Joint memorandum submitted by Derbyshire
Police Authority & Derbyshire Constabulary
Derbyshire Police faces particular problems
due to the way funding is distributed. Currently we lose out on
funding of some £5m per annum, due to the cost of providing
floor protection within the funding formula. This means that we
lose out on funding for some 160 police officers. In addition
Derbyshire Police Authority has the lowest level of PCSO funding
nationally (per head of population) and was adversely affected
by the Government's decision to halt the final tranche of PCSO
funding.
Over recent years, there has been little change
in our Police Officer numbers. (2,100 fte in September 2009, compared
to 2,071 fte in September 2004). Our Police Staff numbers have
increased during this period (1,205 fte in September 2004 to 1,615
fte in September 2009). This increase in police staff has mainly
been due to funding for PCSOs and the civilianisation of custody
detention officers.
As one of the lowest spending forces nationally,
we have had to find innovative ways to save money and redirect
our resources towards new policing risks. Our Closing the Risk
Gap Project is a good example. The Chief Constable has reorganised
the Section Structure and changed the make up of Safer Neighbourhood
Teams to release Police Officers for Public Protection (eg Domestic
Violence, Child Protection & Dangerous Persons Management).
We have already made effective use of our resources
and delivered substantial efficiency savings of over £40
million.
In 2009, the Secretary of State called in the
budget set by our Authority, when the Authority decided it had
no option but to increase it's spending by some 4.99%. The Secretary
of State decided not to cap Derbyshire and on appeal decided to
relax the restrictions placed on our future spending plans. Nevertheless,
Derbyshire still faces tighter spending restrictions than most
other forces next year. We have already introduced a tight system
of vacancy control and are holding a number of police staff posts
vacant. Nevertheless we may well be forced to implement further
job losses to balance our budget in 2010.
We know that the position will be even more
challenging in 2011. At the same time the Authority and Chief
Constable are committed to delivering a quality policing service.
A Moving Forward Project has started to identify further savings
and look at new ways of working that will release police officers
to meet new policing risks. Our current funding position, as
a result of Government decisions around floor protection, means
that we will undoubtedly need to make further reductions in the
number of police staff that we employ and may have little option
but to reduce our police officer numbers.
November 2009
APPENDIX
POLICE OFFICER
AND STAFF
NUMBERS
The number of police officers and staff currently
employed by the Force are shown in table 1. Table 2 shows the
comparison to five years previously.
Table 1—As at 30 September 2009
POLICE OFFICERS
POLICE STAFF
| Type of Staff | Headcount
| FTE |
| Designated Investigative Officer |
86 | 81 |
| Detention Officer | 58 |
57.2 |
| PCSO | 195 | 193.8
|
| Police Staff | 1,461 | 1,283
|
| Traffic Warden | 0 | 0
|
| Total | 1,800 | 1,615
|
Figures taken from half year PP01 data return for Home Office—October 2009
| | |
Table 2—As at 30 September 2004
POLICE OFFICERS
POLICE STAFF
| Type of Staff | Headcount
| FTE |
| Designated Investigative Officer |
0 | 0 |
| Detention Officer | 0 | 0
|
| PCSO | 0 | 0
|
| Police Staff | 1,323 | 1,163.3
|
| Traffic Warden | 43 | 42.04
|
| Total | 1,366 | 1,205.3
|
Figures taken from quarter 2 PP01 data return for Home Office—October 2004
| | |
In general police growth has occurred in the areas of Crime
Support and Regional Units ie East Midlands Special Operational
Unit (EMSOU) and the East Midlands CTIU, Derbyshire acts as the
lead force for the latter. This has been partly due to the risks
identified in the HMIC "Closing the Gap" report and
partly due to the increasing regional collaboration in the fight
against terrorism.
Police Staff increases can be seen in the table above. Specific
areas for the increase include the introduction to the force of
PCSOs, Detention Officers and Designated Investigative Offices
which did not exist five years ago. Further increases have occurred
within the departments of crime support and regional units for
the reasons identified above. In addition the area of Professional
Standards has seen an increase in police staff due to the growth
of CRB checks, Mope and Freedom of Information. In addition there
is now a Confidence and Equality Unit which did not exist five
years ago employing seven members of staff.
Police Staff reductions have occurred with the movement of
Traffic Wardens to local authorities.
IMPLICATIONS OF
FUNDING SETTLEMENT
Derbyshire Police continues to lose out on funding of some
£5 million per annum during the current three-year CSR settlement.
This is due to the operation of grant floors which protect a number
of Authorities at the expense of Derbyshire Police. This loss
of funding has been equivalent to some 160 Police Officers or
over 200 PCSOs which would have been available to Derbyshire to
address the significant Policing Risks that the Force and Authority
have identified.
The implications for Derbyshire, along with other forces
within the East Midlands Region, are shown in the attached paper,
which was produced for the East Midlands Regional Select Committee
on Public Sector Funding.
Despite this under-funding, Derbyshire Police implemented
a major project in 2008 to "Close the Risk Gap" within
protective services. This project provided an extra 100 police
officers/staff to address key public protection risks around Domestic
Violence, Dangerous Persons Management and Child Protection. The
force achieved this through a combination of reorganising and
refocusing the work of some 50 officers as a result of changes
to section structures and increasing the use of PCSOs within Safer
Neighbourhood Teams. At the same time the Police Authority, through
sound financial management, provided funding for a further 50
Police Officers/Staff.
CURRENT POSITION
2009-10 & 2010-11
This year, the Secretary of State chose to call in the budget
for Derbyshire Police. Although he did not decide to cap the Authority
he has set tight spending limits for next year 2010-11, which
were subsequently increased on appeal.
This has meant that the Authority has already had to plan
to deliver savings for next year and projects a budget gap of
some £3 million for 2009-10. As a result, the Authority has
implemented a system of vacancy control, which means the force
is currently holding some xx police staff posts vacant. We do
not expect to be able to fill these posts in the short or medium
term.
The Authority is currently reviewing savings proposals to
meet its £3 million savings target, although it is already
clear that these cannot be delivered without a further loss of
Police Staff posts.
LONGER TERMS
PLANS
Derbyshire Police realises that our Financial Position will
become even more challenging in 2011. We have commenced a wider
"Moving Forward" project aimed at delivering savings
for next year and looking at more fundamental changes to service
delivery.
At this stage the Derbyshire is identifying a programme of
work to both look at how we can reshape the way we deliver our
service and achieve the more substantial savings that we predict
we need to make in the future.
Although the Authority will do all it can to protect "front-line"
services, there is absolutely no guarantee that it will be able
to maintain the current police officer establishment. Indeed if
our funding shortfall is more than predicted then Derbyshire Police
will be forced to cut police officer recruitment to close any
immediate budget gap.
This will be a tough challenge for our Authority, one of
the lowest spending Police Authorities nationally and one that
continues to lose out on funding through the funding formula.
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