If local and combined authorities' in-trays aren't full enough as it is, the news regarding the scrapping of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in November has only served to add another structural reform to an already crowded to-do list.
In a pre-Budget announcement, the home secretary described PCCs as a ‘failed experiment', promising the removal of an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy and £100m in savings to the taxpayer. Though the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners expressed disappointment, the decision was not entirely unexpected given that the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill had already laid some of the initial groundwork for reform.
