Appendix 1 - Inspection And Audit
Jump to a section: Police Performance | HMIC Inspections | Annual Audit Letter
Police Performance - 2008/09
Analysis of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) is an annual assessment developed by the Home Office with support from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), the Association of Police Authorities, the Association of Chief Police Officers and other stakeholders.
It reports data against each of the APACS performance indicators for Policing. For 2008/09, the Home Office did not set top down numerical targets for the police except for one set against APACS indicator relating to Public Confidence
Click here to view the full report.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) Inspections
1. Delivering the Policing Pledge (published October 2009)
During 2009 Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) visited all 43 police forces in England and Wales to review how well forces were delivering the standards they promised the public within their Policing Pledges.
In October 2009 West Mercia Police was awarded an overall grade of "good", one of only 8 forces to achieve this grade.
Of the ten pledge standards we were assessed as ‘good' for seven and ‘fair' for the remaining three. As well as reporting on the force's delivery of each Pledge standard, HMIC also assessed and graded the efforts we were making to improve performance.
| Surveys and management meetings were being used to improve performance; public satisfaction and confidence data were taken into account. | FAIR |
| The force had identified deficiencies in its delivery of the Pledge and was taking action in those areas. | GOOD |
| Implementation was led by the force's senior team, the Police Authority was involved, staff were being trained and the Pledge was communicated to staff and the public. | GOOD |
2. Police Report Card (published March 2010)
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) assessed the performance of all 43 police forces in England and Wales rating them as ‘poor', ‘fair', ‘good' or ‘excellent' in 18 areas of service delivery.
West Mercia Police was rated as 'good' for ‘Local Crime and Policing' and ‘Confidence and Satisfaction' and ‘fair' for ‘Protection from Serious Harm'.
Within these categories, the force was graded as ‘excellent' for preventing knife crime and received a ‘good/excellent' grading for comparative satisfaction of our BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) community.
West Mercia received no ‘poor' grades and HMIC also commented that, by national standards, West Mercia Police is a low-cost force.
All of the 18 categories showed a direction of travel, relative to previous assessments, that was either stable or improving.
We are pleased that HMIC has recognised West Mercia Police as one of the better performing forces in the country; however we are constantly seeking to improve our service and intend to put in place measures to address those aspects of performance graded as ‘fair'.
The full report can be viewed at www.mypolice.org.uk
Annual Audit Letter 2008/09
This Letter provides an overall summary of the Audit Commission's assessment of the Authority, based on audit work performed in relation to the accounting period ending 31 March 2009.
Audit of the accounts
An unqualified opinion on the Authority's accounts was issued in July 2009.
Value for money conclusion
The Authority has adequate arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources.
Police Use of Resources scores
West Mercia was rated as one of the top 8 police forces out of 43 in the independent Police Use of Resources Evaluation (PURE).
| Theme | Assessment |
| Managing finances | 3 |
| Governing the business | 3 |
| Managing resources | 3 |
Level 1 Performs poorly - does not meet minimum requirements
Level 2 Performs adequately - meets only minimum requirements
Level 3 Performs well - exceeds minimum requirements
Level 4 Performs excellently - significantly exceeds minimum requirements
In their annual report "Auditing the accounts 2008/09", the Audit Commission congratulated West Mercia Police Authority on being the only police authority in the country where they were able to issue their opinion by 31 August 2009. The Commission stated "This demonstrates what can be achieved when an authority gives appropriate priority to financial reporting."
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