§ 23. Mr. PollardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evaluation he undertakes of the relative performance of different police forces. [53532]
§ Mr. MichaelThe Home Secretary considers the relative performance of different police forces by looking at their performance against his key policing objectives and the key performance indicators which support them, and against a wider range of performance indicators on which the Audit Commission, and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary collect data.
The success of the police in reducing crime in their area, together with performance against local targets set within the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 will be of increasing importance.
HMIC reports to the Home Secretary on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces in England and Wales. The Inspectorate's Thematic reports, which consider the performance of a range of police forces in matters of current and public interest, are of increasing importance and usefulness.
§ 25. Mr. GogginsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the measures he uses to monitor and assess the performance of police authorities. [53534]
§ Mr. MichaelThe current structure of police authorities was introduced by the previous Government in 1995. There is no formal provision for monitoring and assessing the overall performance of police authorities, but I meet the Association of Police Authorities regularly to discuss such issues. The performance of police forces themselves is monitored by a number of methods, including Audit Commission and Inspectorate of Constabulary indicators and formal inspections. The Government intend to introduce a statutory duty on local authorities to provide efficient, effective and high quality services to the public and to demonstrate that they are doing so. That duty will also apply to police authorities and will be in place from April 2000.
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