The Welsh Liberal Democrats have
called for Police and Crime Commissioners to be scrapped, after
FOI requests reveal PCCs have spent almost £9million on PR and
staffing costs in the last four years.
The FOIs reveal that the PCC for Dyfed Powys increased their PR
spend by over 280% in one year and the PCC for South Wales has
nearly doubled their staffing budget over five years.
With Gwent Police unable to provide staffing costs for the
four-year period and North Wales Police unable to provide the
costs for the 2016-2018 period, it means the overall expenditure
will well exceed the current £8.9 million total.
In response, the Welsh Lib Dems have said the priority should
instead be on getting police tackling crime on our streets and
called for scrapping the role of Police and Crime Commissioners
and for the full devolution of justice and policing to Wales.
, Leader of
the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said:
“Police and Crime Commissioners on paper have some merit.
However, in reality what we have seen is they are excessively
bureaucratic, politicise our police forces and take resources
away from front line policing.
"Our approach to policing and criminal justice needs to be
rooted in the evidence, not on the basis of political rhetoric
and electioneering.
"We need to scrap these costly roles and fight
for powers over policing to be devolved to Wales so we can adopt
an effective, liberal and community-based approach to tackling
crime."
ENDS
Notes to editor:
Details of the FOI are as follows:
- Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) in Wales have spent over
£250,000 on PR since 2016, with the North Wales PCC spending
nearly £140,000 over four years – the highest in Wales and more
than the other PCCs combined.
- Between 2017/18 and 2018/19, PR costs incurred by Dyfed Powys
PCC increased by over 280% – from around £15,000 to over £57,000.
This was an increase of over £41,000 on PR expenditure over one
year, the largest increase of any PCC in Wales.
- Between 2015/16 and 2019/20, staffing costs at the office of
the Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales increased by
over half a million pounds (£521,000) – a 64.9% increase over
five years.
- In 2019/20, the PCCs for South Wales, North Wales and Dyfed
Powys spent a combined total of £2.66 million on staffing.
- The total amount spent on PR and staffing costs stands at
£8.9 million
