A CONTROVERSIAL partnership which has seen a private company take on roles within a North-East police force could be extended to incorporate jobs currently undertaken by officers.

Cleveland Police signed a ten-year deal with French company Steria earlier this year to cover support services, including computing, call-handling and finance.

The force says the agreement should save £50m over its lifetime as it battles to protect frontline policing. It also guarantees the existing employment conditions and pension rights of about 470 staff, with the promise of no compulsory redundancies.

Unison, the biggest union for police staff in England, had campaigned to stop the privatisation going ahead in the belief that it was not in the best interest of its members or the general public.

Now, in a further development, it was revealed tonight(WED), that Cleveland Police Authority has agreed to examine the potential for further savings.

While the existing arrangement involves so-called 'back office' activities, authority members have been told that "a significant number of other roles - some currently undertaken by police officers and others by police staff - had been identified for potential civilianisation and transfer to Steria".

Authority chairman Coun Dave McLuckie said the move was driven by major cuts in Government spending.

"We know that in the next four years the funding from Government will be cut by 20 per cent or more, but we are determined to do everything possible to protect front-line policing on our streets and in our communities, even though it is clear that overall police numbers will have to be reduced, he said.

"That means maximising the number of officers available for the front line and that can only be achieved by reducing the number involved in other support activities which can be undertaken by civilian staff.

"We are committed under the agreement with Steria to transfer at least 70 police officer roles, but against the background of unprecedented financial challenges, we need to consider whether we can go further."

Mr McLuckie said initial assessments had shown an expansion of the agreement would generate "significant additional savings".

"We have always been clear that the interests of our staff have to be a top priority and, of course, the agreement with Steria provides for the protection of the terms and conditions of transferred staff, together with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for the length of the contract," he said. "Those same protections would apply to any other staff who might be transferred if we did agree to extend the scope of the agreement."

The Authority will consider a further report on the potential for extending the agreement in February.