Police Funding: England and Wales

Mike Penning Excerpts

Tuesday 21st July 2015 Written Statements

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

Today I have launched a consultation on reform of the current arrangements for allocating central Government funding to the 43 police force areas in England and Wales.

Police reform is working. Over the last five years, front-line services have been protected, public confidence in the police has gone up and crime has fallen by more than a quarter since 2010, according to the independent crime survey for England and Wales.

However, if we want policing in this country to be the best it can be, then we must reform further, and that includes putting police funding on a long-term, sustainable footing.

The current model for allocating police funding, the police allocation formula (PAF), is complex, opaque and out of date. Following a comprehensive review of the PAF by the Home Office, the Government believe that the formula should be replaced by a simplified model as soon as it is appropriate to do so. This consultation seeks views on the principles underpinning this model, including around transitional arrangements with a view to implementation for the 2016-17 financial year.

A copy of this consultation will be placed in the Library of the House. It will also be available on the Home Office website: www.gov.uk

[HCWS164]