62 Scotland Police Investigations and Review Commissioner - It is a condition of the Commissioner's appointment that they must not be, or have been, a member of specific police bodies. The role of the PIRC is to undertake independent investigations into the most serious incidents involving the police and to provide independent scrutiny of the way police bodies operating in Scotland respond to complaints from the public. The Commissioner employs around 50 staff in England and Wales (not including London) are running effectively. They replaced police authorities and are intended to bring a public voice to policing. Undertakes independent investigations into the most serious incidents involving the police. Undertakes complaints handling (reviews of the way the police have handled complaints from the public) and provides independent scrutiny of the arrangements that police bodies operating in Scotland have in place to respond to complaints from the public. account for the performance of a force's officers and staff; Providing a link between the police and communities, which includes consulting local people, the council and other organisations; Overseeing community safety and the reduction of crime, and ensuring value for money in policing; Setting out a force's strategy and policing priorities through the Police and Crime Plan; Setting out the force budget and community safety grants - taken together, the commissioners are responsible for £8bn of spending on police in England and Wales. They Report annually on progress The coalition agreement (201015) contained a pledge to make the police "more accountable through oversight by a directly elected individual". The proposal was fleshed out in the white paper st ‘Policing in the 21 Century’ and enacted in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, which became law in 2011. The post of the Commissioner was first established in 2007 under the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 ('the Act') and was amended by the