| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Electricity (Maintenance of Supplies)
Mr. Dafydd Wigley accordingly presented a Bill to require electricity supply companies to compensate customers whose supply is interrupted and not restored within specified time periods: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 27 March, and to be printed [Bill 117].
Police Grant Report
4.23 pm
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Alun Michael): I beg to move,
- That the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 1998-99 (HC 492), which was laid before this House on 2 February, be approved.
This is my first opportunity to open a debate on the funding of the police service in England and Wales, and I am very pleased to do so. As my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary said in his Christmas message to police officers across the country, we all owe the police a debt of gratitude for the risks that they take on our behalf, and for the quiet professionalism with which they go about their daily duties. He went on to say that the Government have a duty to give the police their full support, and to provide them, as best they can, with the resources and powers that they require to enable them to do their job effectively.
I referred to resources and powers. We shall debate powers later in the Session, particularly when we come to the radical proposals for tackling crime in England, Wales and Scotland contained in the Crime and Disorder Bill. Today's debate is not about powers: it is about resources.
At the general election, we were careful not to make rash promises about police numbers and police funding that we could not deliver. Since coming to office, we have been equally mindful of the need not to make impossible commitments on increasing police numbers. One of the previous Government's mistakes--and there were many--was to plan and project increases in police numbers, when in the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 they had handed to chief constables and their police authorities the freedom to decide whether to use available resources on recruiting more police officers or on other expenditure such as information technology or equipment.
It is a matter of record that the number of police officers in England and Wales fell from 127,627 in March 1992 to 127,158 at the end of March 1997, which is a loss of 469 officers instead of the additional 1,000 officers that were promised for the 12 months following March 1992.
I do not intend to fall into the trap of promising extra officers. Of course police numbers are important; but far more important is the number of officers available for duty at any one time, and the quality of service that they provide to the public.
Last week's Audit Commission report makes interesting reading. It rightly emphasises the important link between funding and performance. It makes the point that performance sometimes does not reflect the level of funding, as one would expect. We must ensure that we get best value for money from the resources provided to all public services, including the police. We shall continue to work closely with forces and police authorities to ensure that that is achieved in the police service. We are examining funding in the context of the value-for-money study of police efficiency that is taking place as part of the fundamental review of all aspects of public expenditure. In the meantime, we shall do all we can to ensure that the police have adequate resources to play their key part in preventing and cutting crime, and in working with local authorities and other agencies to tackle crime and disorder.
Money is tight, and we are committed to remaining within the previous Government's overall spending plans while we undertake our comprehensive spending review. Nevertheless, the police service in England and Wales will be able to increase its spending for the coming financial year by £258 million, which is an increase of 3.7 per cent. As a result, the total revenue spending power of the police may rise to £7.15 billion. That is a healthy increase at a time of public spending constraint. It shows the Government's commitment to helping the police build on their success in tackling crime. Overall, the settlement gives police authorities the finance to cover pay and pension increases.
Let me explain how we reached the 3.7 per cent. figure. Under proposals announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister last December and restated on 2 February, all police authorities will be subject to a single capping criterion that will allow a budget increase of 3.2 per cent., with the standard proviso that authorities set budgets no more than 12.5 per cent. above the sum of their standard spending assessments and principal grant under the funding formula. Forces may budget to the total of SSA and principal formula grant even if that results in a budget increase of more than 3.2 per cent. A number of police authorities will be able to take advantage of that last measure. Similar proposals have been announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales in respect of Welsh police authorities.
In addition, we have included in the settlement the final £40 million instalment of the additional funding planned by the previous Administration for police officers in 1998-99. That money is being provided outside the capping limits. We are therefore honouring the earlier commitment by providing the finance. However, we are not attaching a condition that the money should be spent on extra officers: that is not for the Government to decide. Resources are being made available to enable police authorities to increase spending on delivering my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's key objectives for the police for 1998-99. The extra funds, which are allocated under additional rule 2A of the Police Grant Report, and the earlier instalments, which are allocated under additional rule 2, are being made available outside the capping limits of 3.2 per cent. When added to the capping increase, they will deliver an overall spending power increase of 3.7 per cent.
Mr. Andrew Hunter (Basingstoke):
Can the Minister explain why the additional funds that were made available for the provision of more police officers were not translated nationally into the recruitment of more officers--although that did happen in Hampshire?
Mr. Michael:
Yes, I can, very simply. The police said that they needed more money in order to do their job. The additional money was granted, theoretically for the provision of extra police officers; but it was not for the Government to decide how money allocated to police forces should be used. The 1994 Act made that the responsibility of the chief constables and the police authorities. The Government gave the money intending it to be used to provide more officers, but it was for the chief constables and the police authorities to undertake their duty of deciding what was the best value for money.
It is clear that judgments differed in different parts of the country. Some police forces felt that they should pass the money straight through into increased policing, and found
that the resources available to them allowed them to do so. For others, that would have meant cutting other areas of expenditure--or it would not have made sense for them to take on police officers without being certain that they could maintain the same level of employment in future years. The establishment factor has been changing; the previous Government changed it persistently for a number of years. The number of police officers is not a tap that can be turned on and off. It cannot be turned on in one year without there being implications for finance in future years.
The Government said that they would provide more money for police officers, but it was not their responsibility to give money for police officers. Their responsibility was to give money to the police so that they could do their job. We warned what would happen, and it did happen.
The settlement for the Metropolitan police will give them a revenue spending power of £1.775 billion. That represents an increase of 3.7 per cent. in spending power over 1997-98, taking the Metropolitan police to exactly the national average. The settlement is fair, but not excessive. It is in line with the increase for police authorities in the rest of England and Wales. The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has acknowledged that it is fair in the context of public expenditure constraints. We have had to strike a balance between the Commissioner's assessment of need and the demands of council tax payers.
Included in the total settlement for the Met is a special payment in recognition of its capital city and national functions. The payment was fixed at £130 million in 1995, and until now has remained unchanged. For 1998-99, it will be increased by £21 million to £151 million. The increase followed a review of the special payment led by the Home Office, assisted by the Metropolitan police. We wanted to establish a firm foundation for the calculation of the figure. That review was the first serious attempt to cost the Met's capital city and national functions.
The report provides a degree of transparency about the additional payment that was not previously available. I know that police authorities have welcomed its publication, although some outside London have voiced concerns about the level of the payment. We consider that the report is an open and honest attempt to study and identify the additional costs that the Metropolitan police must bear in relation to their national and capital city functions, which are exceptional.
In general, people agree that there is that additional capital city element, although I think we all accept that there is no simple way of identifying it. We have done the best we can, working with the Commissioner and others, to establish rationally what the figure should be. Now that the new level of payment has been established, we shall consider whether it needs further uplifting against the background of future police funding settlements. It establishes a rational basis for looking at the needs of the Metropolitan police.
As part of the settlement for the Metropolitan police, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has asked the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis to prepare a comprehensive value-for-money strategy that will draw together the current initiatives and look forward over the next five years. The overall national increase of 3.7 per cent. does not include an additional £30 million that we have transferred from central funding to local police funding for 1998-99, to allow authorities to pay the levy to
the new service authority for the National Criminal Intelligence Service. That sum also includes a contribution to the NCIS and national crime squad service authorities.
Every police authority will get its share of the £30 million. We have excluded that sum from our calculations, because, although it is a cash increase, it does not represent an increase in spending power as forces will need it to pay their levy. That levy was proposed by the previous Government and we supported it. We felt that it was right that those national functions, the finance for them and the representation on the service authorities should be routed back into local police forces and local authorities. That principle, which was established during debates and by agreement between both sides for incorporation in earlier legislation, is respected in the way that we have described the increased finance for this year.
My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary consulted the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Association of Police Authorities on the levies. In the light of the consultation process, he decided to direct the service authorities to issue levies that were lower than those that were originally proposed. The APA has described that as a sensible outcome of tripartite consultation.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |