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1. Finance
1.1 For the past three years the force has operated below GAE level. The report provided to the Joint Board in respect of the 1998/99 budget strongly reinforced the point that the reductions of £1.116m meant a loss of police grant of £569k, which would not be made available for other public services. The Joint Board subsequently agreed that their intention was to work towards approaching a GAE budget on a progressive basis. The Chief Constable and Treasurer undertook a review of the revenue budget against a backcloth of achieving three main objectives:
1.2 The review determined that by prudent Treasury and cash flow management and because of falling interest rates there was a realistic expectation that savings from the provisional budget totalling £400k could be achieved. With a reduced share of common services against that originally budgeted for by the force a net revenue budget for 1999/2000 of £57.335m could be set.
1.3 For 1999/2000 the Joint Police Board have agreed to fund the force to full GAE which will include specific allowances for millennium policing requirements. This is a welcome development, which is fully supported by HMIC.
1.4 The Head of Corporate Services is also the Force Finance Officer. At the time of the 1997 Review Inspection a senior accountant and an accountant had just been appointed. Since then 2 further staff have been employed, an accountancy assistant and a clerical assistant. The department has eight further administrative staff. The senior accountant, with the accountancy assistant, has primary responsibility for revenue monitoring while the accountant has direct line management of the finance systems and the supervision of the finance department staff. These changes have allowed the department to progress work on the development of devolved budgeting, improve the quality of financial information available and refine controls and procedures.
1.5 At the time of local government reorganisation in 1996 there were a number of areas where the force could not justify the employment of staff on a full time basis to undertake some services previously provided by the regional council. It was decided to outsource these activities, in the first instance through the constituent authorities, on the grounds that the necessary expertise in the provision of these services was not available within the private sector. Initially, arrangements were for a 2-year period.
1.6 A number of services are still outsourced to Dundee City Council and these include:
1.7 A number of IT services, ad-hoc management, personnel and outsourced services are also provided by Dundee City Council. Prior to local government re-organisation the force was charged £1.2m for the provision of central support services however following the new arrangements the force now pays £350k for the outsource services with £350k in resultant staff costs for those personnel transferred from the region to the police. The provision of outsource support services in 1999/2000 has been reduced to £120k and HMIC congratulates the force on its judicious financial management in this regard.
1.8 In the force best value submission to the Scottish Office a number of commitments have been made in relation to determining value for money for the support services currently provided, beginning April 1999, including benchmarking. In addition to financial services, legal and cleaning services will be examined.
1.9 The 1998 Accounts Commission and HMIC Joint Study (Credit to the Force) found that Tayside Police had a higher level of devolvement of budgets to operational commanders than other forces except Northern, with 15% of net operational expenditure devolved to operational commanders. Primarily, this reflected the greater proportion of civilian pay that had been involved. Police overtime is fully devolved to operational commanders with further devolvement down to inspectors at section level.
1.10 Budget holders are permitted to take advantage of the virement rules that are in place for the force generally. Virement proposals must be reported to the senior accountant and approved by the Head of Corporate Services. Budget holders may vire up to 10% of the specific budget head but year-end balances are not permitted. HMIC noted that experience within the force has shown that budget holders do use savings effectively.
1.11 The progress in relation to the energy budget is an example of devolvement in action. In the first year following disaggregation a saving on energy expenditure was achieved. In the budget for the following year this saving was used to create an energy conservation budget with the aim of looking at initiatives in pursuit of the force environmental objective. In the year 1998/99 actual costs were calculated at station level. For 1999/2000 5% energy savings targets were introduced. Of savings achieved 2.5% will be allocated to the Energy Conservation Budget and as an incentive 2.5% will be available to the division for other purposes. HMIC commends the force on this initiative as good practice.
1.12 Consideration is being given by the force to further devolvement of areas such as police pay, planned property maintenance, other property costs (including water rates), telephony costs and fleet maintenance costs. HMIC notes that there is not a specific timescale set for these developments and suggests the force give consideration to this.
1.13 The best value submission also indicates that the force will be moving towards the provision of on-line financial management information across the force. This was to be achieved by March 1999. This deadline has not been met but the force hopes that such information will be available to divisional administration managers by the end of June 1999. Initially, this will be on a view only basis but at least it will give up to date information on how budget management is progressing.
1.14 Recognising that increased financial delegation requires additional skills and guidance the force are shortly to deliver in-house the CIPFA financial skills training package to budget holders and divisional administration managers. HMIC endorses such an arrangement as good practice.
2. Internal Audit
2.1 The Joint Police Board Treasurer is responsible for internal audit and the Internal Audit Department of Angus Council currently carries this out. While no service level agreement presently exists with the council HMIC noted that following local council elections in May a service level agreement will be put in place. Since the inspection, HMIC has been advised that discussions in this regard are at an advanced stage.
3. CCTV Funding
3.1 CCTV operator costs are paid from the force revenue budget although the monies for this fall outwith the amalgamation scheme, which sees the three constituent councils contribute towards the cost of funding the force. The operators have always been employed by Tayside Police and not by a local business trust as can be found in other parts of the country. However the force have an agreement that if for any reason staff were to be made redundant this would not incur a liability for the police but responsibility would fall to the respective constituent Council.
4. Capital Allocation
4.1 The force capital allocation for 1998/99 was £1.185m. In recent years financial plans have reflected the needs of the force rather than being constrained by the provisional allocations indicated by the Scottish Office. Invariably when the capital consents have been confirmed by the Scottish Office they have been insufficient to meet those identified needs. Accordingly, it has been necessary to reduce the amount allocated to the project each year or defer various projects with consequential effects for later years.
4.2 The force has been able to mitigate the effects of this shortfall by use of receipts, mainly proceeds from the sale of police houses. However the opportunities to augment the shortfall in capital consents in this way will significantly diminish as the remaining stock of 25 police houses reduces. The difficulties continue into the current financial year.
5. Police Buildings
5.1 The Force carried out an audit of operational property requirements in 1996 and since then on-going reviews have been carried out by force consultancy in conjunction with divisional commanders. These reviews took cognisance of the current and future operational needs, including location, response times and policing plans. The reviews identified not only areas where existing accommodation was deficient but also highlighted police stations and houses, which were no longer operationally required.
5.2 Where police stations were surplus to requirements reports were submitted to the Board and arrangements made to dispose of the properties. Proceeds from the sale of these properties have augmented the capital consents available to the force (as mentioned at paragraph 4.2 above) and have facilitated the considerable improvements made to the operational building stock in recent years. Specifically, the Police Board has financed the building of new police stations in Hilltown and Downfield, an extension and refurbishment at Lochee and conversion from offices to an operational police station in the city centre area of Dundee. HMIC visited Downfield during the inspection and was able to see at first hand the impressive facilities.
5.3 HMIC noted that the force have recently introduced a property strategy which addresses aspects of property management such as preventative maintenance, repairs and maintenance of properties (both planned and unplanned).
5.4 Efficient public counter facilities and a welcoming environment are important ingredients of an effective force. These provisions are lacking at the combined force headquarters and central division police building in Dundee. The poor conditions contrast with the image of the force and the commitment to a good level of public service evidenced by other facilities and achievements (e.g. the Charter Mark status). HMIC suggests that consideration be given to reviewing the manner and quality of service delivery at this site.
6. Vehicles
6.1 At a corporate level responsibility for management of the vehicle fleet rests with the Transport Manager who reports directly to the Head of Corporate Services. A computerised fleet management system is in place.
6.2 The fleet consists of 225 vehicles although there is always an overlap at any given time as new vehicles arrive and older stock awaits transport to auction. The police vehicle replacement budget in 1998/99 was £500k, a substantial increase over the previous 2 years. Workshop facilities are located at Dundee, Perth and Forfar. The latter was reopened in November 1997 to reduce the amount of time spent bringing vehicles to and from Dundee from Eastern Division thereby accruing savings on time, fuel and vehicle mileage.
6.3 The total mileage of the vehicle fleet in 1997/98 was 5.123m miles and the Assistant Fleet Manager has the remit to maintain and monitor mileage and fuel consumption statistics. In an effort to reduce running costs the force has piloted the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as a cost-effective means of powering vehicles. Five modified vehicles were purchased in 1997/98 with a further 7 in 1998/99. Although these vehicles give a low return in terms of mileage per gallon of LPG a substantially lower cost per litre still provides better value for money against both the petrol and diesel vehicles. Tayside are the only force in Scotland currently running LPG vehicles and HMIC endorses this pilot study as good practice in terms of best value. Operational patrol officers commented on the value of the quieter LPG powered vehicle.
6.4 For vehicle purchase the force takes advantage of demonstrator vehicles at reduced prices which compare well against those offered by main dealers. To a degree this policy has resulted in a vehicle fleet comprising a variety of vehicles which over time has included BMW, Saab, Volvo and Ford. Some have automatic gearboxes while others are manual. Traffic Patrol officers voiced criticism of this policy in that the two systems require different driving skills and in the main instruction on the traffic patrol officers driving course at the Scottish Police College is on manual vehicles.
6.5 The views expressed by users (particularly but not exclusively the force support group) on the make, design and functionality of vehicles were vocal but considered. Management generally offered a different perspective, emphasising the vfm issues. The question of which vehicles are 'fit for purpose' is clearly a matter for the force but HMIC is concerned that good communication and the 'user voice' should co-exist and therefore suggests that consideration be given to the introduction of a vehicle user group. Chaired by senior management this may assist to reconcile different perspectives and bring a common ownership of the issues.
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