A North East police boss has been accused of dodging public accountability over major cuts that will see more than 100 community jobs lost.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed earlier this week that Northumbria Police plans to axe most of its Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) roles as the force faces a £12m budget gap. 136 roles are set to go, 41 of which are currently vacant, though the force said it would seek to redeploy the at-risk PCSOs to other jobs.
The move has now prompted a councillor to make a formal complaint against Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Kim McGuinness, claiming she is “failing to comply with her duty of accountability”. Greg Stone, a Liberal Democrat in Newcastle, wrote to the PCC’s office alleging that the proposed job cuts had not been subject to proper scrutiny.
Read More: Northumbria Police to cut more than 100 PCSO jobs as force faces £12m inflation crisis
Blaming a lack of adequate Government funding for the cutbacks, Ms McGuinness argued on Monday that bosses “simply don’t have the resources to both increase police officer numbers and keep all PCSOs”, with plans to put a further 134 police officers on the streets in a major reorganisation of neighbourhood policing.
Coun Stone said that, after the Labour PCC had previously announced that the police would need to make “substantial” changes because of the pressures of inflation, he wrote to her in both January and February asking how the millions of pounds worth of savings would be achieved, but received no reply.
Newcastle City Council also resolved in February to invite Ms McGuinness, a former city councillor herself, to submit a report on what cuts were planned. No report was submitted to the council’s next meeting in March and the PCC was also unavailable to appear before the authority’s overview and scrutiny committee.
There was no mention of the PCSO cuts in a financial report put before members of the Northumbria Police and Crime Panel this week or a February report detailing Ms McGuinness’ raising of the police precept on council tax bills by almost 10%. Coun Stone wrote: “It would appear to me, and indeed to a reasonable member of the public, that she has not adequately taken the opportunity to be accountable to the public and to submit to appropriate scrutiny by answering questions from elected representatives either in official correspondence or at appropriate council meetings.”
He added: “It is my view that it is a key responsibility of the PCC to comply with the Nolan Principle of Accountability to be “accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this”. It is fundamental to why her post exists and it is what she is paid a very significant salary by taxpayers to do. My complaint is that the Police and Crime Commissioner appears to be failing to comply with her duty of accountability and is thereby in breach of the Code of Conduct.”
A spokesperson for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria said that Ms McGuinness, who is in the running to become the North East mayor next year, was held to account by the Police and Crime Panel. They added: “These are public bodies in place to scrutinise the actions and decisions of their PCC, providing both support and challenge, acting as a critical friend to provide scrutiny and ensure information is available to the public.
"Each panel is made up of independent members as well as locally elected councillors. In Northumbria, the panel includes two representatives from Coun Greg Stone’s own party, the Liberal Democrats. The most recent Medium Term Financial Strategy is always shared with panel members as part of the scrutiny process, as well as being made publicly available on the PCC’s website.”
The Police and Crime Panel generally meets roughly every six weeks, but has struggled several times over the last year to have enough councillors attend in order for the meeting to be quorate. At this week’s panel meeting, Ms McGuinness claimed that there would be “no redundancies” because PCSOs would be offered other vacant jobs at Northumbria Police and said the cuts were a result of “the constant chipping away after 13 years of austerity”.
Read Next:
- Last chance to have your say on £4.2bn devolution deal that will create new North East mayor
- Former Gateshead school set to be demolished to make way for new housing estate
- Labour row as mayor's event with Ken Loach branded 'hugely upsetting' to Jewish community
- MP accuses Government of 'giving up on the North' as Newcastle loses to Derby in rail HQ contest
- £48m Gateshead hotel plans approved after being axed from Quayside arena development
