Agenda item

Members to receive a report informing the findings of the review of the Office of Police and Crime Commissioners Commissioned services and to introduce the new draft Commissioning Strategy including details of internal processes.

Members will be asked to comment on and note the progress to date.

The Police and Crime Panel received a report informing the findings of a review of the OPCC Commissioned Services.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) introduced the report and gave an outline of the background leading to the review of commissioned services, the review findings and steps taken to address the failings and the plans to introduce a Commissioning Strategy.

The PCC reported that he had inherited a situation regarding commissioned services that was failing to meet high standards; as well as clear systemic failures the review found a lack of due diligence, lack of record making, and a lack of accountability which the report showed along with the lessons learnt and steps put in place to tackle the issues uncovered.

Members of the panel noted the intention to deliver a proper commissioning service through the new strategy and that it included provision to clearly monitor performance, value for money and to give adequate assurance of accountability.

The Chair  commented that the review findings were a concern to read and seemed to show a mismanagement of public funds. The Chair was grateful this area had now been looked into and that there was a clear indication of what had been happening and the steps taken to address those matters.

Members queried whether the issues found were inherent in the system from the beginning or had occurred later and were informed that this appeared to be a systemic issue. The review had to cover a period of time with a cut-off date created and so it was probable there were earlier issues, although the review found issues with contracts and records management from 2015 onwards, with issues continuing to occur as recently as June  2022.

Members noted there had been a number of changes in staffing at the OPCC and suggested the impact of that and loss of “organisational knowledge” may have made a difference to processes being followed. There was also some confusion that the report suggested some details were not available, yet those were accessible on the OPCC website.

Members were also conscious that some elements of the failings might be Covid specific noting many organisations processes were altered to facilitate people working from home and it was queried whether that had led to some of the issues such as lack of record marking or failing to back up later.

Regarding record keeping, some of that was related to Covid but that was expected to be backed up later and it wasn’t.

In relation to the criteria for contracts it was noted that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) changed requirements some time ago, and a needs assessment was required as part of the process for bids however, as far as the specifications in contracts, whilst there was a MoJ element the requirements OPCC had were around core servicing and a specification in the contract between provider and OPCC contract so it was difficult to look back at what was funded and why, which has led on to the points about monitoring and moving to the future to make improvements.

Members also noted that the panel had previously received a full audit report which did not raise these issues and assurance was sought on the accuracy and robustness of this report and the audit report.

The PCC explained that for some time after he came to office, he was repeatedly assured that matters were ok, and it was only after several small but significant things came to light that he was sought more assurance and a review.

Members still had concerns how matters would improve going forward and referred to challenges in contracts such as the domestic abuse helpline and indicated it would be helpful to see how contracts were managed and performance measured in future. 

The PCC stated that everything in the report was as presented, and he had gone over it very carefully with those responsible for bringing it together and assured the panel that future reports on monitoring and managing contracts could be provided to the panel.

The Chair mentioned a concern about awarded funds not being spent as agreed and welcomed the new commissioning strategy which it was hoped would also ensure instances of funds not being put to use were detected and funds returned.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the contents of the report be noted,

2.    That an update report on progress of the Commissioning Strategy, contract management and monitoring outcomes be brought to a panel meeting in 6 months.