Tayside police force is making good progress but joint board is not achieving best value

The Best Value Audit and Inspection: Tayside Police and Tayside Joint Police Board is the first Best Value report on a Scottish police force and police authority. It provides an overview of how these bodies are meeting their best value duties and is a joint report from the Accounts Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (HMICS).

The Accounts Commission has concluded that there is a strong commitment from the board to supporting the Chief Constable and that working relationships between the board and the force are good. But the board is not achieving best value.

Chair of the Commission, John Baillie said:

“Board members have an important role to play in the governance of police services. But until members of the Tayside Joint Police Board have a clearer understanding of what that role is, it will not be able to achieve best value or effectively hold the Chief Constable to account. Members need more support to improve their knowledge and understanding of their role, which should include setting the direction and priorities of the force and scrutinising its performance.”

The Commission believes that a lack of clarity about the respective responsibilities and expectations of the board and the Chief Constable may not be unique to Tayside. It says if this proves to be the case, it will recommend that the Scottish Government, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) should consider whether the existing guidance on the expectations of boards and board members is clear enough.

HMICS’s performance assessment of the police force showed that it has been successful in reducing offences associated with anti-social behaviour and is proactive in targeting drug dealing.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Bill Skelly said:

“Recorded crimes of vandalism are often used as a measure of anti-social behaviour. It is encouraging to see that in Tayside these went down by 10 per cent in 2008/09. The force’s proactive approach to targeting drug dealing also resulted in it recording its highest ever number of class A offences in 2008/09. However the public perception is that anti-social behaviour and drug related problems have both increased. More emphasis on community engagement would help to address this.”

The force also has strong financial control and management, and is making good progress in some important areas of best value, including improving services, equalities and working with partners to deliver joint solutions to local issues. However, it lacks a force-wide approach to issues like community engagement and planning. It also needs to give the joint board more opportunities to fulfil its best value duties by providing it with more comprehensive performance reports.

The board and the force will now produce an improvement plan to show how they intend to address the findings.