HC Deb 27 July 2000 vol 354 cc897-8W
Mr. Hammond

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the maximum percentage of a police authority's total budget that he would regard as a sum too small to be reimbursed by his Department as an extraordinary operational expense; [133186]

(2) on what grounds the request by Surrey Police for reimbursement of costs relating to the Pinochet operation was rejected by his Department. [133184]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The Surrey Police were awarded a special payment of £200,000 in March 1999 as a contribution towards the additional costs of protecting Senator Pinochet. A further special payment of £550,000 requested by the Surrey Police in December 1999 was refused.

Their supplementary application was not approved because it was decided, in view of the limited funding available to meet an increasing number of grant applications, to draw up clearer criteria. These conditions require that the burden on the force should be unforeseen; commit them to exceptional additional expenditure, and directly impact on the force's efficiency. Additionally, we will consider special payments, subject to the availability of funding, to cover all or most of the extra costs for events of a national and international dimension that impose a burden on the resources of a force as a consequence of a decision by the Government.

Grant applications would normally be considered to the extent that they exceed 2 per cent. of the force's current revenue budget. In the case of Surrey, 2 per cent. of their budget for 1999–2000 was £1.9 million.

Surrey's request for extra financial assistance had to compete with other more pressing needs, such as the Stansted hijack. We decided that those other demands had first call on the remaining available resources, particularly as some financial assistance had already been provided to Surrey for the protection of Senator Pinochet.

The total additional costs for protecting Senator Pinochet were estimated at £750,000. They were estimated at around 0.8 per cent. of the budget of the Surrey Police.

Once account is taken of the special payment of £200,000 made in March 1999 the proportion of the additional costs that fell on the Surrey Police was reduced to 0.6 per cent. of the force's 1999–2000 budget.