Responsibility for commissioning locally most of the emotional and practical support services for victims of crime that are provided by the voluntary and community sector transferred to Police and Crime Commissioners on the 1 April 2015. These services help victims to cope with and recover from the impacts of crime. Part of this responsibility is to victims of business crime and in response to this, the PCC invited proposals to deliver a 6 month pilot project to provide real, bespoke support for businesses affected by crime. The support service is designed to directly meet and understand the needs identified by businesses themselves, and provide an immediate and appropriate response. This initiative is supported and funded by the Ministry of Justice Victims Fund and can only be spent on specific services to support victims of crime.
A transparent and open selection process took place during September 2015. An assessment panel made up of Strategic Police and Crime Board members Brendan Connor and Cath Hannon, who are the strategic leads for business and victims respectively, Gail Walters, an Independent Consultant and a senior member of the OPCC staff team met and made the recommendation to the PCC based on the proposals submitted.
The PCC and Deputy PCC played no part in the evaluation process. The recommendation of the assessment panel was made to the PCC who has now made the formal decision.
The successful organisation chosen to deliver the pilot project is RISC Associates Ltd. The 6 month pilot project will be externally evaluated and if successful, will be expected to be rolled out across the West Midlands force area.
Also attached is correspondence to Westside BID relating to the re-opening of the process in regards to the Business Crime Victim Support Service. The document was not released earlier as the process to award the pilot was in a commercially sensitive stage.
