Fighting Crime (Public Engagement)

We want chief constables to be operationally independent. Just over a year ago, we removed the ring-fencing fom some of the money that was going to the police so that chief constables would have more discretion in how they spend it and how they allocate their budgets. That is important. If we are talking about operational independence, the Home Office will have a single confidence target, under which people will be asked whether they think the police and their partners are effective in reducing crime in their area. That is the target we need and the way in which we can see whether chief constables and others are doing an effective job in their area. It will allow chief constables to have the operational independence that they need to identify the crime profile in their area and to task their officers, police staff and PCSOs accordingly. They will then be judged on the single target of whether people in their area believe that the police have been effective in reducing crime and have confidence in what they are doing about it. I agree with the hon. Lady and I hope that some of the things we are doing will deal with her point.