West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and Office retains Transparency Quality Mark

22nd March 2021

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and the Office PCC have again been awarded the CoPaCC Transparency Quality Mark 2021 for continuing to meet key information requirements on his office’s website.

The Quality Mark is awarded independently to PCC’s that comply with requirements as laid out in the Home Office specific guidance for PCCs published in 2013, which is based on the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011.

These requirements include publishing key decisions, financial information and policies.

Beyond the core responsibilities, CoPaCC also take into consideration the ‘ease of use’ in their assessment, so that as well as information being ‘present’ and ‘timely’, it also had to be easy to find by a member of the public.

Mark Burns-Williamson, said: “Being open and transparent is a key element of the Police and Crime Commissioner role and something that I take very seriously so I am delighted to have been awarded this Quality Mark in conjunction with the Office of PCC who have done an excellent job in updating and developing the website.

“Transparency information for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire can be found here https://www.westyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk/how-we-work/transparency and is also accessible from the homepage of my website.”

For the first time, CoPaCC assessed all 40 PCC’s with 39 PCCs achieving the Quality Mark.

Bernard Rix, CEO of CoPaCC, said: "Congratulations to the 39 recipients, and many thanks to the OPCC staff who have worked tirelessly since the Quality Mark was launched in 2013 to improve publication of statutory disclosures.”