This year, for the first time, we have assessed leadership across the force. The assessment has led to a narrative rather than graded judgment, which is summarised below.
Read more about my assessment of Merseyside Police’s performance this year, including where I would like to see improvements next year.
I am very pleased with the performance of Merseyside Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime.
The force has strong arrangements in place with its partner agencies and it uses these to outstanding effect to tackle all aspects of organised crime. It responds well to vulnerable victims, regarding those most vulnerable as a priority and giving them good support, particularly missing children. The force investigates crime well, and it recognises the impact of anti-social behaviour and the consequences should it go unchecked.
I am reassured that Merseyside Police is well prepared to face its future financial challenges, having successfully reduced its spending over the last spending review period. There is a clearly articulated and well understood view of the short term priorities for the force and the resources and skills required to achieve them. The force’s change programme is ensuring workforce plans are closely aligned with demand and future organisational and financial requirements. I would, however, like to see a more detailed analysis of how the savings achieved during the latest programme of change will influence the budgetary planning beyond 2017.
I am impressed by the strong, visible and knowledgeable leadership demonstrated within the organisation, which could be further improved by more work to understand better and respond to the views of the workforce. The force engages well with the communities of Merseyside, using a variety of methods.
Description of force area
Merseyside Police provides policing services to the metropolitan area of Merseyside. Although there are some more affluent areas, Merseyside has a high level of poverty. Around 1.4 million people live in a predominantly urban setting. The force covers the conurbation that includes the city of Liverpool and surrounding towns. The resident population is increased by very large number of university students and the large numbers who visit, socialise in, commute into, or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure includes major rail stations, an airport and a major sea port.
The proportion of areas in Merseyside that are predicted to present a very high challenge to the police is higher than the national average. These are characterised by social deprivation or a concentration of commercial premises (including licensed premises), and in some cases both.
Working arrangements
Merseyside Police has collaborative working arrangements with all the other north west forces through the Regional Organised Crime Unit. It is exploring further opportunities to expand beyond the current arrangements, which focuses on serious and organised crime. The force is also finalising an agreement with Cheshire Constabulary and North Wales Police to provide forensic services.
Mental health triage services are provided in collaboration with the Mersey Care NHS Trust.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Merseyside Police to be good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. It works well with other organisations to keep people safe, including the most vulnerable, by preventing crime and anti-social behaviour. The quality of crime investigation is good and the force works well to stop re-offending. It is outstanding in its tackling of organised crime groups, and has the necessary arrangements to enable it to fulfil its national policing responsibilities. This is the first year HMIC has graded forces on their overall effectiveness so comparison of their year-on-year effectiveness is not possible.
Efficiency
Merseyside Police is well prepared to face its future financial challenges. It has successfully reduced its spending over the last spending review period while working hard to maintain its services to the public. For these reasons the force is graded as good. Future saving plans beyond 2017 are not detailed and rely heavily on savings coming from the force’s change programmes. In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the previous spending review period, Merseyside was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
There is an ethical culture within Merseyside Police, and the force has established practices to support the wellbeing of the workforce and deal with complaints and misconduct in a fair and appropriate way.
Merseyside Police engages well with its communities using a range of methods, and officers and staff understand the importance of treating people fairly and with respect. The force complies with all features of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme apart from the need to publish data. Taser is used fairly and appropriately.
This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
Leaders in Merseyside Police are visible and demonstrate strong, effective leadership. We found strong loyalty and commitment from the workforce who are proud to work for Merseyside Police. The force undertook a cultural audit with its middle managers and above, to understand better the leadership culture within the force.
The majority of the workforce is well-motivated and has a high regard for its senior leaders. Successful engagement is primarily led through the extensive ‘Just Trilogy’ (Just Talk, Just Think and Just Lead) road-shows and the change programme. However the force should do more to understand the specific views of its workforce by conducting a regular survey.
Insights from other inspections
HMIC undertakes other inspections in addition to the PEEL programme. Since the last PEEL assessment there have been five reports published on inspections that included Merseyside Police. More detail on some of these inspections can be found under the Other inspections section.
Looking ahead to PEEL 2016
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how the force responds to this assessment and the areas for improvement that HMIC has identified in the last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- the formation of a new command team during 2016, which will see the appointment of a new chief constable and two new assistant chief constables;
- more detailed analysis as to how the savings achieved during the latest programme of change will influence the budgetary planning beyond 2017; and
- urther work to understand and respond to the views of the workforce.
In May 2016, like the majority of forces in England and Wales, the force will see the second elections for its police and crime commissioner.
