Fears over national police restructure plans

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

Police leaders have addressed concerns about forces being merged across regions and functions being centralised, amidst fears north Wales’ cultural identity and existing partnerships could be overlooked.

The concerns were raised at this week’s meeting of the North Wales Police and Crime Panel at Conwy County Council’s Coed Pella HQ in Colwyn Bay.

Panel members heard details of an ongoing review of policing across England and Wales, which follows reforms announced by the UK Government in 2024.

The review is expected to recommend “significantly fewer police forces” in future and forms part of wider plans that will see a new National Police Service introduced from 2027.

The service, which has been compared to the American FBI, will see the larger organisation deal with serious crime and LPAs – or Local Police Areas underneath – deal with more local issues.

Speaking at the meeting, Assistant Chief Constable Nick Evans stressed North Wales Police had made strong representations to ensure Wales was properly understood by those carrying out the review.

“We felt it was really important that we conveyed to those on the review (panel) that policing in Wales is different to that in England, where obviously we are policing within a devolved environment, and there are nuances to policing here that they may not fully understand,” he said.

The Assistant Chief Constable added that the review needed to recognise the “Welsh language, culture and identity”.

He added: “In many other areas, they are talking about regions; we are talking about our country here, so that has been properly conveyed to an independent review.”

The comments came after the committee heard details of a White Paper proposing what officers described as a “radical restructuring” of policing.

The reforms are intended to address what the Government sees as the challenges of modern policing, including cybercrime, online fraud, organised crime, and financial pressures facing forces.
As part of the plans, the National Police Service would be created to oversee functions also including counter terrorism and national policing.

While no final decisions have been taken, the independent review is being led by Lord David Blunkett and expected to make recommendations on future force structures this summer.

‘Opportunities and risks’

The Assistant Chief Constable told the committee that North Wales Police had looked at reforms in Scotland to understand both the “opportunities and risks” involved in reorganisation.

He described the proposals as a potentially a “huge change” and said questions remained about how any transition would work without affecting day-to-day policing.

One of the force’s key concerns centres on North Wales’ long-established operational links with north west England and cities such as Manchester and Liverpool.

“Particularly important for us in North Wales was to make really clear just how strong a link we have in terms of North Wales with the north west region and in terms of our flow of communities and certainly criminality,” he said.

“We actually have very little in common in terms of criminality with the rest of Wales compared to the north west, and that is why we have an awful lot of collaborations with those regions to make sure we operate effectively to tackle crime and protect our communities. We’ve made a really strong case that any change should not be detrimental to that link operationally with the north west.”

Welsh identity

The issue prompted questions from panel members about whether North Wales could lose some of its Welsh identity under future arrangements.

Committee member Gareth Cowell said concerns had already been raised by residents.

“I know there has been a lot of unease from friends and what have you, and in the media about North Wales losing its independence,” he said.

“I know we work with great cooperation with the north west of England, obviously because of the criminal associations, but I know in Welsh circles the worry is we could lose our Welsh dimension by becoming something greater associated with Greater Manchester and Liverpool and Merseyside.”

Responding, the Assistant Chief Constable said North Wales Police had submitted strong evidence opposing any arrangement that would remove part of Wales from Welsh policing structures.

“Ultimately we don’t have the decision,” he said.

“The decision is outside of policing, but all I would say is we’ve obviously put really strong evidence into that independent review, and any desire to take any part of Wales outside of Wales to become a wider police service has really fundamental problems, doesn’t it, in terms of how policing is governed within Wales, the partnership arrangements within Wales.”

He added: “So they would be huge hurdles to overcome if there was any recommendation to take policing to form a larger force outside of Wales, so we put some really strong evidence in that regard.”
The committee also heard that many details surrounding the reforms remain unclear.

Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman told members the review was only halfway through its work.

“We are at an interim stage,” she said, adding that it was a “20-week piece of work and we are only at week 10”.

Local accountability

Questions were also raised about how local accountability would operate under a more centralised system.

Committee member Trevor Coxon asked whether a future National Police Service could become too distant from communities in North Wales.

“I was just wondering, in relation to the National Police Service, (if we) assume for now that that is to be based in somewhere near the capital of Britain, London, how will there be local accountability for somewhere like North Wales?”

Mr Coxon then likened the new National Police Service to the American FBI.

The Assistant Chief Constable Nick Evans acknowledged that similar concerns had been raised by police leaders themselves.

“So the National Police Service looks after those national issues with national, regional, and local underneath,” he said.

“In terms of the question you’ve asked, well we’ve asked very similar questions for the same reason you are asking them, so the design is still being built with regard to the National Police Service.

“So like I say, hopefully some of the evidence and questions we’ve been asking will feature within the design, but ultimately it isn’t concluded yet, so we don’t know the answer to all those questions at the moment, I’m afraid.”

Panel chair Pat Ashbury noted that any future changes could also affect staffing structures.
But Chief Constable Blakeman said many elements of the reforms were still evolving and that uncertainty remained.

“But I’m no clearer in terms of what is actually included in the National Police Service at this point,” she said.

She added that work had been undertaken to ensure “the unique position of Wales as a country” is “fully appreciated by the people that are making the decision”.

The review’s findings are expected later this summer, but the committee acknowledged that this could represent the biggest reform of policing structures in the UK since the 1960s.