Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner has called upon the
Government to heed the advice of the UK Statistics Authority and
provide more coherent and accessible information about police
funding.
The Commissioner said today that the public could be forgiven for
believing that the claims that the policing budget is protected
with a flat cash settlement mean there are no reductions in
funding.
“In reality, though,” he explained, “A flat cash settlement means
real term cuts. Since 2015 police force budgets across
England and Wales have reduced progressively by £200m each
year. In Derbyshire alone we have to find a further £5m in
savings over the next three years just to stand still.
“Claims that police funding is protected are open to
misinterpretation and the government has a responsibility to set
the record straight.”
He went on to point out that the Home Office response to calls
for a fairer funding deal doesn’t address the need to tackle the
changes in criminality. He said: “A Home Office
spokesman states that ‘Crimes traditionally measured by the
independent Crime Survey for England and Wales have fallen by
well over a third since 2010 but we are sensitive to the
pressures the police are under. That is why Ministers have begun
a programme of engagement with forces to better understand the
demands they face and how these can best be managed.’
Mr Dhindsa said that crimes measured by the survey do not include
cyber-crime, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and
modern-day slavery, which have risen sharply in recent years.
“The survey no longer reflects reality,” he added.
He went on: “The Home Office also says that ‘The Government
has protected overall police spending in real terms since
Spending Review 2015 and this year Derbyshire Police is receiving
£1.9million more direct resource funding than in 2015/16, and we
have announced additional funding for counter-terrorism
policing’. What is protected about a cut in funding
levels of 1.3% each year, while costs and inflation rise?”
In July this year, a number of Police and Crime Commissioners
wrote to the Statistics Authority to express their concerns about
government inaccuracies in relation to the overall real terms
protection for police funding.
The Authority’s response agreed that “there is a risk that
statements about overall real terms protection for police funding
could be misinterpreted by the public to mean individual police
budgets have been given the same protection”.
The Police and Crime Commissioners told the Statistics Authority
that:
- In the 2015 Spending Review the government gave a commitment
that there would be no cuts in the police budget at all. There
will be real term protection for police funding.
- The day after the 2015 Spending Review the Home Secretary,
now the Prime Minister, wrote to Chief Constables stating central
government resource funding to policing.... will be reduced by
1.3% in real terms over four years.
The Commissioner went on: “Despite the Government’s claims, the
majority of police forces this year have not received the same
direct resources funding in cash as they received in
2015/16. Forces are losing 1.3% each year. Since 2015
police force budgets across England and Wales have reduced
progressively by £200m each year.
“That means that PCCs either increase the amount of money raised
by the local council tax by the maximum amount, which is capped,
or lose even more money.
“The Authority also stated that there is a need for government to
provide more coherent and accessible information about police
funding, reinforcing our view that information provided should be
clearer to understand. I wholeheartedly support that view.”
You can read the letter to the Statistics Authority and response
in full here:
https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/correspondence/response-to-dame-vera-baird-from-sir-david-norgrove/
