1. Portfolio/Number/Name:FPRS-LG/C3 Common Police Services |
2. Programme/Activity: Please
include a short description The Police Service is committed to
improving services and also to improving
efficiency, effectiveness and value for
money. Since 2002-03, it has published an
annual best value report. The latest
report, for 2003-04, identified at least
13m of savings which had been re-deployed
to meet operational requirements. Future
planned savings will continue to be made in
this way. |
3. Planned Savings | | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
Cash (m) | 4m | 6m | 8m |
Time Releasing (m) | Yes, but unquantified | Yes, but unquantified | Yes, but unquantified |
4. Accountable Officer for
delivery | Robert Gordon, Head of Justice
Department |
5. Project Manager | Neil MacLennan, Justice Department:
Police Division 1 |
6. EGDG account manager | Carolyn Girvan, Efficient Government
Delivery Group |
7. Quality Impact | Describe any impact on the quality
of service delivery. Be specific and
explain if the expectation is positive,
negative or neutral. The Police Service is committed to
improving services and also to improving
efficiency, effectiveness and value for
money. To the extent that future planned
savings will be re-deployed in this way, an
outcome will therefore be positive in that
it will improve the way the Police Service
uses the resources available to it to
deliver policing services. |
8. Dependencies | Explain if your savings are
dependant on legislation or other
structural changes being achieved. Inevitably, the Police Service has to
respond to local and national priorities as
these occur. A major murder investigation
can soak up resources, as can policing
major events such as the G8 Summit at
Gleneagles. While therefore the Police
would intend to devote all the savings
towards service improvement, the extent to
which this happens will be dependent on
other circumstances and events. Some
savings will come from the creation of a
common police service body (which depends
on legislation about which a consultation
paper was issued on 9 February 2005) and
the progress made on centralising back
office services (such as fleet management
and procurement) but the extent of these
will depend on the economies achieved in
each area. |
9. Description of efficiency and
actions to be taken | 9.1 How will the saving be made? Be
specific about number/size of contracts, staff,
posts dates etc. The saving will be delivered through a
wide range of actions and projects, some
taken at national level and some at local
level by individual forces and common
services. To the extent that actions will
depend on reviews and plans which have yet
to be formulated, we cannot at this stage
be specific. The actions - and the results
achieved - will be reported on by the
Association of Chief Police Officers in
Scotland in an annual report. |
9.2 What action is critically needed to
secure delivery of this saving? Be specific,
and name the key action managers if they are
outwith your immediate management chain (e.g.
in an NDPB.) The actions will be for those in the Police
Service, including those at Force level. The
proposed establishment of a new Common Police
Services organisation, which will require
legislation in the Scottish Parliament, will be
taken forward by the Executive and will be a
key factor. Details are contained in a
consultation paper "Supporting Police,
Protecting Communities: Proposals for
legislation"
published on 9 February 2005. , It will of
course be important that forces, both
collectively and individually, continue to take
a rigorous approach to service improvement to
ensure that delivery is as efficient as
possible. |
10. Impact on Staffing to achieve the efficiency
gain | If there are to be any changes in
staff numbers (at activity level) to
achieve the efficiency gain, please
indicate how many full time equivalents and
how far you expect savings to be achieved
by natural wastage (show additions as + and
reductions as -). For reasons given above, we cannot be
specific at this stage about the impact on
staffing. But there is bound to be some
re-deployment of officers and police staff
as a result of ongoing and future
reviews. |
| 2005- 06 | 2006- 07 | 2007- 08 |
+ | | | |
- | | | |
Net | | | |
Explanation | N/A |
11. Benefits | In general, benefits of the
Scottish Executive Efficiency Plan are the
enhanced outputs from the resources
Ministers have been able to allocate in
SR04. But if there is a direct connection
between this efficiency and the enhancement
of a particular service please describe it
here. SR04 has built into it efficiency
savings from the Police Service of 2m in
2006-07 and 4m in 2007-08. To that extent,
the additional efficiency savings being
sought are 4m, 4m, 4m. As indicated above, the efficiency
savings described will lead to enhanced
services. They will be used to improve
services, boost operational policing (in
line with Ministers' priorities) and
improve service delivery. |
12. Gross/Net Cash Savings | 12.1 Please set out the gross recurring
saving and any offsetting recurring
expenditure. We assume the Police Service will
deliver the saving specified. But it may be
more than this. Final figures will not be
known until after each year in the period
covered. |
12.2 Against what budget does this
expenditure saving fall? Police Grant Aided Expenditure to
police forces |
12.3 Has this saving been built into your
budget? Yes - but see first part of answer to
Q11. |
12.4 If so, what is the maximum allowable
expenditure against the budget data, in each
year, for that saving to be
delivered? Total GAE for police forces in 2005-06
to 2007-08 is 1.004bn, 1.045bn and 1.099bn
respectively. |
12.5 If not, how do you propose to invest
the additional cash back into public
services? N/A |
12.6 What plans do you have to exceed the
required saving? Explain by how much each
year. It will be a matter for forces by how
much they exceed the required saving. In
2003-04, the latest year for which the
Association of Chief Police Officers in
Scotland (ACPOS) published a best value
annual report, the total saving was 13m.
While sustaining that level of savings year
on year would be almost impossible, past
performance suggests that the totals may be
exceeded. |
13. Time - release savings | 13.1 Please explain any time-releasing
savings indicated at Q3. Depends on projects initiated by
Forces. This is a matter for chief
constables who are responsible for
decisions on the deployment of resources
within their force to meet operational
needs. It is not directly a matter for the
Executive. Outcomes will be included in the
annual best value report referred to
above. |
13.2 Please describe the method you
plan to use to calculate the cash
equivalent of those time releasing
savings. For forces to decide, but we may want
to perform some sort of audit on the
proposals to ensure that they are robust
and reliable. |
14. Measurement and
Monitoring | 14.1 How are you proposing to measure the
expected efficiency benefits (e.g. in terms of
costs, level of output or quality of
service)? Forces will measure the impact and
report on this through the annual best
value report described above. |
14.2 What monitoring and reporting
procedures will be put in place to measure the
efficiency savings (How often will progress
towards the target be monitored? Who will have
lead responsibility for reporting progress and
what procedures will be in place?) Primary inspections of police forces by
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary
(HMIC) include a joint audit with Audit
Scotland as regards performance in relation
to best value. There will also be ongoing
monitoring both within forces and
nationally. Progress as regards best value
generally across the Scottish Police
Service is monitored by a Scottish Police
Service Best Value Group which is chaired
by ACPOS and also involves representatives
from the Executive, HMIC, Audit Scotland
and the Police Authority Conveners'
Forum. |
14.3 Monitoring Data: Sources, validation
and risks. - What data will be used to
measure progress? Is all the required
information quantifiable and readily
available? If not what action will be
taken to rectify this?
- What measures will be put in
place to validate the accuracy of the
data? Who will take responsibility for
this?
- Are there issues or risks
relating to how you plan to use the
data?(e.g. accuracy, difficulties in
collection)
The data used to measure
progress will be provided by individual
forces. It will be audited and
consolidated to provide a Scotland-wide
picture. The extent of the work
undertaken by Forces will of course go
well beyond what is needed to meet the
Efficient Government Programme. It will
be for audit procedures within
individual forces to ensure that the
data are validated as to accuracy.
While there are some differences in the
way in which police forces measure
expenditure, every effort will be made
to ensure that the information provided
is as consistent as possible. There are
no other issues about how the Executive
may use the results.
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