Home Affairs Select Committee

Home Affairs Select Committee

Sir Clive Loader, Leicestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, responds to the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) report (published 23 May 2013) entitled “Police and Crime Commissioners: Register of Interests”.  Please see comments below.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire, Sir Clive Loader, said:

“I decided at the outset that I would do this job flying solo and have not appointed a Deputy or brought in a posse of special assistants at a significant cost to the taxpayer to help me carry out my role.  As a result I focus all my attention on the job in hand and am not diverted by additional demands on my time from other paid or unpaid work commitments.

“However, I do have a large job to do and while I have retained the staff I inherited from the Police Authority, including the Chief Executive and Chief Finance Officer, if we are to carry out the full breadth of our statutory duties effectively, additional capacity will be essential.

“The Police Authority delivered its responsibilities with the help of a small, but effective team. However, the role of the Commissioner is much wider, some elements of which require specialised skills, and we have allowed for appropriately qualified staff to help us deliver on those areas in our budget.

“In setting our budget we allowed for a robust staffing structure, inflationary costs and the forthcoming pay awards.

“However, we are still considering ways to work more closely with the Force and other partners which may well negate the need for some of the posts on the staffing structure. 

“The budget, which has been set at £1.046m, less than the £1.077m quoted, is on par with other similar PCC offices in the East Midlands (and indeed further afield) and is just 0.62% of the overall policing budget. 

“Claims that my budget has not been published are inaccurate, and indeed surprising, as we have written confirmation that it is in the public domain from a representative of the Committee itself, dated 8 April.

“Finally, I am all in favour of increased transparency, but if we are to have comparison charts I think it is essential that we compare like for like.  At this early stage I can see why this was an impossible task, but there does not appear to be much uniformity in the information supplied.

“My focus to date has been on developing my Police and Crime Plan, agreeing the budget, listening to communities and our partners and developing commissioning proposals.  The underpinning Governance arrangements are really important so I am now working through those in an orderly way ensuring that my commitment to transparency is clear.  I’ve read the report and will take on board any areas where we might be able to improve.”