Home Secretary to announce major policing reforms

A new Home Office unit to monitor performance of police forces will be announced by the Home Secretary this week

A dedicated government unit to improve performance across policing and make our streets safer will be announced by the Home Secretary this week. 

In a speech at the annual conference hosted by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and Association for Police and Crime Commissioners on Tuesday, Yvette Cooper will outline the new unit as part of a roadmap for major reform that will create a new partnership between the Home Office and police.  

To ensure communities can have confidence in their local police force, the unit will harness national data to monitor performance and direct improvements, building on the existing work of the College of Policing, policing inspectorate (HMICFRS), NPCC and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs).   

For the first time in over a decade, a dedicated Home Office unit will be introduced to directly monitor police performance, including in high-priority areas such as tackling violence against women and girls, knife crime and improving neighbourhood policing.  

Officer time spent on the frontline will be monitored as part of the intelligence drive, drawing on local police data. Police response times will also be standardised and measured, a key issue for the public that is currently not consistently monitored and managed. Through the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, the government is committed to ensuring officers are spending more time being visible and accessible in our communities, and minimising administrative tasks.

The Home Office will use police-recorded data on child sexual abuse to help forces understand and tackle the hidden harms in their areas. This will support forces in identifying how they can do more to build victim confidence, draw offending out of the shadows and bring perpetrators to justice.

There will also be a focus on police standards, with data on misconduct, vetting and disciplinary procedures collected, monitored and acted on to ensure forces are rooting out those who are not fit to serve and help restore the public’s trust in their local officers. 

With a more comprehensive picture of how policing is delivering for its communities, the Home Secretary will take a more hands-on approach to driving improvements, working with policing partners to ensure that the appropriate support, and where necessary, direct intervention is being identified and delivered.  

The new performance unit will complement the current system, with PCCs taking on a renewed focus on strengthening local policing and preventing crime in their areas.

In her speech, the Home Secretary is expected to say: “This is a critical juncture for the future of policing. And if as a country we are to remain equipped to fight the fast-changing challenges of today and tomorrow, then we know policing must evolve.

“We have a huge opportunity ahead of us to reset the relationship between government and the police, to regain the trust and support of the people we all serve and to reinvigorate the best of British policing.

“Strong and consistent performance is critical to commanding public confidence. I truly believe that working together we can mobilise behind this mission – and deliver a fairer, safer country for all.”

The Home Secretary is expected to set out her vision for policing, and how this focus on data and performance is just part of an ambitious programme to bring the founding principles of policing by consent and preventing crime to the 21st Century.  

The need for reform has the backing of police leaders, with the government committed to working with them to bring the change needed to reconnect policing with the communities they serve. 

It builds on a government manifesto commitment to give the policing inspectorate (HMICFRS) greater powers to intervene in failing forces and on the important work that they, the College of Policing and PCCs are doing to boost standards and drive improvement.