Effectiveness of the Committee In 2010-12

First Report of Session 2012-13, Report, Together with Formal Minutes

This report discusses the impact of the Committee work in the 2010-12 Session of Parliament. Prepared as a Traffic Light Report, the first of its kind, it scores Government responses to each of the Committee's recommendations as green, red or yellow, to indicate whether, in the Committee's view, they have been accepted by the Government, rejected, or are still under consideration or development. It is intended as a benchmark and tool for developing a more strategic approach to scrutiny, which will improve the Committee's ability to hold the Home Office to account. Going forward, it will be used as the basis for the systematic follow-up of recommendations over the rest of the Parliament.

We recommend that the Home Office either carries out this research itself, or
commissions another body, such as Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary,
to carry it out, to assess whether large-scale collaboration with the private sector
offers forces the scope to make savings, whilst maintaining or enhancing
operational effectiveness. The picture is far from clear at present. This is an
emerging area and some research about the benefits and disadvantages would
be helpful to forces ...