Privatisation

I do not intend to support the privatisation of police services, but it will not be my role as PCC to decide on operational matters of the police. This means that I will not be involved in operational decisions about how to run services (including the inclusion of external organisations and contractors in this). Although I will influence the policy and priority level decisions that may have operational consequences in the sense of including external partners. For example, the setting of the budget and the aiming for improving the value-for-money aspect of police services may have such consequences.

I had a meeting recently with the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police. My understanding is that there are no current plans for buying in complete services from for-profit contractors. 

The police collaborates with a large number of voluntary and community sector organisations which are commissioned to contribute services that integrate with the service provided by the police, for example in the area of victim support or drug intervention. In general I support such collaborative arrangements with community and voluntary organisations, and I think that these should be extended in the future. 

There are also possibly back-office services (for example the management of commissioning) that may be run more efficiently if these are shared across police authorities or shared with other large public organisations (for example local authorities). I am not against such arrangements, but clearly these should be evaluated carefully, considering all aspects and impacts of them. 

There are possibly aspects of services that can be run more efficiently through the involvement of private companies (for example the information technology infrastructure of the police), but I think that this does not apply to core police services through which members of the police face directly and personally members of the public (including people taken to police stations).

I have no personal connection to any company that might be interested in police contracts.