Proposals have been drawn up for streamlining the operation of Cleveland Police Authority in the run-up to the introduction of Elected Police and Crime Commissioners later this year.
The proposals include reducing the number of meetings and number of member groups, using electronic distribution for distributing many papers, scrapping honorarium payments to Independent Custody Visitors, introducing standard class rail travel and a reduced flat rate mileage payment for members.
Authority Chair Stuart Drummond, stresses that, whilst the changes would produce estimated annual savings of over £30,000 a year, equally important is releasing the time of authority officers to work on preparing the transition to the new system of an Elected Commissioner and Police and Crime Panel from November.
Says Stuart Drummond “In common with every other public body, we need to examine every aspect of our operations and spending, but what makes the position of the police Authority different is that we also have to undertake an enormous amount of preparatory work in order to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements.
“As I made clear when I became Chair of the Authority last month the transition process has to be a key priority. It has been one of the key driving forces of the review which has been undertaken over recent weeks and the effect of the proposals would be to release several hundred hours of officer time which could be devoted to that task.
“We will continue to seek further efficiency savings and I believe the proposals we have drawn up so far provide a good start to ensuring that we deliver the best possible value for money and ensure we have the resources to meet the challenge of the major changes ahead”
Under the proposals the Authority’s key panels would switch from bi-monthly to quarterly meetings, whilst three groups covering strategic air support, environmental monitoring and risk management would be disbanded, their business being subsumed into other groups.
Hard copies of meeting papers would only be sent to Authority members on the particular body, with others being able to access them electronically. Changing from first class to standard class travel for members would produce an estimated annual saving of £2,500 whilst replacing the current ‘sliding scale’ mileage system, which ranges from 46.9p to 65p, to a flat rate 45p per mile, would generate an annual saving of £3,500.
Adds Ann Hall, Force Assistant Chief Officer for Finance and Commissioning “We fully support the measures the Authority is putting in place; this mirrors the working practices we are already adopting in the Force. This runs alongside considerable work in the Force to delivery greater efficiencies and addresses challenges of budget cuts. Full details of the Force’s proposals will be published in the coming weeks.”
The proposals will be discussed by Authority members at a meeting of its Executive next Monday (January 23rd). Meanwhile this Friday the Authority will be holding a ‘Partner Event’ to brief a wide range of organisations about the impact of the introduction of the Commissioner system