The ground-breaking partnership for the delivery of support services for Cleveland Police has been formally signed. Cleveland Police Authority Chair, Councillor Dave McLuckie, and Chief Constable Sean Price joined with senior representatives of business services organisation Steria at the Force headquarters for the signing of the ten-year £175million deal.
Services covered by the agreement include information technology, call handling, criminal justice and business services including finance, human resources and procurement.
Major points of the partnership include:
- £50m of savings over the ten years of the contract to help protect frontline policing.
- A guarantee for the full ten years of the contract, protecting current terms, conditions and pension rights plus a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for all transferring staff—in total around 470.
- 999 calls will continue to be handled from the Force control room, which will remain at Force headquarters with responses to calls remaining under the control of the Force.
- Steria will set up a shared service centre in the area with the prospect of further job creation.
Steria is a major international company providing services to clients in the public and private sectors. It employs 18,300 people working across 16 countries and in recent years has been in partnership with Cleveland Police in the development of the Force’s state-of-the-art mobile technology system.
Said Councillor McLuckie “I believe that this signing marks a major step forward not just for our authority and force but the whole British police service. We have, of course, been at the forefront of partnership working over recent years—for instance our major PFI project for new buildings and facilities, our agreement for custody services and the development of our mobile technology system—but this is the first partnership of this scale in the country.
“We were clear that we would only go ahead with a partnership if it could be shown to deliver a better service, generate significant savings—and protect the interests of staff. That is what we have delivered.”
Added Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Sean Price said: "This contract will enable both the Authority and the Force to provide the service our communities deserve in these difficult financial times.
"Our commitment to Putting People First means that, through the partnership with Steria, we have been able to safeguard our people's jobs while delivering improved services. We look forward to working with Steria in the months and years ahead."
Commented John Torrie, Chief Executive Officer of Steria UK: ”We are proud to be partnering with Cleveland Police to deliver improved services to the citizens of Cleveland, and hope our collaboration inspires others in the police and wider public sector to follow.”