John Tizard

The Role of the Police and Crime Commissioner

John Tizard is the Police and Crime Commissioner, he was elected in 2024 and will hold this position until 2028.

The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is to be the voice of the people representing the electors, residents and businesses across Bedfordshire.

The PCC is responsible for the totality of policing, holding the Chief Constable to account. The PCC role is strategic, and he has no operational responsibility for policing.

Under the terms of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, PCCs must:

• secure efficient and effective police for their area.

• appoint the Chief Constable, hold them to account for running the force, and if necessary, dismiss them.

• set the police and crime objectives for their area through a police and crime plan.

• set the force budget and determine the precept.

• contribute to the national and international policing capabilities set out by the Home Secretary; and

• bring together community safety and criminal justice partners, to make sure local priorities are joined up.

PCCs are expected to adhere to the Seven Principles of Public Life, as determined and published by the Nolan Committee - the 'Nolan Principles'. 

Additional responsibilities of John Tizard - Police and Crime Commissioner 

• sets a four year strategy for policing and the wider criminal justice system in the county though the Police and Crime Plan 

• is responsible for setting the police service budget and resultant council tax

• holds the Chief Constable to account for delivering an efficient and effective police service – see governance section

• is a critical friend of the police service offering support and challenge

• is responsible for aspects of police complaints 

• advocates for Bedfordshire with national government

• convenes and chairs the Local Criminal Justice Board for Bedfordshire 

• has the power to convene public sector agencies to focus on community safety, crime prevention and reduction, and creating a safer and fairer Bedfordshire

• has national responsibilities

• commissions services and awards grants to support policing, prevention and community safety 

• is responsible for the Bedfordshire Violence and Exploitation Prevention Partnership (VEPP) and the Restorative Justice Service in Bedfordshire

• is responsible for compliance with the Serious Violence Crime Duty

• is scrutinised by the Police and Crime Panel

• is member of the three unitary authority based community safety partnership executives 

• has regular meeting with the leaders/elected mayors and chief executives of the three unitary local authorities, the county’s MPs, the chair and chief executive of the ICB, the Chair of the Fire and Rescue Service Authority and Chief Fire Officer, town and parish councils, the Police Federation, Unison and other trade unions, voluntary and community organisations, businesses and faith groups

For more information on the role of the Police and Crime Commissioner along with the role of the Office of the PCC, please visit the APCC website: Association for Police and Crime Commissioners.

Elected on 2 May 2024, Police and Crime Commissioner John Tizard has vast experience of representing communities in Bedfordshire where he has lived for almost 50 years.

As well as holding leadership roles in numerous businesses, charities, and public sector organisations, John served as a councillor for 18 years.

For most of this time, he was leader of the Labour group of councillors on the former Bedfordshire County Council. He was also a joint leader of the Council for some of this period.

John is driven by his commitment to social justice and his belief that governance and behaviour are essential for any organisation to fulfil its mission and maximise its impact and has held local government posts nationally and in Europe.

John’s career includes senior leadership roles in the business sector where he held a senior strategic executive role in a FTSE 100 company for many years. He has had non-executive director experience in several start up and social businesses.

He has had leadership experience in charities both as a senior executive at what is now Scope and as a trustee and chair of several charities.

He is currently a trustee of Bedfordshire based Making Me which enables young people to thrive by equipping them to navigate their mental and emotional journey into adulthood and was previously Chair of Action Space, a London based Arts Council sponsored arts organisation which enables and promotes the right of artists with learning difficulties.

John established and led research centres at the University of Birmingham and London South Bank University both of which specialised in public sector collaboration and partnerships between the public, business, and voluntary and community sectors.

John has advised organisations and leaders in the business, charity, social and public sectors in the UK and internationally on subjects such as leadership, governance, public service reform, procurement, and in sourcing.

He has been an evaluator in the European Public Service Awards programme since 2015 and has written for a variety of publications and has, in the past few years, authored reports for the Fabian Society, the TUC and Unison on topics including reforming public sector audit, outsourcing, and in sourcing of public services, and strengthening worker's rights.

Some of his key areas of interest include community engagement, tackling anti-social behaviour, hate crime, cyber-crime, knife crime, reducing crime against women and children, and investing in prevention methods to tackle the causes of crime.

 

The PCC is the voice of the public into the police. He meets key stakeholders regularly including local residents, local businesses and community groups.

He meets regularly with strategic partners, including the three unitary authorities, Integrated Care Board and MPs, as well as town and parish councils. These meetings are a great opportunity for the PCC to learn what is happening, what is of concern and what is desired across the county, and for him to share his thinking and plans.

The PCC leads the Local Criminal Justice Board and chairs the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire collaboration board.

The Police and Crime Plan, launched in September 2024, is based on seven missions designed to reshape public services including policing, to tackle the causes of crime and inequality, and to create safer communities. John wants the people of Bedfordshire, local businesses, the voluntary and community organisations, trade unions and our public sector partners to contribute to and benefit from the plan.

John seeks to advocate for social justice and criminal justice together and aspires to build a safer and fairer Bedfordshire.

Performance, Data, and Technology and Data Ethics

The PCC holds the joint portfolio lead for performance, data and technology and data ethics with the APCC. They work on improving public accountability by looking at national outcomes, crime statistics and police service inspections. They also review the ethics around the use of technology such as AI and facial recognition as well as data sharing.

As portfolio holder, the PCC contributes to developing national policy on police performance, police data and reviewing the ethics around the use of technology such as AI, facial recognition and data sharing.

In this portfolio roles, the PCC attends the HMICFRS's Policing Performance Oversight Group (PPOG), which assesses the police services in ‘Engage’ (special measures). The portfolio holders also provide advice to the PCCs from those areas.

Relations with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services

The PCC is also part of an HMICFRS External Reference Group, providing the body with advice on the development of the next iteration of the inspection framework.

On 30 April 2025, John spoke at the HMICFRS all-staff event on his experiences of reform, the role the inspectorate plays in reform and what that means for PCCs and the police service. He was thanked by Sir Andy Cooke, Chief Inspector who recognised the positive relationship between the HMICFRS and the APCC.

The two leads also attend HMICFRS's Policing Performance Oversight Group (PPOG), which is a supportive process that provides chief constables the opportunity to discuss their improvement plans with the inspectorate, their local policing body and other police system leaders. 

John is also part of an HMICFRS External Reference Group, providing the body with advice as a key stakeholder.

Most recently, John was appointed as Vice-Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Collaboration Agreement Strategic Board. The Board offers oversight, scrutiny and strategic direction to counter-terrorism and preventing violent extremism in their areas. This national collaboration ensures effective joint working between local bodies.

 

Prior to be being elected Police and Crime Commissioner, John was an independent strategic advisor to the public, private and voluntary sectors, trustee, non-executive director and commentator, trustee, non-executive director and a charity chair.

He is driven by a passion for equality, social justice and fairness.

He had a portfolio career, which combines consultancy and advisory projects; non-executive roles on social businesses; trustee roles on charity boards; and commentating and writing articles.

John acted as a strategic advisor on a range of issues including: 

• governance and effective boards
• mentoring executives and non-executive directors/trustees
• strategic options, resource allocation and strategic change management
• strategic political management
• public service reform
• leadership of change
• community wealth building
• cross-sector collaboration and partnership
• strategic commissioning and public-sector procurement including in-sourcing
• public affairs and public policy, including influencing strategy/programmes and funding proposals

He has also advised police, fire and rescue services, NHS bodies, trade unions, The Labour Party, and central government departments.

John regularly writes, comments and speaks on these issues in the UK and internationally with regular articles in a range of journals, web-based publications and national newspapers, and conference engagements. He is well regarded as a respected commentator in the UK and internationally, having presented at conferences and seminars to academic, policy and practitioner audiences in the UK, Ireland, Australia, France, Egypt, the Netherlands, Brazil, India and New Zealand.

John has extensive networks across the UK public sector particularly local government, business and charity and social sectors.

John has co-authored:

• a Fabian Society report on reforming public audit and assessing public expenditure to secure policy goals including equality and equity, climate policies effectively and efficiently 2021
• a Smith Institute on similar themes 2019
• a Smith Institute report making the case for ending the default of public service outsourcing, challenging the efficacy of outsourcing and making the case for in-sourcing 2018
• a report for Unison on outsourcing, in-sourcing and public procurement 2023
• and previously contributed to books on procurement, public service reform, etc.

 

Other career history

Trustee and non-executive director (VCS) 

• Making Me - a small Bedford based charity addressing child mental health issues (trustee since 2023)

Other recent associate appointments

• Associate, Global Partners Governance - international governance consultancy and advisory work
• Smith Institute (public policy think tank)
• Fellow of the RSA since 1998
• Editorial advisory board Canadian Institute for Technology (CIT) Tirana, Albania – The college focused on public policy, economics and social policy

Other previous roles

• an evaluator for the European Public Services Awards (EPSA) (EIPA) in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021
• Member of The Labour Party Community Wealth Building Unit – 2018-2020
• Visiting Fellow, London South Bank University (2012 -15) and previously Honorary Senior Fellow University of Birmingham (2011-2014); and previously visiting fellow at Kingston University
• Adventure Capital Fund NED (from 2006 until July 2013 when appointment period expired)
• NED at Social Investment Business (from 2008 until July 2013 when appointment period expired)
• NED at Entrepreneurs in Action – NED (2009 – 2016)
• Tomorrow’s People – trustee (2012 – 2018)
• Chair of NAVCA (national charity promoting small community activism and the VCS) until 2019 and formerly a trustee and honorary advisor
• Chair of Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy Board of Governors and trustees (2014-2018)
• Chair and NED B-side CIC (2015 – 2022) - a Dorset based community arts organisation. It is funded in part by the Arts Council and is an ACE National Portfolio Organisation (NPO)
• Villiers Park Educational Trust 2017- 2023 o a national charity enabling and promoting social mobility focused on young people and educational equality and equity - chairing during the period of newly appointed CEO who took over after a twelve year plus appointee) and supporting her to secure cultural and organisational change and lead the Board to develop a radical new strategy 

Previous employment and appointments

Collaborate at London South Bank University – November 2012 to August 2013

John was the inaugural part-time director of Collaborate which is a research and practice centre focusing on collaboration across and within the public, charity, social and business sectors for better outcomes for the public. 

Birmingham experience  - Centre for Public Service Partnerships 2008 - 2011 

John founded the research Centre at the University of Birmingham in 2008 The Centre, which was staffed by academics and professional associates, undertook applied research, consultancy, and public policy development in respect of public services, public service partnerships between the charity, public and business sectors, productivity, governance, strategic commissioning and related matters. The Centre also researched and advised on public procurement, commissioning and contracting and worked with local authorities, other public bodies and providers.

Capita Group Plc 1997 – 2007

John joined Capita in 1997 to lead its local government consultancy practice but soon moved to a corporate role reporting directly to Capita Group’s Chair and Chief Executive. In over the 10 years at Capita, he held a number of different roles but for 8 years until December 2007 he was Group Director of Government and Business Engagement advising on the Group’s public sector strategy, strategic business development opportunities and responses to legislation, public policy and government relations, regulation and public policy issues which impacted on both its private and public sector businesses; and on reputation management.

Scope 1977 - 1997

John worked at Scope for over twenty years and latterly was Director of Strategy and Policy serving on its senior management team. Previously he had had operational and strategic management responsibility for supporting Scope’s local voluntary groups, employment, education and social care services. Originally, he joined as a local development officer supporting affiliated local voluntary groups in the East of England

As Director of Strategy and Policy, John in 1996/97 led a strategic review of Scope and a consequential change programme, which included introducing a membership scheme, new governance arrangements, a new management structure and major reforms to the organisation’s services including ensuring financial sustainability 

John was responsible over many years for Scope’s major public sector contracts and relations with contracting public bodies nationally and across the country

Elected local government and other public sector governance experience 

Bedfordshire County Council

John had over 18 year's experience as a county councillor (1981- 1999), and was a group leader for 14 years and for much of this period (over 9 years) the joint leader of Bedfordshire County Council 

He was a member of the joint local authority association steering group, which established the Local Government Association and served for many years on the Association of County Councils Executive, and on European level local government boards and committees

NHS

John was a non-executive director of the South Bedfordshire NHS Community and Mental Health Trust 1993-1995

 Other experience

John has had significant other board level experience over three decades including chairing in several settings including a number of charities and VCS bodies, and social businesses; a police authority; LEA school and academy governing bodies 

John was a Parliamentary candidate in 1979 and 1983

John has been Chair of Central Bedfordshire Labour Local Government Committee since 2017

Education

Educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and the London School of Economics – awarded B.SC (Econ) Hons in economics and mathematics (1976)

 

John Tizard 

Re-numeration: £76,379

Police and Crime Commissioner Notification of Dis-closable Interests Log

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Expenses

If you would like to contact the PCC please email: [email protected]