The independent review of the PFEW is important because it will help the national board move forward and restore confidence, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
An independent panel is investigating the past failings at the Police Federation of England and Wales and assessing how the Federation should work in the future to ensure that it better and more effectively represents the issues and concerns of its members.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cWe need to restore confidence in the PFEW. I can honestly say that the leadership of the national Federation is evolving in a good way. There\u2019s a lot of rhetoric going on about the new leadership, which I find frustrating. Some of these people have demanded reform to the Federation, and now reform is coming that is getting criticised as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe absolutely need to move the Federation away from the perception there was 15 years ago that it was an \u2018old boys\u2019 club\u2019. We have to repair the damage that\u2019s coming from litigation against the Federation employment tribunal, and we need to move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I\u2019m confident that our branch does a great job and that the vast majority of our members are really happy with us, we are still part of a larger organisation. There\u2019s going to be some pain coming from the review, but we need to absorb that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth myself and our Secretary, Dave Baines, have said we as a national council spend too long trying to deal with our legacy issues and we\u2019re not looking forward to how we can change things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think there\u2019s an ambition to do that. We\u2019ve got to have faith. We, as council members, hold the national board and national CEO to account. We have robust conversations. That\u2019s the way it should be done. We need to move forward and start to be positive and get some credibility back.\u201d<\/p>\n