Memorandum submitted by the East Midlands Police Authorities (EM02-04)

 

About the East Midlands Police Authorities

The East Midlands has been identified as an area, which faces high risk in terms of counter terrorism, major crime, serious and organised crime, critical incidents (e.g. firearms), civil contingencies, strategic roads policing and public order. Unfortunately, funding for the East Midlands Region does not reflect this level of risk.

 

The five police authorities in the East Midlands Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamtonshire have established the East Midlands Police Authorities Joint Committee, which provides a focus for joint working to enhance effective policing across the region.

 

Successful collaboration to date includes:

 

· Establishing the East Midlands Special Operations Unit which is now the main resource for dealing with serious and organised crime across the region. This Unit is also seen as a national model for such work.

· Setting up the East Midlands Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit.

· Regional collaboration on procurement.

· Introducing regional crime training.

· Mobile data, where we are making over 4,500 mobile data devices available to police officers and front line staff.

 

 

All of the five East Midlands Police Forces are disadvantaged by the operation of current funding arrangements. They are concerned that the financial situation will impact on further collaborative work and the delivery of effective policing across the region.

 

 

 

 

 

Summary

 

· The East Midlands is not a well funded region. Our region receives the 4^th lowest level of Government funding for policing out of the 9 English regions.

· A full implementation of the Police Grant funding formula would deliver £19m for policing in the East Midlands

· The tax-base for East Midlands' forces is much lower than for other shire forces as shown by the tax-base per head of population.

· The East Midlands receives less support than other regions from specific Home Office grants such as the Neighbourhood Policing Grant and the Crime Fighting Fund

· The East Midlands is the fastest growing region in the UK. Funding formula changes are slow to reflect population growth meaning funding hasn't kept pace with demand caused by a rising population.

· The East Midlands has the third highest level of crime per 1,000 population of the 9 government regions but has the fourth lowest spending per head across the 9 government regions.

· East Midlands Authorities ask that the Funding Formula is now implemented in full.

· Rather than a full and time consuming reform of the funding formula, swift action is needed to ensure that funding keeps pace with population changes and future investment needs.

· The East Midlands Special Operations Unit is an example of effective regional collaboration and identified nationally as a template for other regions. The success of the unit has been underpinned by Home Office funding committed until 2010/11. The withdrawal of funding risks the future of collaborative working in this area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Current Funding situation

 

1.1 The East Midlands is not a well funded region

 

The East Midlands receives the 4^th lowest level of general Government funding for the Police and the 4^th lowest level of grant funding per head across the 9 UK Government regions.

 

· Lincolnshire Police Authority receives the lowest level of grant per head of any force nationally.

 

 

1.2 The East Midlands is subsidising other regions

 

The Government decision to phase in the new funding formula means that each year forces in the East Midlands Region subsidise taxpayers in other regions. On average, each East Midlands resident loses out on £4.31 of police funding. This totals some £19m annually across our region. This is the second biggest regional loss of grant nationally.

 

· Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire suffer the 4^th and 5^th biggest loss of grant nationally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.3 The East Midlands receives the lowest level of specific grants

 

The Government provides these specific grants in addition to the general grant to promote new government initiatives e.g. Neighbourhood Policing. The general grant formula is not used to distribute this grant. Instead different criteria or indeed a bidding process will be used to distribute these grants.

Grants for specific policing activity includes:

 

The Crime Fighting Fund: which was introduced in 2000 to fund additional police officers. The East Midlands receives the 4^th lowest funding per head of population. This translates into fewer additional police officers

 

o Lincolnshire has the lowest level of funding nationally per head of population from this fund

 

 

The Neighbourhood Policing Fund: was introduced in 2004 to fund additional Police Community Support officers to enhance community policing and focus on anti-social behaviour. These officers play an important role in helping forces build confidence in local communities. The East Midlands has the 2^nd lowest level of funding per head of population from the Neighbourhood Policing Fund. This translates into fewer additional police community support officers to tackle anti-social behaviour.

 

o Derbyshire has the lowest level of funding per head of population nationally from this fund.

 

Capital Grants: fund major building projects and maintain authorites' property estates. These grants also help forces to invest in new buildings and technology to generate savings for the future. These grants have failed to keep pace with inflation. The East Midlands receives the 3^rd lowest level of capital grant per head of population nationally. This impacts on the ability of the East Midlands to invest in essential infrastructure and to generate efficiency savings.

 

1.4 The Council Tax Yield for the East Midlands is low

 

The tax-base for East Midlands' forces is much lower than for shire forces in other Government regions. The East Midlands has a greater proportion of properties in the lower council tax bands (A, B & C) than most other regions. This can be measured by the tax-base per head of population.

 

Effectively this means that East Midlands' forces are in a worse position than most other regions to generate council tax income at a time when government grants are more and more restricted. Put simply an extra pound on the council tax bill for each household in the East Midlands will raise much less than a pound on the council tax bill for each household in the South East or South West or indeed the West Midlands.

 

· Nottinghamshire has one of the lowest council tax yields of any shire force nationally.

· Leicestershire, Derbyshire & Lincolnshire are also in the bottom quartile for council tax yields in shire forces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.5 The East Midlands has less to spend on Policing than most other Government Regions

 

Relatively low government grants coupled with lower than average council tax income means that overall funding for policing across the East Midlands is low. The East Midlands has the fourth lowest available spending per head across the 9 government regions

 

· Lincolnshire has the lowest spending per head of any force nationally

· In the last 5 years Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire have all been subject to Government imposed capping limits.

 

 

1.6 Population Growth presents another funding challenge

 

The East Midlands is the fastest growing region nationally. The regional population is estimated to grow by 11% by 2016. This growth in population is 33% faster than the national average. The East Midlands has already had the second fastest population growth between 2001-7. This places even greater pressure on policing services in the region, particularly as this population growth is slow to feed into increases in grant funding.

 

· A study by the University of Sheffield in 2008 showed Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire had the second and third highest population change between 1981 and 2006 of anywhere in the country

 

 

 

1.7 Regional Funding Gap

 

Police Authorities across the region estimate that they will face a funding gap of some £17m in total next year, just to maintain the level of service they provide currently. Many forces plan to use reserves to help close a significant share of this funding gap. This is at best a short term strategy as these reserves will soon run out.

 

 

2. The Policing Risk in the Region

 

2.1 The region faces a higher level of policing risk

 

Most forces across the East Midlands face average or indeed above average policing risk. While crime levels in the East Midlands have fallen substantially over recent years, the region still faces substantial policing risks compared to most other regions.

 

The simplest measure of policing risk is the level of crime per 1,000 population. The East Midlands has the fourth highest level of crime per 1,000 population of the 9 government regions.

 

· The HMIC study on Force's capability to deal with Serious and Organised crime "Closing the Risk Gap" identified the East Midlands as the most at risk region in the Country.

 

· HMIC Force Threat Ranking for Serious and Organsied crime, across 43 English & Welsh forces, ranked 2 East Midlands forces in the top 50% of forces nationally - Nottinghamshire (16^th) and Derbyshire (19^th)

 

· The same threat ranking showed the other three East Midlands forces still faced significant policing risk - Leicestershire (24^th), Northamptonshire (26^th) and Lincolnshire (32^nd)

 

 

 

More specifically,

 

· Counter Terrorism continues to place heavy demands on the East Midlands. A number of national counter terrorism incidents have originated in the East Midlands. This means that our region is heavily involved in key counter terrorism operations aimed at reducing the national counter terrorism threat.

· Despite significant reductions, Nottinghamshire faces one of the highest levels of crime per 1.000 population.

 

2.2 Funding does not match Policing Risk

 

The above average policing risk faced by the East Midlands region is not matched by above average funding. The East Midlands Region has the lowest level of grant nationally relative to the level of crime in the East Midlands Region. Current it receives some £1,330 to deal with every crime committed in the East Midlands Region, compared to the North East Region which receives some £800 more in grant to deal with every crime in their region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.3 The East Midlands has the lowest per-capita spending per crime

Based on current 2009/10 budgets and the latest 2008/9 annual crime figures, East Midlands forces spend £1,950 for every crime in their region. This is the lowest level of spending nationally.

 

For comparison the Met has £3,127 to spend for every crime while forces in the North East Region have £2,597 to spend for every crime in their region. Put another way North Eastern forces have nearly £650 extra to spend on dealing with every crime committed in their region.

 

2.4 Funding shortfalls mean fewer police officers in the Region.

 

The low level of funding relative to crime levels means that the East Midlands has relatively fewer police officer to tackle each crime committed in the East Midlands.

 

Forces across the region have 24.6 officers to deal with every 1,000 crimes committed in our region. This is the lowest number of officers relative to crime numbers across the 9 regions. In the North East region forces have some 36.3 officers to deal with every 1,000 crimes committed in their region.

 

3 Striking a fairer balance

 

3.1 The existing formula would deliver equitable funding if fully implemented

We believe that the existing Police Grant funding formula recognises the risks faced by the East Midlands region and the relative needs of its five Police Forces. The formula has however not been fully implemented. The use of damping arrangements over the past six years has protected funding for other regions, but means that the East Midlands doesn't receive funding to match its policing need. If the formula were implemented entirely, it would deliver an extra £19m of Government funding to police the East Midlands, which is very close to the extra £22m which the five East Midlands Police Authorities estimate they need to spend an to address the immediate policing risks that they face.

 

East Midlands' Police Authorities have worked together with their MPs to lobby for a fairer grant settlement and the full implementation of the funding formula.

 

3.2 The Police Grant Funding Formula should be implemented in full

Police forces in the East Midlands are disappointed that the opportunity wasn't taken to phase in the new grant arrangements over the current three year funding settlement, which would enable forces who stood to lose grant, time to plan for this.

 

It is frustrating that the Government has chosen to adopt this approach for most other classes of authorities (education, fire and district authorities) but has not done this for the Police.

 

3.3 Police authorities are concerned that tighter funding settlements will make reform more difficult in the future

With far tighter funding settlements in the future, the East Midlands region is concerned that there will be even less opportunity to redress the imbalance in funding between the East Midlands and other regions. This doesn't just create a greater risk across the East Midlands but also nationally. Effectively it means that resources on a national level are not being targeted at those areas of greatest policing risk, which undoubtedly will impact on national crime levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 Future Formula Changes

 

4.1 The Current Funding Formula provides a reasonable assessment of policing need.

 

The Department for Communities & Local Government and the Home Office have recently embarked on yet another review of the funding formula. Police authorities realise that no funding formula can provide the "perfect" distribution of resources. The current formula has been developed and refined over many years to offer a relatively objective grant distribution system and provides a good assessment of the needs faced by all Police Authorities.

 

Changes to the fundamentals to the system will simply risk making funding disparities much worse. Specific reforms to the current system would be much more effective in ensuring funding equality.

 

4.2 Population Growth presents a challenge within the formula

 

The main flaw with the current funding formula is the way it deals with population and the time lags inherent in the formula, which fail to recognise the pace of population growth. The emphasis on historic capital spending to distribute capital resources rather than future investment need is also questionable.

 

 

4.3 Any changes to the formula would be ineffective unless fully implemented

Another revision of the funding formula is worthless if there is no commitment to ensure its implementation. While damping arrangements remain in their current form, the funding formula has little impact on the grant received by individual authorities.

 

 

4.4 Specific Policing Grants need to keep pace with inflation

 

Specific grants (e.g. Neighbourhood Policing Fund, Crime Fighting Fund) have failed to keep pace with inflation. This means that the value of these grants continues to be eroded over time.

 

Similarly the Capital Grant that authorities receive has also failed to keep pace with inflation. This puts in jeopardy the important new projects that the Government is seeking to encourage and equally makes it harder for East Midlands Authorities to invest in projects that will generate longer term savings, for example IT investment to link up systems and deliver effective shared services across a number of authorities.

 

 

 

 

5 Investing to Save

 

5.1 Collaboration has provided more cost effective Policing in the East Midlands

 

Current funding levels have already placed East Midlands forces under great pressure to deliver efficiency savings and look at new and innovative ways to be more efficient.

 

Police Authorities within the East Midlands are at the heart of collaboration with a Joint Committee and Regional Collaboration Team established to look at ways that East Midlands forces can work together to improve the service they provide and save money at the same time.

 

The East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) is perhaps the best example of this. EMSOU brings together specialist officers and police staff from across the region to tackle serious and organised crime affecting the whole region. The unit has already been identified nationally (by the Policing Minister Office, Cabinet Office, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary) as an example of good practice. It is identified in the Green Paper as a model for other regions to follow.

 

5.2 Maintaining Home office funding is important for the future of collaboration

 

Authorities and forces in the East Midlands have lobbied hard maintain Home Office support for the unit up until 2010/11. Clearly it is of real concern to forces in the region that this successful unit may be placed in jeopardy with the withdrawal of government funding at a time when all five contributing forces are faced with considerable budget pressures.

 

5.3 Collaboration often requires significant initial investment

 

Further collaboration will require some initial investment. The current level of capital funding means that the East Midlands forces are not as well placed as many regions nationally to invest in these collaborative opportunities and generate savings for the future.

 

Where the region is able to invest we do this to good effect. The five East Midlands police forces submitted a joint bid for government funding for mobile data. The region received 17 per cent of the government funding available and will deliver 46 per cent of the national target number of mobile data devices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 Conclusion

 

6.1 Under-funding is harming policing in the East Midlands

 

The East Midlands is not a well funded region and funding doesn't match the policing risk. The East Midlands region has the fourth lowest level of funding to deal with the 3^rd highest level of crime per thousand population nationally. This funding impacts directs on the officer resources and indeed other resources that forces across the East Midlands have to deal with crimes in their area.

 

6.2 The most effective way to deal with the funding inequality faced by the region is through the full imprementation of the Police Grant funding formula.

 

It has taken too long to implement the Funding Formula in full, despite the finding of the Flanagan Review. East Midlands Authorities have few major concerns with the formula, apart from the way it deals with population growth. They re-iterate their position that the funding formula is implemented in full.

 

 

2 October 2009