the report and those provided in the response to the freedom of information request;

 

(3)

 

further to (1) and (2) above, the Panel take the opportunity to consider the information presented to them and make recommendations in the form of a report to the Police and Crime Commissioner in respect of his staffing and consultancy appointments and expenses and allowances. 

 

Note: A detailed report setting out the findings of this scrutiny review would be produced by the Police and Crime Panel Co-ordinator and circulated to panel members for their comment prior to submission of any recommendations to the Police and Crime Commissioner who would then have one month to respond.  A copy of that report, together with the Police and Crime Commissioner’s response, will be published on the Police and Crime Panel’s website in due course.

Supporting documents: