“I am nobody’s patsy” says Police Federation independent reviewer

THE man conducting the internal review of the Police Federation has insisted that he will be acting independently and is “nobody’s patsy”.

Following a speech by Sir David Normington, (pictured) former Home Office permanent secretary, at conference on Thursday, Federation representatives asked for a guarantee that his review would be independent.

He told delegates: “You just have to have my assurance that I am nobody’s patsy. I will not work for anyone except in this case for the Federation.”

Sir David added: “I may say things, we might say things as a panel, that the Federation does not like. But we will definitely not be saying them on behalf of someone else. We will be making our best judgement.

“I am absolutely not working for the Home Office and I am not working for the Home Secretary. She would think that that is ludicrous and so do I.”

Sir David is leading a panel that includes the former HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Denis O’Connor and former General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress Brendan Barber.

Steve Williams, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, announced his intention to set up an independent panel to review the structure of the Federation last December in the wake of the Andrew Mitchell affair.

On Thursday he told conference: “The PFEW was created by statute. Its constitution is set out in legislation and the fundamental role of PFEW is not up for discussion.

“However, given the pace of economic, social and technological change I believe that we need to review the way in which PFEW operates to ensure that it continues to deliver a credible voice for rank and file officers, the ability to constructively influence public policy on crime and policing and genuine ownership of the organisation by police officers and effective communications between member and the Federation at all levels.”

The review will consider the responsibilities of the Office of Constable, the importance of enhancing public confidence in policing, transparency of decision-making and whether subscription fees are good value for money.

The findings and recommendations from the report will be presented at the PFEW Annual Conference in May 2014.