Police Reform

There were a number of national organisations that contributed to improving the way forces work across many areas of policing. The work they carried ranged from policy, guidance and policing best practice to leadership and development and the provision of national IT systems and services. The organisations that carried out this work include Centrex, PITO, parts of the Home Office, ACPO, the APA, and HMIC.
However there was agreement from those involved in policing at the national level that this activity was not always co-ordinated in the best possible way for the benefit of policing. There was also some overlap and duplication of effort between the various agencies.
The creation of NPIA is a good opportunity to reconsider what national support the police service needs and, working with policing stakeholders, to agree on how best it can be delivered.

The NPIA has its origins in the ACPO response to the Government’s Green Paper in November 2003, which suggested the creation of a new agency as a means of supporting the improvement of police forces and police authorities both individually and collectively.
In the response ACPO said an agency was needed to support the implementation of national standards. The Government committed to this in the Police Reform White Paper "Building Communities, Beating Crime," and the National Policing Plan 2005-08 in November 2004.

The NPIA is funded by a top slice from overall police funding.

The NPIA will be different from current national police bodies. In fact, alongside Serious Organsised Crime Agency (SOCA) that launches in 2006, the NPIA will be one of the only national policing bodies around to support forces.
NPIA’s creation is an opportunity to consider what national-level support to forces is provided and how it should be delivered. It is an opportunity to eradicate the overlap and duplication of effort that exists between policing agencies currently operating at the national level.

No. The operational independence of chief constables will be unaffected by the NPIA. In working with the police service on a particular issue, the NPIA will always seek to build consensus among forces on the right path to take for the benefit of policing nationally.

Chief Executive Peter Neyroud, formerly Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, will lead the NPIA. He will work with Peter Holland a independant Chair of the NPIA board to deliver the priorities set for the new agency. The new agency will comprise a number of directorates that will oversee different areas of business.
The NPIA will also be responsible to the Home Office, as its sponsor government department, and to Parliament for its efficient management. Representatives from the Home Office, police authorites and ACPO will also be represented at various levels throughout the organisation.

The NPIA will be able to directly recruit police staff with the right skills and experience to contribute to improving policing at the national level. Secondments will also be available to similarly-skilled and motivated police staff.

A programme team comprising experts experts, including representatives from the policing agencies affected by NPIA’s creation, was formed in January 2005. Having completed its preparatory work during 2005, the team is now working on the detailed plans to create the agency.

The Chief Executive will be part of and report to the NPIA Board which will comprise representatives from policing stakeholder bodies including ACPO and the police authorities. Until the NPIA is up and running the Chief Executive designate will report through the existing governance structure set out for the NPIA Programme.

The NPIA will be established as a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB). It will be responsible to both the Home Office as its sponsor department and to Parliament for its effective and efficient management. The NPIA will also draw funding from the Home Office whose representatives will sit on the board of the NPIA alongside those from the police service and the police authorities. However, the NPIA will have a strong connection to the police service and it will ultimately deliver the support that the service requires.

The NPIA will have a small corporate headquarters in central London. It also inherits estate from the existing policing organisations such as Centrex and PITO.

Bodies such as Centrex and PITO will not exist once the NPIA is up and running.

NPIA’s creation will mean significant change for many of the staff working for the existing policing agencies and the Home Office and it is expected that there will be some redundancies. However, with work to shape the NPIA ongoing, it is impossible to outline precisely how that change will impact on specific individuals or groups at this stage.