‘Worst value’ PCC hits back at least-efficient label

A police and crime commissioner (PCC) has hit back at being labelled the ‘worst value’ office in the country.

Cambridgeshire PCC Sir Graham Bright said before giving the least-efficient quantitative tag to the authority, critics should examine his savings over the last two years.

Sir Graham was responding to research conducted by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, which campaigns against wasteful public finances, after finishing ‘top’ of a league table that saw Cambridgeshire spend more per head than any other PCC.

The amount spent by OPCCs per 1,000 residents varied between Cambridgeshire’s figure of £2,979 down to just £624 for Thames Valley.

Cambridgeshire office costs increased from £870,000 to £1.02 million over the past 12 months, according to its statement of accounts, including a rise of some 57 per cent in spending on staff, from £438,000 to £688,000.

Sir Graham said: “I am extremely mindful of the costs of my office. However, in order to meet the level of savings needed I require a team to support me.”

This included transferring staff from Cambridgeshire Constabulary to his payroll as well as staff coordinating joint working with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

“I have also had to make arrangements to deliver many additional responsibilities through the commissioning of over £2.2 million of grants,” he told the Cambridge News.

“These grants include victims support, restorative justice and managing community safety grants.”

In addition, he said his team has led successful bids for government funding of more than £450,000 “to support various projects, money which would not have come to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough without our leadership”.

Sir Graham said he has also delivered £14 million of savings over the past two years in his £71,000-a-year role as the PCC to 342,000 residents.

Cambridge City Council leader and police and crime panel member Councillor Lewis Herbert has called for clarification on just how much Sir Graham spends.

Jonathan Isaby, the alliance`s chief executive, said: “We can quibble endlessly about official figures, or Mr Bright could – as many other police and crime commissioners have done – focus instead on how to deliver further savings to the taxpayer.

“PCCs have an important job to do, but that`s no excuse for spiralling staff costs.”

According to the Taxpayers’ Alliance statistics, on average, overall costs for the 41 OPCCs were £46,638 lower in 2013/14 than for the average police authority in 2010/11 – a five per cent decrease.

OPCCs are costing £2 million less to run than the police authorities they replaced in 2012, the campaign group claims.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said if all OPCCs were as efficient as Thames Valley, the savings would be more than £29 million and pay for 1,200 police officers.