Whatever the motivation of this question that was answered in the House of Lords on 27th February it is very clear to me as someone who took part in the early steps of the Police and Crime Commissioner roles, that they are supposed to deal with what it says on the label. Providing local Governance for Police Services is only supposed to be one part of the PCC but when someone decided to let the PCC’s apply to also offer governance for Fire Services they made a very big mistake. Fire Services are no more related to Crime issues than the local authorities or many local businesses. However the Criminal Justice Service which includes local Courts and local Prisons as well as the Probation Service all require a level of local Governance. By the same token the variety of local charities that set out to help the police to reduce Crime and prevent Crime also need a lot of support from political bodies and the PCC is the obvious way of achieving all of that. Sadly most PCCs would rather do what their political party is telling them as only a very small number of independent PCCs still exist. Let us hope in May’s election that this will be reversed dramatically.

If Baroness Williams or Lord Kennedy want to know more about the foundations of the PCCs they should talk to Nick Herbert who was one of the people who helped to establish the concept.