Charles Perryman: Reforms must not distract us from business of policing

There are two important issues which are at the centre of these transformations, the pending introduction of single directly-elected police and crime commissioners and the cuts in the police budget.

Today, MPs will be given the first chance to debate the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, which was recently announced by the Home Secretary. The draft Bill looks at replacing the police authorities around the country with directly elected commissioners, who will be tasked with holding the Chief Constable to account.

The Government justifies this radical change to police governance by saying that it will replace bureaucratic accountability with democratic accountability. It has forgotten to think about whether the proposals will bring effective accountability.

I do not believe that a single individual can do the job of 17 people and be able to understand the wide range of activities the police undertake so they can ask the right questions to hold the Chief Constable to account.

Furthermore, with this proposal, the Government risks bringing partisan party politics into the oversight of local policing which is something that the existing structure has successfully avoided for over a century. It is also hard to see how one person can really represent the views of the whole community. In terms of policing areas, South Yorkshire is relatively compact. North Yorkshire is huge by comparison. Yet this plan would place a single individual as the sole representative. It is also unprecedented for so much power to be concentrated in a single person.

My concern is that the draft Bill will force us to take our eye off the main ball at just the wrong time. Recent previous attempts at police reform have showed how much of a distraction it can be.

It's not as if the new proposals will save money, which is our main objective at present. The Government admits it will cost more, with early estimates putting the election process alone at well over 50m.

For police authorities those costs could mean even bigger cuts in local policing services, potentially equivalent to about 20 officers for South Yorkshire.

The draft Bill comes at a very difficult time. All our efforts at the moment are directed towards preparing strategies to protect local services.

At the same time, however, the police authority has a responsibility to ensure that proper arrangements exist for providing local oversight of policing on behalf of the community, and so we will need to engage with the Government on the new proposals.

At South Yorkshire Police Authority, we are facing cuts of more than 40m over the next four years. It is expected that cuts of up to 15m will be required in 2011-12 alone.

In the last few years, the police in South Yorkshire have made impressive progress in cutting crime and increasing public confidence. We don't want to lose that momentum.

We are not blind to the fact that finances are being reduced across the country and we knew these cuts were going to happen. The challenge will be to get the most out of every pound. We have asked the Chief Constable to concentrate his resources on maintaining safer communities, and we will be supporting him in looking at new ways of working with partners to protect services.

We will be setting targets for cost reduction and improvement in productivity, but we recognise that it may be necessary to review the range and the level of services that are affordable.

I would like to reiterate that we cannot make police officers redundant. However, 83 per cent of police costs in South Yorkshire go on people. A reduction of 20 per cent in the budget cannot be achieved without a reduction in numbers.

There are already forces around the country announcing redundancies. However, we are better placed in South Yorkshire because of the level of reserves we have built up. This has

given us time, not a lot, but space to reflect on our service delivery and how we can meet the challenge in maintaining

and improving the service to the public while reducing the budget.

There is still scope for efficiency such as officers using mobile data systems, and aligning processes and resources through regional collaboration with forces across Yorkshire.

It is vital to ensure that we are placing the most emphasis and resources in the areas which are most important to the people of South Yorkshire. We are therefore confident of being

able to manage the change successfully and ensure front-line services to the public remain as unaffected as possible.

Charles Perryman is chairman of South Yorkshire Police Authority.