HC Deb 26 October 1998 vol 318 cc15-6
13. Mr. John Randall (Uxbridge)

By how much in real terms police spending will increase in each of the next three years. [53520]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. AlunMichael)

The outcome of the comprehensive spending review for the Home Office provides for a real-terms year-on-year increase in police funding of £3 million in 1999–2000, £23 million in 2000–01 and £107 million in 2001–02. In actual terms, that represents a total of £1.24 billion over the three-year period.

Mr. Randall

I thank the Minister for his reply. What guarantees can the Minister offer outer-London boroughs that they will get their fair share of any increases?

Mr. Michael

The whole point of the needs-based system, which was introduced by the previous Government, is to ensure that the allocation to police forces is based on need rather than on whim, on what has gone before or on any other criteria. Some outer-London areas will be affected by boundary changes. I met the representative of the outer-London police committee last week to discuss the issues. We shall make every effort to be fair to every part of the police service, and to take account of the effect of the changes on individual forces, particularly the three that will be affected by the boundary changes.

Angela Smith (Basildon)

Does the Minister agree that, although the increased funding is greatly welcomed across the country, serious issues of inefficiency in the police force still have to be tackled to ensure that we have the best use of existing and new resources? What action will he take to ensure that we see such greater efficiency?

Mr. Michael

My hon. Friend is right. I agree with the remarks of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, who said that there is an enormous variation in the performance of police forces, and that it is extraordinarily difficult to hold anyone publicly accountable. Senior police officers and police authorities now recognise this problem. We shall do all that we can to encourage the most efficient use of the resources available to the police service.

Sir Norman Fowler (Sutton Coldfield)

Does the Minister agree that, under the last Conservative Government, the strength of the police service increased by 15,000, and spending in real terms went up by 70 per cent? Does he expect there to be more police or less police at the end of his period of office?

Mr. Michael

I must correct the right hon. Gentleman in both fact and grammar. If there were any reduction, there would be fewer, not less, police. His political inexactitude is as great. Between 1992 and 1997, the number of police officers went down, despite the fact that the Government whom he supported promised an increase of 2,000. They failed to deliver what they promised.

Sir Norman Fowler

Let me correct the Minister on the facts. Does he deny that, over the period of the last Conservative Government, police numbers went up by 15,000? Is it not a fact that the Police Federation, the Police Superintendents Association and chief constables all see the inevitable result of his policies as smaller police forces? How can the Prime Minister boast of zero tolerance policing at the same time as police numbers are falling?

Mr. Michael

It is all right to get artificially angry, but the right hon. Gentleman should look at the remarks of Lord Baker, a former Home Secretary, who said: There was impatience, if not anger, that although we"— the Conservative Government— had spent 87 per cent. more in real terms, and had increased police numbers by 27,000, there had still been a substantial rise in crime. 'Where is the value for money' asked my colleagues? The previous Government managed to more than double crime—they put resources into policing and did little about efficiency.