New North Yorkshire Police chief sets out £10m efficiency drive as consultants brought in to help cut costs

Speaking on the first morning in her new role, Lisa Winward said consultancy giants PwC had been brought in to help the force identify back-office savings. Money freed up will instead be ploughed into front-line policing, she said.

Ms Winward said while back-office staff worked very hard, “we are not always as efficient as we could be”.

She said: “As an organisation we probably fill in an awful lot of forms and spreadsheets that could be automated, for example.”

Speaking at a press conference alongside Ms Winward yesterday, Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan would not rule out job losses arising from the programme, saying: “We are here to deliver a service and we need to put as much money as possible into the front line and if we can realise efficiencies in the back office, we will do.”

Last year, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary rated the force’s efficiency as requiring improvement, in particular criticising its slowness to grasp modern technology to allow officers to complete tasks while out on patrol rather than having to return to a police station.

She said she would like to introduce new ways for members of the public to contact the police, saying other forces had web-chat facilities on their websites.

Ms Winward, 46, of York, was previously North Yorkshire Police's Deputy Chief Constable and had been leading the force on an interim basis since the retirement of Dave Jones in April.

He had said he wanted to “hand over the baton” as the force began the next phase of its transformation.

She was selected for the five-year post after a recruitment process that included what is believed to be a first for policing in England and Wales: a Question Time-style live event, in which she and another shortlisted candidate faced a grilling by members of the public, police officers and others.