Gwent Police Authority's Staying Ahead review is a wide-ranging and ambitious strategic review of policing in Gwent. It aims to deliver high-quality services to the public within the available resources.
The Staying Ahead review incorporates a new approach to policing in Gwent. It plans to provide efficiencies as well as delivering better customer service with a community based ethos. Its key priority is to enable the Force to meet the challenges of providing future services in line with national and local priorities.
The Authority's projections in 2007/08 showed a budget shortfall of £14 million by 2010/11, representing more than 12 per cent of the net revenue expenditure. Because of the shortfall it was clear the Authority and the Force had to carry out a major budget savings exercise. The Authority implemented the Staying Ahead review to help achieve this.
The Staying Ahead review involves all the Authority members in a change management programme affecting the Force. The aim is make greater efficiencies and improve service delivery to the public. The review also set out to reform the structure of the Force, including revised roles for officers and support staff.
So far the review has produced an increase in efficiency savings and the operational resources used. The savings achieved have enabled the Authority to reduce the Protective Services gap by £2 million without increasing resources. The Authority has reviewed and realigned its committee structures to ensure it has suitable arrangements in place to manage its new policing vision.
The Authority has systematic processes in place for assessing and measuring the benefits of the Staying Ahead review. There has been a 22 per cent increase in the resources deployed on neighbourhood policing and an increased allocation to roads policing. The Authority expects efficiency savings of £14.4 million between 2009 and 2013, approximately £3.1 million above its efficiency and productivity target.
The Staying Ahead review has improved the matching of operational resources to demand. The Authority has worked hard to achieve efficiency savings whilst delivering a good police service with an improving customer focus. This has helped to increase the confidence levels in Gwent policing.