Cheshire's police commissioner has been asked to explain why he splashed out more than £200,000 on a London-based consultancy firm to help organise his citizens' assemblies.

A Freedom of Information request revealed police and crime commissioner (PCC) Dan Price paid £200,565 to Think Insights and Strategy in connection with the organisation of the assemblies, which have taken place in some of the county's towns.

Mr Price told the recent meeting of Cheshire's police and crime panel the firm was appointed following an open tender process and 'the intention was to seek knowledge and skills from a specialist consultancy with expertise in this innovative area of public engagement as a first step, then transfer those skills in-house to my team'.

He said: "Think's role initially encompassed the full administration of the assemblies, including identifying and engaging participants, ensuring a cross-section of the local population, taking into account of factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background, and facilitating the events themselves and supporting the development of the assemblies' recommendations.

"By the third assembly in Runcorn, Thinks had already started handing over delivery to the OPCC in-house team, carefully shadowing the different aspects of delivery to ensure consistency and quality."

Mr Price said costs have tapered accordingly, with each assembly costing less than the previous one and the most recent one in Congleton costing less than £25,000.

He said the contract with Thinks had now ended.

The PCC stressed the value of the citizens' assemblies to policing.

advertisement

"They are an opportunity to inform, discuss, challenge and listen," he said.

"When decisions are shaped by informed residents, not made behind closed doors or by one demographic, we get outcomes that are realistic, that are balanced and are far less likely to need expensive changes later."

He said each area had different priorities.

"In Crewe, residents raised the need to embed technology in policing; in Runcorn, they identified tackling domestic abuse and strengthening prevention as top priorities," said Mr Price.

"In Widnes, local people were challenged about what they thought they knew about police response times and highlighted the need for more visible policing; in Congleton, drugs and anti-social behaviour and cyber-crime were among their priorities."

He added: "Citizens' assemblies aren't just good for democracy, they're delivering real results here in Cheshire, and they're doing it in a way that represents real value for money for our local policing teams."