§ The Minister for Policing, Crime Reduction and Community Safety (Mr. John Denham):On 5 December I placed in the Library a copy of the Home Secretary's proposals for allocation of police grant for England in 2003–04. I have today placed in the Library a revised copy of those proposals which includes information on allocations of police grant for Wales in 2003–04. The proposals in respect of England are unchanged from the earlier ones. The Home Secretary and I intend to implement the revised proposals subject to consideration of any representations we receive about them and to the approval of the House.
Funding the police service properly is a top priority for this government. The settlement I am announcing today continues that commitment. The total provision for policing in England and Wales, to be supported by grant in 2003–04 is £9,683 million. This is a cash rise of £566 million or 6.2 per cent over the provision for 2002–03. This includes principal formula police grant, direct Home Office spending, the standard spending on which revenue support grant is based.
Provisional grants (i.e. Home Office Police Grant, Revenue Support Grant and National Non Domestic Rates) for Welsh police authorities in 2003–04 compared with 2002–03 are given in Table 1. Where Welsh police authorities fall be low the 3 per cent "floor" applied to English police authorities, they will receive Home Office special grant to bring them up to the minimum increase of 3 per cent. Grant increases for individual authorities vary. Differences between authorities reflect funding formula changes resulting from the recent consultation process over formula changes and year-to-year data changes. Changes to the police funding formula:
The police funding formula that distributes Home Office police grant to police authorities has been reviewed as part of an overall review of local authority funding formulae.
We consulted on proposals for the police funding formula that would make the policing formula more responsive to current policing needs. The six options for change relating specifically to the police funding formula published in the consultation paper were to:
76WS Consultation on the proposals was wide ranging. In the light of comments received, the Home Secretary has decided that two changes will be made to the police funding formula. These changes were widely supported by the policing community during the consultation process.
- update the activity analysis data on which over 70 per cent of the formula allocation is based;
- incorporate the £30million Rural Policing Fund into the main grant formula:
- remove the remaining component that was still based on police establishments;
- increase the personal crime component by 5 per cent;
- increase the public order component by 5 per cent;
- introduce a deprivation component at 2 per cent.
Activity analysis data has been updated to make the formula more responsive to current policing needs. Up to this year, the pattern of resources across policing functions has been calculated using data collected in 1995. It is important to bring it up to date to reflect contemporary pressures on the police service.
The Home Secretary has agreed to reduction of the `establishment component' in the formula from 10 per cent to zero. This change finally removes the old damping mechanism that cushioned police authorities from the full impact of change when the present formula was introduced in 1995. The component had been reduced from 50 per cent to 10 per cent before the moratorium on formula change was introduced in 1999. The change will complete the process of phasing out the damping. Other damping mechanisms, in the form of floors and ceilings on grant change, are now in place.
The Home Secretary has announced already that the Rural Policing Fund will remain unchanged as a separate £30 million fund to meet the particular needs of forces with the most widespread populations. A proportion of this will be available to police forces in Wales. There has been no change to the method of allocation. Data changes have been applied as usual which accounts for the year-on-year variations in allocations for authorities.
Specific grants for police authorities:
As well as general grant, police authorities will receive additional funding through several specific grants for particular schemes. Some of these grants will be available to all forces in England and Wales, others to specific forces to help meet their particular requirements. Funding for some of these initiatives will be available on a matched funding basis. I estimate that specific grants up to £23 million will be available to Welsh police authorities.
The main specific grants are:
Crime Fighting Fund: this will continue for the three years 2003–04 to 2005–06. Police officers recruited between April 2000 and March 2003 through the CFF will continue to be funded at 100 per cent. There will be funds for the recruitment of a further 600 officers in 2003–04 and more in the subsequent two years. Officers recruited in 2003–04 and future years will be funded at 75 per cent;
Airwave: further funds will be available for the startup operational costs of authorities taking Airwave in 2003–04 and to enable those forces who have the Airwave service to purchase additional menu services. The Home Office will continue to meet the core charges for the service provider. Additional capital will be available to police authorities.
77WSBasic Command Unit (BCU) funds: £50 million for BCU's, that are at the forefront of local policing. Grants will be targeted towards forces with BCU's in high crime areas to help reduce crime in partnership with Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships;
Police Negotiating Board (PNB): the pay and conditions package agreed by PNB is fully provided for in the settlement. The package introduces new elements into police pay such as payments for the most experienced officers who can demonstrate a high level of professional competence and extra rewards for officers in the most difficult and demanding posts. A separate special grant is available to underpin the PNB proposals for special priority payments.
Community Support Officers (CSOs): funding will be available to support the costs of CSOs who will free up police officer time, will play a crucial role in providing-reassurance and who will have some powers to deal with low level crime and anti-social behaviour. The provision will fund in full CSOs recruited in 2002–03 and fund those recruited in 2003–04 at 50 per cent.
Police authority capital:
The Home Secretary and I intend to allocate to police authorities in England and Wales provision of capital grant and supplementary credit approvals of approximately £190 million in 2003–04. Within this allocation funds will be set aside for a second Premises Improvement Fund to which forces may bid for funds specifically to improve the working conditions of police officers.
In addition capital grants for the introduction of Airwave will be made available to those authorities taking up the radio communications service in 2003–04. Similar arrangements were made for 2002–03.
There will be capital provision for the case and custody project of the Criminal Justice IT system. This will be supported by resource funding as well.
Central spending on policing:
The main specific items are the DNA expansion programme, the National Strategy for Police Information Systems and the Airwave contractor's core charges. In addition, provision is made for the costs of organisations supporting policing, mainly the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO), Centrex (the Central Police Training and Development Authority) and scientific and technical facilities.
Efficiency:
The settlement continues to take account of the Home Secretary's commitment to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the police service. Future police grant allocations will be considered in the light of police authorities meeting the 2 per cent efficiency improvements. The PNB agreement includes a service-wide target to secure a 15 per cent reduction in overtime expenditure over the three years from 2003–04. Implementation of activity based costing in forces will be another factor considered when assessing the efficiency target.
78WSConclusion:
We are keeping our promise to the police and public to match reform with investment. In November we published the first National Policing Plan which sets out strategic national priorities for the police service. With this settlement we are delivering our investment in the police service by providing the resources to help the police do their job more effectively. The police service is receiving the resources to benefit from an historic pay and conditions deal and an action plan to cut bureaucracy. At the same time both the police service and the public will continue to benefit from record police numbers that are helping to deliver on high visibility policing targets and to reduce the fear of crime.
Table 1: Police Grant Allocations by Welsh police authority (includes Home office special grants to maintain floor increases but excludes all other specific and special grants)
Police Authority 2002/03 Allocation £m 2003/04 Allocation £m % Change Dyfed-Powys (1) 47.9 49.3 3% Gwent 66.7 69.6 4.3% North Wales (2) 70.1 73.4 4.6% South Wales (1) 158.3 163.0 3% Total 343.0 355.2 3.6% Notes:
1. Grant allocations for 2003–04 include special grant from the Home Office to ensure a 3 per cent. minimum increase over 2002–03.
2. Grant allocation for 2002–03 included special grant from the Home Office to ensure a 2.3 per cent. minimum increase over 2002/03.