Asked by Lord Greaves To ask Her Majesty’s Government what
advice they are giving to police commissioners on (1) whether
commissioners should use the opportunity to levy additional council
tax of £1 per month, and (2) what criteria should be used when
making that decision. The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness
Williams of Trafford) (Con) ...Request free trial
Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they are giving
to police commissioners on (1) whether commissioners should
use the opportunity to levy additional council tax of £1
per month, and (2) what criteria should be used when making
that decision.
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con)
My Lords, the Government believe that democratically
elected Police and Crime Commissioners are
best placed to take these local decisions. It is a matter
for them to determine the appropriate levels of council tax
precept to apply in each police force area.
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(LD)
My Lords, that is not true, of course, because there is a
cap on it. To give just one example, in my own county in
Lancashire the police are facing £90 million of savings in
this decade, and they have already lost 800 police
officers. The Government accept that there is a need for
more spending, but the only way in which they will allow
it, in order to max their cuts in what they are providing
in real terms, is by putting up council tax by £12 a year,
which would raise a fairly paltry £5 million this year.
What advice will the Government give police commissioners
in such places? Will they come off the fence and say
whether they want the commissioners to stop further cuts in
the police? If they do, will they therefore put council tax
up by an extra £12 a year?
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My Lords, the reason for a cap is to stop precepts from
getting completely out of hand in terms of the amount that
local people might be asked to pay. The advice to police is
that there are further efficiencies to be made in policing,
as acknowledged by HMICFRS. There are investments in
technology and things such as shared services that the
police can look at across the piece. However, it is up to
the local PCC to determine the best level of funding for
the area and what type of investments it wishes to make.
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(Lab)
My Lords, is this not just another example of the
Government passing the buck? The police are under enormous
financial pressure, and every county in this country will
say that they do not see police officers as often as they
used to and that numbers are falling. It is hardly
surprising that, after seven years of real-term cuts, we
have fewer officers per head of the population today than
we have had at any time since records began. Instead of
saying that it is a matter for the police force or PCCs,
will the Government accept responsibility and give the
funding required? When the Minister says that these
technologies are needed and investment must be made, we
have to put the money in first to see the benefit of
investment. Will the Government step up to their
responsibilities and adequately fund our police force?
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My Lords, the Government certainly accept their
responsibilities. The right honourable Member in the other
place, , visited every police force
in England in the run-up to this. The NPCC and the APCC
called for £440 million of extra funding in 2018-19, with
additional CT funding on top. They called for an extra
5,000 front-line officers for proactive policing by 2020.
If all forces delivered the level of productivity benefits
of mobile working of the best forces, the average officer
could spend an hour a day extra on the front line. That has
a potential to create the equivalent of 11,000 extra
officers across England and Wales. In addition, the police
have reserves of £1.6 billion to invest.
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(Con)
Does my noble friend agree that it would be wholly
inappropriate for the discredited former chief constable of
Wiltshire Police to be given another highly paid job within
the police force?
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I think that my noble friend answered his own question.
What I will say is that, under the Policing and Crime Act
of last year, retiring or moving on to another force—I am
not referring specifically to the chief constable—does not
absolve a police officer from being answerable.
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(LD)
Four years ago, the Government described council tax payers
as “hard pressed”; today, the Government are anticipating,
and enabling, the raising of the police precept by police
commissioners by 6% or 7%. Does that mean that council tax
payers are no longer hard pressed?
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My Lords, when local leaders such as PCCs or local
authorities make funding and budget decisions, they should
always maintain as low a cost base for the local taxpayer
as possible.
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(Lab)
Will the Minister confirm that we have lost more than
20,000 police officers since the Government came in in
2010, and will she explain precisely how that has helped
the fight against crime?
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As the noble Lord will know, overall crime has gone down
since 2010. However, I think that everyone will recognise
that the types of crime we are now experiencing have changed,
and that police forces need to be equipped to deal with the
changing face of crime.
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(Lab)
The Minister said that the Police and Crime Commissioners have
£1.6 billion in reserves. What is a reasonable figure?
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I am not sure whether the noble Baroness means a reasonable
figure for reserves.
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Yes.
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I thank the Labour Front Bench for answering the noble
Baroness’s question. I think that 5% of the revenue budget is
deemed a reasonable level of reserves. I cannot stand at the
Dispatch Box and work that out quickly.
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