Guidance

The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) (Amendment) Order 2021: guidance for police and crime commissioners

Updated 1 June 2021

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are required to publish certain information to allow the public to hold them to account. Section 11(1) and (2) of The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 requires an elected local policing body to publish any information specified by the Secretary of State by order. The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011 (‘the Order’) sets out the information that must be published. Guidance on the order is published on gov.uk.

The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) (Amendment) Order 2021 (’the amending Order), which will come into force on 31 May 2021 provides that information relating to the force’s performance against the Government’s national priorities for policing, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) performance reports on the force, and complaint handling must also be published. The amending Order also specifies that this information must be published in a prominent place on the elected local policing body’s website.

Stage one of the PCC Review found that the public cannot always easily access information on how well their force is doing, which is vital if they are to hold PCCs to account. To ensure consistency in the application of the Order, this guidance sets out further detail on each new reporting requirement to aid PCCs in determining how best to communicate them to the public.

National priorities for policing

The national priorities for policing are specified in the Police and Crime Measures: reduce murder and other homicide; reduce serious violence; disrupt drugs supply and county lines; reduce neighbourhood crime; tackle cyber crime; and improve satisfaction among victims with a particular focus on victims of domestic abuse. These Measures will be kept under review and further crime types may be added in the future.

The intention of these Measures is to complement existing local priorities set out in PCCs’ local Police and Crime Plans. Each force has a key role in supporting the Measures, so that collectively we can see real improvements in outcomes over the four years from the baseline of June 2019. It is recognised that not all Measures will apply equally to every force so PCCs must consider how best to apply these measures in their force area.

The Order requires PCCs to provide a statement on the contribution of their force to achieving improvements against those priorities. We recommend that this statement includes:

• reflections on force performance and how the force has contributed towards the delivery of the national measures, including contextual information that might help explain that contribution
• a summary of planned action for the next quarter to drive the force’s performance against applicable measures
• an explanation of which of the Measures are assessed to be applicable and which are not applicable in the local context, including the reasons for that assessment

The Order requires that this statement is published at the same time as the Policing and Crime Plan, and that it is reviewed quarterly, and any variation published, within one month following publication of an annual report on the force by HMICFRS.

We understand that some PCCs will already have published their Policing and Crime Plan for this year. In these circumstances, the first statement should be published on the PCC’s website no later than 31 July 2021. Subsequent reviews and updates can then be published in accordance with the requirements of the Order, as amended. Quarterly updates should be made following the publication of quarterly crime statistics.

HMICFRS reporting

The amending Order requires PCCs to publish the most recent HMICFRS force-level report on the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of the police force. It also requires PCCs to publish the summary assessment of the performance of the police force.

Annual report on the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of the police force

Since 2018 HMICFRS has issued a single report to forces, PCCs and the public with gradings for force performance in those areas inspected. These integrated PEEL inspection reports are published on the HMICFRS website. In 2020/21, HMICFRS published a new police inspection programme and framework. As part of this, they have moved to a two-year inspection and reporting cycle and will publish new PEEL force performance reports between late summer 2021 and end March 2023.

The Order requires that PCCs publish the PEEL report for their force on their website, within one calendar month of its publication by HMICFRS. This may be done by publishing a link. Once HMICFRS publishes its new 2021-23 PEEL report for individual forces, PCCs are to provide a link to this report, within one calendar month.

In the interim, PCCs are asked to provide a link to the 2018/19 integrated PEEL report, which is the most current force performance report, on their website by 31 July 2021.

Summary assessment of the performance of the police force

Under its new PEEL assessment framework HMICFRS will grade each aspect of a force’s performance as: inadequate; requires improvement; adequate; good; or outstanding. Alongside a detailed narrative to substantiate its grading decisions, HMICFRS will also include a summary infographic of its assessment of the force’s performance against each inspection area.

The Order requires PCCs to publish the summary infographic on their website within one calendar month of publication of the HMICFRS PEEL report. Individual force-level infographics will be provided to PCCs by HMICFRS on request.

Complaints handling

The Order provides that PCCs must publish the most recent IOPC quarterly complaints data for their force and the IOPC annual statistics report, alongside a narrative setting out how the PCC is holding the chief officer to account, and the PCC’s assessment of their own performance in carrying out their other complaints handling functions.

Holding the chief officer to account

It is recommended that the narrative should include:

• how the force is measuring complainant satisfaction
• progress updates on implementing relevant recommendations made by the IOPC and/or HMICFRS in relation to complaints handling, or where recommendations were not accepted an explanation as to why
• a summary of any mechanisms put in place to identify and act on themes or trends in complaints
• a summary of systems in place to monitor and improve performance in the timeliness of complaints handling
• the number of written communications issued by the force under regulation 13 of the Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2020 where an investigation has not been completed within a “relevant period”
• quality assurance mechanisms in place to monitor and improve the quality of its responses to complaints
• details of the administrative arrangements the PCC has put in place to hold the chief constable to account for complaints handling e.g. frequency of meetings and a summary of discussions

PCC assessment of their own performance in carrying out their other complaints handling functions

It is recommended that the assessment should include:

• the timeliness of complaint reviews e.g. the average time taken to complete reviews
• details of which review functions the PCC has delegated and what measures they have taken to ensure quality, integrity and impartiality
• quality assurance mechanisms the PCC has established to ensure that review decisions are sound and in line with the requirements of the complaints legislation and IOPC statutory guidance
• how the PCC assesses complainant satisfaction with the way in which they have dealt with complaints
• for PCCs who operate as a “Model 2” or “Model 3” area the timeliness of initial complaint handling undertaken by the PCC
• [for Model 2 and 3 areas] details of quality assurance mechanisms for decisions made at the initial complaint handling stage and [Model 3 only] the quality of communications with complainants

The Order requires that the IOPC data and report are to be published on the PCC’s website within one month of their publication by the IOPC, and the narrative and assessment are to be published annually, within one month of the date of publication of the IOPC’s annual statistics report.

Manner of publication

The amending Order specifies that the new information must be published in a prominent place on the PCC’s website. The purpose of this requirement is to make it as easy as possible for the public to access the information. We fully recognise that PCC websites will differ in style and content but recommend that PCCs either:

• provide all specified information directly on the PCC’s homepage; or
• clearly signpost this information on the homepage, with links to the relevant location