The Scottish Government

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Dates Issued: 18 December 2003 Topic: Best Value

Implementation: Immediate

Impact: That police authorities secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force in their area.

Contact(s) for more information: David Henderson (Tel: 0131 244 2154)
Bill Barron (Tel: 0131 244 2143)
(at the above address)

Dear Colleague

Purpose of the circular: To provide police forces and police authorities with additional guidance for the implementation of Best Value in the Scottish Police Service.

Summary of contents:

The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 ("the Act") imposed upon local authorities (which includes police authorities [1]) and other public sector bodies, a statutory duty to make arrangements which secure Best Value with effect from 1 April 2003. The Act is published on the Internet at http://www.scotland-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2003/ 20030001.htm. Best Value is continuous improvement in the performance of the authority's functions. The Ministerial Guidance under section 2(1)(a) and the Task Force Guidance under section 2(1)(b) of Part 1 of the Act have now been published on the Internet at www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/localgov/lgsabv-00.asp. These apply to police authorities as to other authorities subject to the duty of Best Value. I am now writing to draw your attention to some aspects of the Act and of the guidance, as they apply to the police.

Roles of police authorities and of chief constables

The Act imposes a duty on local authorities including police authorities to make arrangements which secure Best Value, but police authorities will need to pursue this agenda in tandem with chief constables who are, of course, responsible for the deployment of police officers within their force. This circular addresses the responsibilities of police authorities and of chief constables, and therefore should be read in conjunction with the general guidance.

Through the duty of Best Value, the Act imposes upon police authorities a responsibility to secure the maintenance of an efficient and effective police force in their area. Members of the police authority should therefore take joint responsibility for the overarching plan for the achievement of Best Value within the force, and work with the chief constable to ensure its effective fulfilment.

References to "elected members" in the statutory guidance apply to the members of police authorities, while references to "senior managers" may be taken as applying to the senior management of the force as well as to the officers of the police authorities.

The statutory duty of Best Value applies to each individual police authority in its own right, but it is anticipated that arrangements will be made by the Scottish Police Authorities Forum and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland to produce annual reports on the implementation of Best Value. For this purpose the eight authorities/forces should harmonise their approaches to the management of Best Value where appropriate.

Components of Best Value

This circular deals with how to implement Best Value rather than what Best Value entails. The guidance provides a full list of the objectives for Best Value, and should be regarded as the primary description of the components of Best Value. This circular highlights just some of these.

· Leadership (Task Force Guidance pps 3-4)

Best Value requires a strategic commitment by elected members, who should actively agree a vision for the future development of policing and be clear how the components of Best Value will contribute to these objectives.

· Openness, accountability and responsiveness to local communities (Task Force Guidance pps 5-6)

Police authorities will be expected to make clear publicly how they engage and work with chief constables in the delivery of, and reporting on, Best Value. They will have a particular role to play in ensuring effective consultation with the public over aspects of policing. It will be a matter for each authority to determine how it fulfils these roles, but one option might be for the police authority to contribute to the preparation and endorse the publication of the annual plan prepared by the chief constable.

· Performance measurement (Task Force Guidance pps 7-8)

Police authorities should ensure that good quality data is collected to support the management of Best Value and also to inform the national police targets, the Accounts Commission's statutory performance indicators, and other indicators prioritised locally by the authority.

· Effective management of resources (Task Force Guidance pps 8-9)

Members of the police authority should give due attention to the management of resources across the force, while recognising that the chief constable has autonomous discretion over the deployment of police officers and operational matters.

· Service reviews (Task Force Guidance pages 10-11)

Police authorities should agree a systematic approach to service reviews designed to achieve real improvements in resource use to benefit their communities, and focussed especially on priority areas or areas of concern. While there is flexibility over the processes to be followed, authorities should ensure that reviews are carried out in accordance with the principles in the statutory guidance, and that these achieve quantifiable and measured benefits.

· Sharing best practice

There are already well-established procedures for sharing of good practice and innovations between police authorities and between police forces, in particular thorough HMIC thematic and force-based inspections and through ACPOS standing committees. In addition knowledge is shared through training events, the development and publication on appropriate web-sites of a Best Value toolkit, digest of service reviews and current continuous improvement activity.

Scrutiny arrangements

The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 establishes audit responsibilities for the Accounts Commission in relation to the new statutory duties, including Best Value and Community Planning. Through Audit Scotland, the Commission is developing new audit arrangements in local government that will commence in 2004. The new audit approach for Best Value will hold police authorities to account at a corporate level for the performance of all of their service activities. The Act also gives new powers to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to inquire and report to Ministers on whether police authorities are complying with their duties in relation to Best Value and Community Planning.

There are existing joint working arrangements in place between the Accounts Commission and the HMIC that have addressed scrutiny of Best Value prior to its statutory basis, but these will need to be reviewed to take account of the overlapping powers now available. Both HMIC and the Commission believe there will continue to be significant value in a co-ordinated approach to audit and inspection in the police service, making best use of the skills and expertise available and providing rounded assessments of the performance of police authorities in relation to Best Value.

To support effective co-ordination between the various scrutiny bodies across the whole public sector in Scotland, Ministers have established the Joint Scrutiny Forum to which the HMIC and Audit Scotland send representatives.

A copy of this circular is enclosed for the Director of Finance in the police authority. Copies have also been sent to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the police associations and the Accounts Commission.

David Henderson
Head of Police Division

[1] Throughout this circular, the term "police authorities" refers to the unitary authorities of Fife and Dumfries & Galloway, and to the six Joint Police Boards.