Police Grant Report England and Wales 2016-17

Thursday 17th December 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice (Mike Penning)]

I have today placed in the Library my proposals for the aggregate amount of grant to local policing bodies in England and Wales for 2016-17, for the approval of the House. Copies are also available in the Vote Office.

On 25 November, the Chancellor announced that police spending would be protected in real terms over the spending review period, when precept is taken into account. This is an increase of up to £900 million in cash terms by 2019-20.

The Chancellor’s statement reinforces this Government’s commitment to protect the public. That has been true over the last five years and remains the case for the coming Parliament. At the same time as protecting the overall spending envelope for the police, the Government committed to finishing the job of police reform.

Since 2010 we have seen some of the biggest changes to policing in a generation. Crime is down by over a quarter. There is significantly greater local accountability and transparency and police leaders have taken the opportunity to radically reform the way they deliver services to the public. Police officers have been taken out of back-office roles and resources focused on front-line delivery, putting officers back on the streets where the public expect them to be. Police forces are working more closely than ever before to reduce costs and duplication, and have started to work more closely with other emergency services through co-location and collaboration in areas such as fire and mental health.

But as Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary has set out, there remain further efficiencies to be made from improved and better use of IT, from greater collaboration between forces and with other public services, and from improving workforce productivity. Better, more collaborative procurement alone can save the police up to £350 million in real terms by 2019-20. We trust that police and crime commissioners (PCCs) and chief constables will do everything in their power to continue to drive those efficiencies, safeguard the quality of policing and continue to reduce crime.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will today publish proposals for the distribution of funding to English local authorities for 2016-17. A further £4.2 million of council tax freeze grant funding, previously paid to local policing bodies by DCLG, will be paid by the Home Office in 2016-17. This follows the permanent transfer of £500 million of other legacy council tax grants and £3 billion of “formula funding” from DCLG to the Home Office in previous years, reflecting our ambition to simplify police funding arrangements over this Parliament.

The Welsh Government set out their proposals for the allocation of funding in 2016-17 for local policing bodies in Wales.

The overall settlement will increase counter-terrorism police funding in real terms to £670 million and includes extra investment to continue the job of police reform. It provides transformation funding to develop and deliver specialist capabilities such as those required to tackle cybercrime and other emerging changes in crime, and enable a major uplift in firearms capability and capacity so that we can respond quickly and forcefully to a firearms attack. By protecting overall police spending, we will be able to deliver these changes and we will do so ensuring local identity and accountability is not lost in the process.

This settlement also includes within it the police share of the £1 billion investment costs of the emergency services network (ESN), demonstrating the importance the Government place on investing in ESN’s future capability and confidence in the substantial financial savings it will deliver.

For 2016-17, direct resource funding for each PCC, including precept, will be protected at flat cash levels, assuming that precept income is increased to the maximum amount available. This means that no PCC will face a reduction in cash funding next year compared to this year, and the majority will see marginal increases in their spending power.

I have set out below how we propose to allocate the police funding settlement between the different funding streams and between police force areas for 2016-17.