Background Local commissioning of services
57.The 2011 Act established directly elected local Police and Crime Commissioners with responsibility for maintaining the police force in their area and holding the chief constable to account for the full range of their responsibilities. The first Police and Crime Commissioners were elected, and took up their posts, in November 2012.
58.Since the establishment of Police and Crime Commissioners opportunities for them to assume additional responsibilities on behalf of local communities have been identified. In particular, on 2 July 2012 the Government published its response to the consultation Getting it Right for Victims and Witnesses.(29) The response set out a package of reforms to the way the Government commissions support services for victims and witnesses of crime, outside of those directly provided by criminal justice agencies. These are services which support victims in coping with the immediate impacts of crime and, as far as is possible, to recover from the harm experienced. The intention is to move from the current centrally commissioned arrangements to a mixed model of national and local commissioning with support targeted at those who have suffered the greatest impact from crime: victims of serious crime, the most persistently targeted and the most vulnerable. Local policing bodies (that is, Police and Crime Commissioners and, in London, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Common Council of the City of London) are regarded as the most appropriate bodies to take on the local commissioning role, using grant funding provided to them by the Government for the purpose.
59.The kinds of services that Police and Crime Commissioners may provide or commission for victims of crime include practical support such as the provision of information, refuges or shelters, financial support and guidance, and advice and assistance on security measures. They may also include emotional support services such as counselling, treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and peer support groups.
60.Section 143 expands Police and Crime Commissioners’ existing powers to provide or arrange for the provision of services which secure, or contribute to securing, crime and disorder reduction and creates a clear statutory basis upon which all local policing bodies can provide or commission services for the support of victims of, and witnesses to, crime and anti-social behaviour as well as for other persons affected by offences or anti-social behaviour.