{"id":567614,"date":"2025-11-13T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/567614\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:31:12","slug":"police-and-crime-commissioners-to-be-scrapped-in-england-and-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/567614\/","title":{"rendered":"Police and crime commissioners to be scrapped in England and Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Home Office said the saving will allow them to invest an extra \u00a320m in front-line policing every year, which it said was enough for 320 constables.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Though its stated aim was to make forces more accountable to the areas they serve,    the costs of the system and the effectiveness of commissioners has long been criticised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Policing minister Sarah Jones told the Commons on Thursday that the model had &#8220;failed to live up to expectations&#8221; and &#8220;not delivered what it was set up to achieve&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She added that &#8220;public understanding [of PCCs&#8217; role] remains low despite efforts to raise their profiles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Jones said PCCs had sought to provide strong oversight and tackle crime but the model &#8220;weakened local police accountability and has had perverse impacts on the recruitment of chief constables.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">PCCs&#8217; main responsibilities include setting an annual budget, appointing chief constables, producing a five year policing plan, and assessing the performance of their force against the plan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Home Office said under the changes, measures to cut crime would be &#8220;considered as part of wider public services&#8221;, including education and healthcare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It added that the government would ensure support services for victims and witnesses currently provided by PCCs would continue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Mahmood said the introduction of new reforms would make police accountable to their local mayoralties or councils.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Responding to the announcement in the Commons, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said it &#8220;represents a tinkering around the edges from a government which is failing on crime and policing&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He cited rises in crimes including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cq8z8kdd8zvo\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shoplifting<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c701p0g61keo\" class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">warnings from police forces of cuts to front line staffing<\/a> due to funding shortfalls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Emily Spurrell, the PCC for Merseyside and chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said PCCs were &#8220;deeply disappointed by this decision and the lack of engagement with us&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She argued that the role had &#8220;improved scrutiny and transparency, ensuring policing delivers on the issues that matter most to local communities&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Abolishing PCCs now, without any consultation, as policing faces a crisis of public trust and confidence&#8230; risks creating a dangerous accountability vacuum,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Home Office said the saving will allow them to invest an extra \u00a320m in front-line policing every&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-567614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115542404800712301","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}