Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Police Funding Formula in recognising the diversity of the crime demands facing different police forces in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

The 2018/19 settlement follows a period of engagement, with the Minister for Policing and Fire speaking to every force in England and Wales about the demand they face. There are significant demands on the police from the terrorist threat and from more victims of high harm, hidden crimes such as modern slavery and child sexual exploitation coming forward.

This is a strong and comprehensive settlement that will increase funding by up to £450m across the police system for 2018/19. This includes the flexibility for PCCs to increase their funding by up to £270m, which they can use to spend on local priorities. In 2018/19, if the PCC uses their precept flexibility, Bedfordshire will receive £104.3m in direct resource funding, an annual increase of £2.9m. This is £4.8m more than 2015/16.

The Government intends to maintain the protection of a broadly flat police grant in 2019/20 and repeat the same precept flexibility if the police deliver clear and substantial progress on productivity and efficiency. In this context, it is intended that the funding formula will be revisited at the next Spending Review.