HMIC Inspection Methodologies
CENTREX Inspection
The HMIC report of the first statutory inspection of Centrex, published on 5th January 2004 and available from this website, states:
"The Central Police Training and Development Authority (CPTDA) or to use its trading name, ‘Centrex’, was created by Part four of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 on 1 April 2002 as a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB). Centrex’s terms of reference and the mandate for HMIC to inspect the new authority are contained in the legislation."
The report includes a framework for ongoing inspection based on the European Framework for Quality Management (EFQM) model, although a deliberate decision was made not to indicate start / finish dates. This is mainly because the organisation needs to be allowed to digest and take action against the report’s 18 recommendations. Nonetheless, the strategic nature of Centrex and its position within the police service means it will always feature to some degree in HMIC P & T activity.
Work on the report of the training of trainers inspection has now finished. It was decided that the document would only be made available electronically and it can now be down loaded here:
The main thrust of activity within Centrex will now focus on the implementation of an organisational risk assessment process and ongoing performance monitoring.
However, this should not be viewed as the only interaction with Centrex. Monitoring of Centrex will also be conducted along the lines of Baseline Assessment, the tool which HMIC uses to risk assess forces across all policing functions.
An important element of inspection is methodology. In addition to employing the EFQM model, HMIC P&T also makes use of the Common Inspection Framework (CIF) which is used by both Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) in their inspections.
Clearly, this year will be an important one for Centrex, it will be up to HMIC to ensure that whatever the organisation does, it is done to support operational police performance.
