Monday 24th
November, 3.30pm, Grimond Room, Portcullis House
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will hold a scrutiny session
on increasing police productivity at 3.30pm on Monday
24th November 2025.
The Home Office has identified £354m of potential savings in
police forces through to 2028-29. However, the National Audit
Office (NAO) has found that it has not yet decided how to meet
this ambition, nor established what funding is available. Some
potential savings will require new legislation, and over half of
the savings identified have been assessed as high or medium risk
to deliver. Police forces last year drew down £276m from their
reserves to help balance their annual budgets, the NAO found,
while using £632m of borrowing to fund 60% of their capital
programmes.
In an evidence session with the leadership of the Home Office and
senior figures from the College of Policing, the PAC will
scrutinise how government is supporting police forces to achieve
these savings and achieve sustainable improvements in police
productivity, including the adoption of new technologies and
standardisation across different police forces. Other likely
topics include the possible impact of financial pressures on
front line performance, and the disclaiming of the College of
Policing's accounts in July by the NAO's
Comptroller & Auditor General.
Witnesses from 3.30pm:
- Dame DCB, Permanent Secretary at
Home Office
- Richard Clarke, Director General of
the Public Safety Group at Home Office
- Bethan Page-Jones, Director of
Strategy, Capability and Resources Directorate at Home Office
- Chief Constable Sir Andy Marsh QPM,
Chief Executive at College of Policing
- James Bottomley, Head of the Centre
for Police Productivity at College of Policing
