Wales

Kevin Foster Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2019 Ministerial Corrections

[Susan Elan Jones]

I welcome the Minister to his place, but I wish he would not just regurgitate Tory twaddle. When the National Audit Office makes it clear that central Government funding to police has fallen by 30% in real terms since 2010-11, and when the cross-party Home Affairs Committee makes it clear that the funding structure is not fit for purpose, can we have some action? Can we have some standing up for Wales instead of the vacuous nonsense we get from this Tory Government?

[Kevin Foster]

It has to be said that anyone who wants to hear vacuous nonsense can just listen to those sort of attacks in the Chamber. Let us be clear: in 2015-16, the combined budget for North Wales police was £139.8 million; in 2019-20, it will be £115.8 million. That shows the increase in funding that is going on. Three out of the four forces in Wales are rated good for effectiveness, which is the subject of the main question.

[Official Report, 15 May 2019, Vol. 660, c. 209.]

Letter of correction from the Under-Secretary of State for Wales, the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster):

An error has been identified in the response I gave to the hon. Member for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones).

The correct response should have been:

[Kevin Foster]

It has to be said that anyone who wants to hear vacuous nonsense can just listen to those sort of attacks in the Chamber. Let us be clear: in 2015-16, the combined budget for North Wales police was £139.8 million; in 2019-20, it will be £155.8 million. That shows the increase in funding that is going on. Three out of the four forces in Wales are rated good for effectiveness, which is the subject of the main question.