To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve transparency requirements for Police and Crime Commissioners, particularly regarding the handling of complaints and potential conflicts of interest.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of accountability frameworks for Police and Crime Commissioners; and whether she plans to reform those frameworks to help prevent institutional self-protection.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what independent oversight arrangements exist to scrutinise complaints of misconduct against Police and Crime Commissioners; and how many such complaints have been investigated in each of the last three years.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are democratically elected and are ultimately held to account by the public at the ballot box. To ensure transparency of their actions and decisions, PCCs have statutory responsibilities under the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011 to publish certain information, such as decisions they’ve taken, expenditure and force performance. This includes information about conflicts of interest.

PCCs are scrutinised by Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) who are also responsible for investigating non-criminal complaints made about a PCC. Criminal allegations must be referred by the Panel to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). The Home Office does not collect data on the number of complaints about PCCs. The Home Office issues guidance and training to support Panels in their scrutiny of PCCs, as well as guidance to aid the recruitment and retention of independent panel members.

The Government’s view is that the PCC model has failed to live up to expectations and has committed to abolishing it at the end of the current term of office in 2028. Successor arrangements for the oversight of policing by Mayors and Policing and Crime Boards will be set out in the forthcoming Police Reform Bill.