§ Mr. CoakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will announce the allocations of police grant for individual police authorities in 1998–99. [19097]
§ Mr. StrawI have today put a copy of my proposals for the allocation of police grant for 1998–99 in the Library. I intend to implement these proposals subject to consideration of any representations I receive about them.
The police service has indicated its support in principle for the continued distribution of police grant in accordance with a needs-based formula, and I am therefore proposing to continue to allocate the greater part of police grant according to the police funding formula.
I am however proposing several changes to the formula to reflect the latest data now available, and in response to the representations I have received. The principle changes I propose are: to reduce from 30 per cent. to 20 per cent. the share of funding allocated on the basis of forces' past establishments: and to increase from 12.9 per cent. to 13.2 per cent. the proportion of funding allocated on the basis of forces' pensions commitments.
I have also set the amount of the special payment to the Metropolitan Police, in recognition of its national and capital city functions, at £151 million in 1998–99.
An additional £40 million of police grant has been made available in 1998–99. This allocation is to ensure that police authorities and the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District have funds available which 101W would allow them to increase spending on meeting the key objectives for the police in 1998–99 over and above that available through the principal formula.
Other police funding proposals within the local government finance system are being announced today by my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and for Wales. These proposals and mine would increase the total spending power of police authorities in England and Wales by 3.7 per cent. or around £258 million over 1997–98.
The table below shows, by police authority, the effect of my proposals for 1998–99. It also shows the allocations approved by Parliament for 1997–98.
102W
£ million 1997–98 1998–99 Police Authority 1funding 1funding English Shire forces Avon and Somerset 158.7 164.2 Bedfordshire 58.9 60.9 Cambridgeshire 68.2 72.0 Cheshire 101.1 104.7 Cleveland 75.2 80.4 Cumbria 58.6 59.0 Derbyshire 95.3 97.7 Devon and Cornwall 158.6 167.5 Dorset 66.6 67.8 Durham 73.3 78.1 Essex 155.9 158.4 Gloucestershire 60.1 61.5 Hampshire 180.0 189.2 Hertfordshire 92.4 94.1 Humberside 105.9 110.6 Kent 168.5 179.0 Lancashire 167.7 175.0 Leicestershire 97.3 99.1 Lincolnshire 61.5 60.7 Norfolk 78.1 80.9 North Yorkshire 71.9 75.7 Northamptonshire 60.0 62.9 Nottinghamshire 119.3 123.0 Staffordshire 111.8 111.1 Suffolk 63.4 66.0 Surrey 91.8 84.2 Sussex 155.2 162.6 Thames Valley 208.2 219.3 Warwickshire 50.6 51.1 West Mercia 106.3 110.0 Wiltshire 62.2 63.4 English Metropolitan forces Greater Manchester 351.2 364.9 Merseyside 227.3 233.3 Northumbria 193.4 205.4 South Yorkshire 158.8 165.4 West Midlands 353.4 372.0 West Yorkshire 267.5 279.6 London forces Metropolitan Police2 1,688.0 1,715.6 City of London3 61.6 57.1 English Total 6,483.9 6,683.4
£ million 1997–98 1998–99 Police Authority 1funding 1funding Welsh forces Dyfed-Powys 49.9 51.1 Gwent 64.5 67.3 North Wales 71.2 73.2 South Wales 155.1 161.3 Welsh total 340.8 353.0 Total 6,824.7 7,036.3 1 Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Funding is the sum of all police grant, SSAs and damping grant. 2 Figure for the Metropolitan Police does not include funding allocated to the Receiver under the Other Services Block SSA for school crossing patrols, Magistrates' Courts and the Probation Service. 3 Figure for the City includes Police SSA and Grant, but excludes other SSAs e.g. Capital Financing which are allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions.