Former Police Federation chairperson Jan Berry will work in the Home Office to help tackle bureaucracy, it has been confirmed.

Mrs Berry will take up a post targeting red tape in police forces in England and Wales.

Home secretary Jacqui Smith unveiled a green paper on policing to parliament in the Commons this lunchtime, featuring a pledge to match “greater freedom” for police with “greater power” for the community.

Included in the measures is Mrs Berry’s appointment as an “independent bureaucracy champion” who will “drive further cuts in red tape and free up extra police hours”.

“I was both surprised and flattered to be invited to undertake this important new role, which, having given careful consideration to, am pleased to accept,” Mrs Berry said.

“I do not underestimate the challenge this role presents and will not hesitate in drawing attention to unnecessary record keeping or demands on police, wherever they may come from.”

Mrs Berry stepped down from her old post in May, having led a challenge to the government’s decision not to backdate a 2.5 per cent pay rise to September 1st last year.

She claimed police forces’ “trust and confidence” in the government had been broken as a result of the move and coordinated a protest of up to 18,000 officers descending on London against police pay in December.