In November 2008, the government announced that police authorities will be jointly inspected by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and the Audit Commission across the full range of their activities for the first time.
We consulted widely across the government, third sector organisations and the public on the principles and approach for the inspections. The consultation and the results of the four pilot inspections informed the police authority inspection framework published in July 2009.
Inspectors will judge how well police authorities are fulfilling their role of ensuring that the public has an efficient and effective local police force along four key themes:
- setting the strategic direction and priorities of the police force
- scrutinising the performance of the police force
- ensuring results through community engagement and partnerships
- ensuring value for money and productivity
Onsite inspection activity began in September 2009. Each inspection will involve a number of pre-fieldwork meetings with the police authority and other stakeholders to gather evidence. The onsite inspection will usually take four and a half days, and up to two weeks for the largest police authorities.
Each police authority will receive an inspection report, which will be published and made available to the public. Reports will identify the police authority's strengths and areas of innovation to be shared with other police authorities. Reports will also identify areas for improvement that we expect police authorities to act upon in order to improve their performance for the public.
A national thematic report will be published by the end of February 2010. The report will draw on the findings from the first ten inspections to identify key issues for all police authorities. The report will encourage all police authorities to secure targeted improvement and to share good practice.