I have asked the Chief Constable to comment on the report and to provide a full response on how Surrey Police is addressing the Area for Improvement for Chief Constables identified in the report.
The Chief Constables response was:
“I welcome the October 2019 HMICFRS report, The Hard Yards: Police-to-police collaboration, which focussed on the purpose, benefits, leadership and skills necessary for successful collaboration. The report made two national recommendations and one specifically for Chief Constables; “If forces haven’t yet implemented an effective system to track the benefits of their collaborations, they should use the methodology created by the NPCC, the College of Policing and the Home Office”. This recommendation has been recorded and will be monitored through existing governance structures. Surrey and Sussex Police already have processes in place to monitor benefits from change programmes, and these processes are being constantly refined. Documentation includes the extent of collaboration, a detailed breakdown of costs and benefits by force, and a “Benefits Update” report for review at strategic meetings. Work is ongoing to further develop relevant processes with key stakeholders.
I am part of the Governance structure for collaboration locally for both the Surrey-Sussex biltaeral collabroation and regional collaboration. In light of this report from HMICFRS I would like to review the current system in place to track benefits of collaboration to seek reassurance that the methology used locally is as good as the national methodology. I have asked for a report from the Chief Constable to be provided in early 2021 on this topic.
David Munro, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner