Emma Wools spends £70,000 on EY police diversity badge

South Wales’ Labour Police and Crime Commissioner Emma Wools has handed consultancy giant EY £70,000 of taxpayer money so the force can keep a diversity badge that EY itself created and still sponsors.

The contract, awarded by her office in June, covers “Services to allow South Wales Police to retain the National Equality Standard accreditation.” That standard was invented by EY in 2012 to check organisations “demonstrate the highest levels of DE&I proficiency.” Its own trained assessors then carry out the interviews, document review, culture assessment survey and final report. Just over five weeks’ work for seventy thousand pounds.

Three months after the deal was signed, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service found the force “hasn’t made the expected improvements in how it responds to calls from the public or investigates crime.” Officers take too long to attend incidents, particularly those involving domestic abuse. Four of the eight areas examined were graded “requires improvement.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Victims of domestic abuse in South Wales are waiting too long for police to turn up, and Labour’s crime commissioner is more focused on wasting taxpayer money on a diversity badge. Paying EY to renew a certificate that EY invented is a scandalous waste of money. Every penny of it should have gone on getting officers to victims faster.”

Britain’s streets do not become safer because a consultancy stamps a certificate it designed. Cash that could put more officers on the ground or cut response times is instead spent proving the force meets a private diversity standard. Public money exists to protect the public, not to buy badges from the firm that sells them.

Crime figures keep climbing

New quarterly crime statistics show sexual offences have reached the highest level on record under this government, at 600 every single day. Police are also recording more rapes of women than at any point since records began, about 142 every day. More people are being caught carrying knives and bladed weapons than at any point since records began.

Those numbers land while South Wales Police still struggles with the basics of answering calls and investigating crime. The inspectorate’s verdict sits in plain sight: expected improvements have not arrived. Domestic abuse victims wait. Officers arrive late. Four areas still require improvement.

The National Equality Standard process itself is no mystery. EY created it, sponsors it, and supplies the assessors who decide whether a force keeps the badge. The June contract simply pays for South Wales Police to go through that loop again. Reporting first carried by Guido Fawkes Organisation laid out the figures and the timing without spin.

Labour’s crime commissioner chose this spend. The force still needs to answer the public faster and investigate properly. Victims of domestic abuse and serious sexual crime do not need another culture survey. They need officers who turn up. The £70,000 has already been committed. The inspectorate grades and the national crime totals remain the measure that matters next.

Original source: Guido Fawkes Organisation