Performance and Measurement
Assessments of Policing and Community Safety - APACS
The Home Office and its community safety partners have introduced a simpler and more unified performance management framework for policing and community safety (APACS), which streamlines and aligns the way performance is measured and assessed across policing, crime and drugs.
The Assessments of Policing and Community Safety (APACS) framework was introduced in April 2008 and applies to all police forces in England and Wales. It covers key services delivered by the police working on their own or in partnership, complementing (but not substituting) performance arrangements being developed by other partners. The resulting assessments and associated monitoring arrangements will be used to demonstrate performance to the public and, critically, to help partners in England and Wales deliver and improve performance against national and local priorities.
Ongoing APACS development is overseen by a joint Steering Group – supported by Technical and User Groups - which includes representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Association of Police Authorities, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, the Audit Commission, (Department of) Communities and Local Government (CLG), Local Government Association, Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, Ministry of Justice, HM Treasury and the Welsh Assembly.
The Steering Group has sought to ensure that APACS is linked with other developments in the community safety arena, principally: the new Public Service Agreements (PSAs) in the Comprehensive Spending Review; Community and Local Government’s development of performance indicators for the national indicator set applicable to local authorities working alone or in partnership with others and the Audit Commission’s work on the Comprehensive Area Assessment process; and community safety developments in Wales.
Following the closure of the separate 12 week Strategic Consultation process, strategic development work is ongoing. This includes the overall functions of APACS, the approach to assessments, and roles and responsibilities.
An interim Equality Impact Assessment report on APACS has been published. This is part of an ongoing process to ensure that the fairness and equality impact of APACS on the various quality strands is taken into account.
APACS consultation
The response to the APACS Technical consultation is now available to view in the APACS consultation section.
