Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their plans for the future of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO); what they consider to be the assets of ACPO and functions hitherto exercised by its subsidiary and affiliated companies; and what is to happen to those assets and operations.

Police and Crime Commissioners, with Chief Officers, are driving work to close down the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and establish a new body, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). The intention is for ACPO to close on 31 March 2015 and for the NPCC to take over responsibility for coordination and leadership of operational policing at the national level from 1 April.

The functions of the NPCC will be:

• Co-ordination of national operations including defining, monitoring and testing force contributions to the Strategic Policing Requirement.

• Command of counter terrorism operations and delivery of counter terrorist policing through the national network as set out in the Section 22A agreement.

• Co-ordination of the national police response to national emergencies and the mobilisation of resources across force borders and internationally.

• National operational implementation of standards and policy as set by the College of Policing and Government.

• Working with the College, development of joint national approaches on criminal justice, value for money, service transformation, information management, performance management and technology.

• Working with the College (where appropriate), development of joint national approaches to staff and human resource issues (including misconduct and discipline) in line with Chief Constables’ responsibilities as employers.

Unlike ACPO, the NPCC will not be a company limited by guarantee. Instead, the NPCC will be a collaboration of police forces, hosted by the Metropolitan Police Service. Membership will be held by forces as opposed to individual members. The assets formerly held by ACPO are being assessed as part of dissolving the company.

The functions carried out by national units that formerly sat under ACPO are also being transferred to new arrangements. They will be hosted by an individual force or other body on behalf of all forces. For example, ACPO’s Criminal Records Office (ACRO) will be hosted by Hampshire Constabulary.