Memorandum submitted by Lancashire Police
Academy
Thank you for your letter of 14 October
2009 together with the opportunity of commenting to the evidence
session on Police Service strength. These views are those of the
Lancashire Police Authority although we have had sight of the
information from Lancashire Constabulary which has contributed
to the response from ACPO. The Constabulary have submitted the
detailed information that you have requested and we are not repeating
this here.
We agree with the comments of Sir Hugh Orde
with regard to the likelihood of significant funding cuts for
policing within the current financial climate, and whilst we recognise
that no service can be exempt from reductions in budget in the
face of substantial increases in public sector borrowing, we have,
as an Authority, concerns about how that will impact on the recently
imposed target that seeks to measure confidence in the Constabulary.
The link that members of the public make between
Police Officer numbers, and effectiveness and efficiency of police
provision is one that has been made on a number of occasions.
Lancashire Police Authority, together with the Constabulary have
already begun an active programme to scope a range of budget reduction
options that will allow us to continue to deliver excellent services
that are good value for money. We expect that as part of this
we will need to look at the makeup of the workforce and the way
in which services are delivered.
It is the case that in Lancashire the CSR funding
has provided only a stand still option at best. We would like
to see consideration across government departments to the cumulative
impact of cross sector budget cuts. In local government for example,
cuts to local authority budgets may well have an impact on resourcing
in terms of community safety. An example of these could be not
only a reduction in resources available for PCSO's but also a
reduction in non-statutory activities, such as parks maintenance,
which could directly impact on neighbourhood policing.
November 2009
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