Police Authorities (Funding Allocations)

Thursday 27th May 2010

(14 years, 6 months ago)

Written Statements
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Lord Herbert of South Downs Portrait The Minister for Police (Nick Herbert)
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As part of the Government’s plan to cut the budget deficit and get the economy moving again, I am today confirming my intention to require the police to make a fair share of the savings needed. I welcome the responsible and constructive way in which policing partners have already responded to the Chancellor’s announcement of his plans to reduce the national budget deficit.

Total Home Office cuts will be £367 million and in order to minimise the impact on the police service the Home Office will cut a greater than proportionate share of its central budget by bearing down on overheads and reducing waste, including significant cuts to consultancy services, marketing costs and travel. However, the police need to contribute towards the overall reduction and I will therefore ask every police authority to make a fair share of savings.

As a result, I intend to reduce this year’s core Government funding to the police by a total of £125 million. I intend to implement this by reducing the Home Office core police settlement and the capital grant. I will, in due course, formally lay before Parliament an amended police grant report for 2010-11 which will be subject to the usual debate and approval process.

Even after this reduction, Government funding to the police will still increase by £124 million this year to around £9.61 billion. Set out below are updated force allocations for the individual grants which I intend to revise. These have been calculated so that each force will face a cut equivalent to the same percentage of their core Government funding.

I am confident that savings of less than 1% of expected spending in 2010-11 by Police Authorities can be made while maintaining a frontline policing service. It is for chief constables to use their expertise and decide what makes most sense for their force, but I am quite clear that this saving can be achieved by driving out wasteful spending on support functions, reducing bureaucracy and increasing efficiency in key functions—leaving the frontline of policing strong and secure. I expect forces to be held to this by both police authorities and Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary.

For my part, I am clear that the police should be focused on police work, not paperwork. This is why I am committed to cutting the centrally imposed red tape and bureaucracy that slows police officers down and keeps them off the streets and away from protecting the public.

The Government have shown their commitment to the police service by undertaking to honour the third year of the current pay settlement for police officers. Our programme for Government has set out measures to ensure a sustainable frontline police service, including a full review of the remuneration and conditions of service for police officers and staff. We also commit in our programme for Government to establishing an independent commission to review the long-term affordability of public sector pensions, while protecting accrued rights. The Government are determined to ensure that we can provide affordable pensions to public servants into the future.

The spending review reporting in the autumn of this year will set funding levels beyond 2010-11.

Proposed New Allocations of the Home Office Core Police Settlement by Force, Subject to Parliamentary Approval, and Revised Allocations of Capital Grant.

Police Authority

2010-11

2010-11

2010-11

2010-11

HO Police Grant as Agreed February 2010

Proposed Amended HO Police Grant

Capital Grant as Notified January 2010

Amended Capital Grant

£m

£m

£m

£m

English ShireAuthorities

Avon & Somerset

116.1

113.5

3.3

3.0

Bedfordshire

44.6

43.6

1.3

1.2

Cambridgeshire

52.9

51.7

1.6

1.5

Cheshire

69.9

68.2

2.2

2.0

Cleveland

51.6

50.3

1.6

1.5

Cumbria

35.1

34.1

1.1

1.0

Derbyshire

69.6

68.0

2.0

1.9

Devon & Cornwall

117.0

114.4

3.4

3.2

Dorset

43.5

42.6

1.3

1.2

Durham

47.8

46.5

1.6

1.4

Essex

117.5

114.9

3.2

3.0

Gloucestershire

37.8

36.9

1.2

1.1

Hampshire

130.7

127.8

3.9

3.6

Hertfordshire

81.3

79.5

2.3

2.1

Humberside

72.7

70.9

2.2

2.0

Kent

123.4

120.7

3.5

3.3

Lancashire

116.8

113.9

3.5

3.2

Leicestershire

70.5

68.8

2.1

2.0

Lincolnshire

44.0

43.1

1.2

1.1

Norfolk

55.6

54.3

1.7

1.6

North Yorkshire

49.1

48.0

1.5

1.4

Northamptonshire

47.0

45.9

1.4

1.3

Nottinghamshire

82.7

80.7

2.4

2.2

Staffordshire

73.2

71.5

2.1

2.0

Suffolk

45.5

44.5

1.4

1.3

Surrey

71.5

70.1

2.3

2.1

Sussex

107.6

105.2

3.1

2.9

Thames Valley

157.0

153.6

4.6

4.3

Warwickshire

35.1

34.4

1.5

1.5

West Mercia

74.7

73.0

2.3

2.1

Wiltshire

42.1

41.1

1.3

1.2

Shires Total

2,283.8

2,231.7

67.6

63.1

English Metropolitan Authorities

Greater Manchester

253.2

246.8

7.4

6.9

Merseyside

142.2

138.4

4.2

3.9

Northumbria

117.4

113.9

4.1

3.8

South Yorkshire

110.2

107.4

3.3

3.1

West Midlands

277.4

270.5

7.9

7.3

West Yorkshire

194.0

189.2

5.6

5.2

Mets Total

1,094.4

1,066.1

32.6

30.1

London Authorities

GLA – Police

1,169.5

1,141.5

38.4

36.0

City of London

23.3

22.3

1.1

1.0

English Total

4,571.0

4,461.6

139.8

130.3

Welsh Authorities

Dyfed-Powys

35.2

34.4

1.0

0.9

Gwent

48.6

47.5

1.4

1.3

North Wales

48.5

47.4

1.5

1.4

South Wales

105.5

102.9

3.0

2.8

Welsh total

237.8

232.2

6.9

6.4

Total

4,808.8

4,693.8

146.7

136.7

Note: All allocations rounded to the nearest £0.1million.



Counter-terrorism Policing

In addition to the reduction in core Government funding to the police set out, I intend to reduce resource funding for counter-terrorism policing by £10 million in 2010-11. The Government will nonetheless still be providing £569 million to forces through police counter-terrorism specific grants this year, maintaining 2009-10 funding levels.

Counter-terrorism policing has benefited from 10 consecutive years of significant growth in funding. I will be taking advice from the police on the most appropriate way to find these savings to ensure that the police service retains the necessary capabilities to counter-terrorist activity and support our national security.