Questions over the transfer of PCC powers in South Yorkshire after ruling in the West Midlands

Earlier this week, the West Midlands PCC Simon Foster announced that his judicial review was successful against the home secretary’s decision to abolish the PCC role in his area.

In a statement, Mr Foster said: “The High Court has determined that the home secretary acted unlawfully and has quashed their decision of February 6, 2024, to approve the takeover of Police and Crime Commissioner powers by the West Midlands Mayor.”

Mr Foster added he had brought the claim for judicial review because he was concerned about the possibility of future cuts, “chaos and crime” if PCC powers were to pass to a representative of a government.

Upon learning of this ruling, Ruth Hubbard, a local democracy campaigner, turned to ask Oliver Coppard, the South Yorkshire mayor, for his thoughts on the matter and whether there were any implications of this decision in the area as the PCC powers will be transferred to South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).

Ms Hubbard submitted a question to SYMCA’s audit, standards and risk committee today.

She asked: “In light of the judicial review in ruling in the West Midlands, which quashes the transfer of PCC powers to its mayoralty, has the government also conducted an illegal consultation in South Yorkshire for the transfer of PCC powers?”

She added, as the Local Democracy Reporting Service already reported in February, 65 per cent of those taking part in the consultation disagreed with the proposal.

At the meeting, Gareth Sutton, the executive director of resources and investment, said the challenge in the West Midlands related “specifically” to the West Midlands and there has been no legal challenge to the South Yorkshire order.

He added they had no reason to believe this – the order and with it, the transfer of power – wouldn’t proceed.

In February, the home secretary officially laid an order which is the next step in transferring police and crime commissioner functions to the South Yorkshire mayor.

SYMCA confirmed that if the order is enacted – it’s subjected to approval by parliament first – it would transfer PCC functions to be exercised by the Mayor of South Yorkshire after the 2024 local elections in May.