Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Alison Hernandez has just announced that she has begun to host a monthly Commissioner’s Accountability Board to discuss a range of topics relating to key police performance indicators.

At first glance you might think that Alison Harnandez has decided to spend less time taking selfies with doomed Tories and is becoming more accountable to the public. But it seems you might be mistaken.

Owl has been unable, so far, to discover the composition of this accountability board except that it is chaired by Commissioner Hernandez to an agenda set by herself!  

In other words, after nine years as PCC and her force receiving adverse reports from the police inspectorate in 2018, being placed in special measures in 2022, and still inadequate in 2024; she has just decided to beef up the way she oversees what is going on.

In her words:

“….recently, I have convened a new Accountability Board at which as Chair, I select a number of areas of policing activity and related performance, and scrutinise them in detail, requiring the Chief Constable and his team to explain both current performance and any plans they have in place to make improvements where required.”

Following each meeting, she then makes a judgement of assurance to indicate whether improvement plans are required or not, including details of how she has reached her decision.  

She will share these judgments with the public.

This begs the question: what has she been doing since 2016? 

Here is the first report:

Last month, three specific areas of performance were scrutinised.

The first, complaint handling and service delivery, was given a performance rating of ‘not assured’, meaning improvements are required.

Commissioner Hernandez concluded that neither is yet at an appropriate or acceptable standard, but said she is confident that the police’s improvement plan will deliver effective improvements.

Reassurance was provided that the police’s complaint backlog is starting to reduce.

The second topic was how Devon and Cornwall Police is continuing to rectify concerns identified following a review last year by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

It remains in the ‘engage’ process with the inspectorate over contact, crime data recording and investigations, with further improvement work required.

Commissioner Hernandez was satisfied that comprehensive plans to address all three areas are delivering improvements which provide ‘confidence’ that the issues can be rectified, but as further work is required, her overall judgement was ‘part assured’.

The final topic of the accountability board was the force’s response to the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan 2025-29, which sets out her key priorities – antisocial behaviour, serious violence, theft and drugs and alcohol.

Her judgement was ‘assured’ that the work already taken by police has been ‘comprehensive and appropriate’.

At the meeting, Chief Constable James Vaughan also gave an update on the police budget and financial performance, recent homicides and serious crimes, as well as areas of concern and success.

All sorted, back to the selfies, if only there were some Tories left! – Owl

Alison Hernandez on the stump with doomed Tory Twiss in April

[Richard Jefferies, Lib Dem, took the Honiton seat from long standing Tory Phil Twiss in May]

Richard Foord

Last month, a coalition of 32 nature charities wrote to ministers to warn that a new government Bill could lead to irreversible habitat loss.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is designed to jumpstart the economy through building, will threaten our limited safeguards for nature and stall wildlife protection.

The Bill could also affect local communities with issues such as more sewage in rivers, increased flood risk, and loss of valued woodlands.

The Liberal Democrats have a long history of promoting nature-based policy.

I was glad to sign last week a Lib Dem amendment which would require the Secretary of State for the Environment to protect biodiversity in new developments.

These include measures to enable the provision on new construction projects of bird and bat boxes, swift bricks, and hedgehog highways.

Local democracy eroded

The other casualty of the Bill could be local democracy.

The Institute for Government reported in March that the Bill proposes to direct some planning decisions solely to officials (planning officers) rather than elected councillors.

In that scenario, unelected officials would make decisions in accordance with the Local Plan, rather than a recommendation having to go before a planning committee.

This would be a key change, which risks removing a layer of democracy.

It’s essential that we retain our ability to influence planning decisions.

I have also signed a Liberal Democrat amendment that calls for planning committees to retain their current powers.

Nature is struggling more than ever, with insect and pollinator populations plummeting.

As many birds and small mammals make it onto the red list of endangered species, it is unconscionable that ministers propose to sweep away what flimsy environmental protections we have.

The tired narrative that nature is a barrier to growth must shift.

We need to work with nature, not in opposition to it, if we are to have any hope of handing on this planet to our children and grandchildren in a better condition than it is currently.