Cleveland Police Authority has today strongly refuted what its Chair Councillor Dave McLuckie described as ‘entirely misleading and inaccurate’ claims made at a trade union conference over the possible involvement of a private sector partner in modernising the Force’s Information Technology System and improving its call handling services.
Councillor McLuckie said the suggestions, made at a Unison conference in Scarborough, that 999 calls would be ‘sold off’ and handled in a ‘call centre miles away’ by people with no local knowledge were ‘totally and completely wrong.’
He also challenged the claim that involving private sector partners led to a poorer quality service, pointing to the evidence of the Authority’s decision to civilianise custody and medical services in Cleveland which had been an outstanding success, resulting in greatly improved services and releasing police officer for key protective services.
Said Councillor McLuckie “Unison is perfectly entitled to express its views on the general issue of involving the private sector in the delivery of services and it is perfectly entitled to seek to act on behalf of its members working for the Authority and the Force.
“However, I do not believe it is helping anyone for its officials to make entirely misleading and inaccurate statements from a conference platform. They know, because we have made it crystal clear from the very start, that there is no question whatsoever of us moving our Control Room functions to what they describe as a ‘call centre miles away.’
“The facts are these—if...and I stress if...we do finally decide to choose to involve a private sector partner the Control Room will remain within the Force headquarters, police officers will still continue to work within the Control Room and the command function will be retained by the Force.
“The staff currently involved in handling calls would continue to work in the Control Room. In fact from the very start of this process we have we have sought to put the interests of staff at the heart of our considerations, as they have been in the previous arrangements we have reached with private sector partners. In the very first report on the matter considered by the Authority last September it was made clear that the selection of any preferred partner would be ‘massively influenced’ be the commitment made to staff.
“This would include any preferred partner being able to ensure continued membership of the Teesside Pension Scheme, guaranteeing terms and conditions for transferred staff for a specified period, guaranteeing no compulsory redundancies for transferred staff for a specified period and delivering staff development and full and open access to opportunities in the their organisation.
“We will continue to keep staff and their representatives informed and involved as the process moves forward. Currently the Authority has agreed to short list three potential partners—there has been no decision as yet on whether to go ahead.
“It is clearly nonsensical to suggest that, as an Authority we would proceed with involving a private sector partner if we felt it would compromise the service to the public. In reality one of our objectives is to provide a better call handling service—including, for example, introducing arrangements for timed home visits from officers and ‘call back’ systems to check whether people are happy with the service they have received.
“The suggestion that working with private sector partners threatens the quality of service to the public is not borne out by the facts—take for example the success of the Private Finance Initiative which delivered some of the best facilities in the country, the arrangements for custody and medical services and the introduction of the CUPID system, putting the Force at the forefront of mobile technology. All of them were delivered because of willingness to involve partners with the right expertise and resources.
“We want to have a constructive dialogue with Unison as we move forward but I would urge them stick to the facts rather than making claims which, I repeat, are entirely misleading.”
Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Sean Price said: “I am very disappointed at the apparent scaremongering approach of UNISON’s press release. No decision has yet been made and our staff and their union representatives have been fully briefed on the issues. They have been reassured that the Control Room and call taking functions would remain at Cleveland Police Headquarters under any of the proposed partnership schemes. They are also fully aware that all the proposed partnerships are conditional on existing staff continuing to be employed under their current terms and conditions. I would also wish to emphasise that all incidents will remain under the command and control of trained Cleveland Police officers.
“At a time when unemployment is still rising across the country I had hoped that the Force and Authority’s efforts to ensure guarantees of employment and improvement of services would have received support rather than opposition. I hope that UNISON will reconsider its position and help us in reassuring our staff and the public.”