Surrey Police withdraws from private outsourcing programme
Surrey Police Authority has withdrawn from a controversial scheme to outsource some services to private security companies.
Members met on Thursday (September 6) to end plans to take part in the Business Partnering for Police Programme – but the Authority, the body which oversees Surrey Police, still faces a bill of more than £150,000 to cover costs.
Surrey teamed up with the West Midlands authority in March as it looked for ways to make savings after its £220m annual government grant was cut by 20 per cent.
A shortlist of six companies was drawn up for a £1.5 billion contract to take over what Chief Constable Lynne Owens referred to as “behind the scenes functions”.
These included Crawley-based security firm G4S, whose failure to supply sufficient guards for the Olympic Games was said to be a factor in the decision to withdraw.
Following an initial meeting in July, Chief Constable Lynne Owens said the force would look into collaboration with Sussex Police with the possibility of revisiting private sector partnering in the future.
She said: “I can accept and appreciate that the Surrey Police Authority is reluctant to put the force in a position where it is investing taxpayers’ money without being fully confident that it can deliver such a programme which effectively benefits the people of Surrey.”
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Monday 20 May 2013
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