Government funding for policing in Cleveland is set to be cut be as much as £17million in real terms over the next two years—and the Chair of Cleveland Police Authority say it will be ‘a very tough fight indeed’ to protect front-line services.
Councillor Dave McLuckie, speaking after the announcement of the grant allocations for all police forces in England and Wales, bitterly criticised the fact that, at the same time as funding was being so severely cut back, the Government was intending to set aside £50million for the first election of Police and Crime Commissioners, who will exercise single person control over police forces from 2012 and be paid a reported £122,000 a year.
Today’s announcement reveals that Cleveland will face a 5.1 per cent cut in the coming financial year, equivalent to £5.3million in cash terms, with a 6.7 per cent cut the following year, equivalent to £6.6million in cash terms. When inflation is taken account the real terms cut for the two years amounts to £17million.
Said Councillor McLuckie “This really is about as bad as it gets—slightly worse, in fact, than previous Government statements had indicated. We will move heaven and earth to protect front-line services and, of course, we are in significantly better position than some other forces and authorities thanks to improvements in efficiency and value for money we have already introduced—notably the partnership with Steria which will deliver very significant savings, as well as protecting staff and improving service to the public.
“Now we know how tough things are really going to be we will continue to go through all our spending, line by line, and we will have to make some very difficult decisions if we are to maintain the commitment to front-line policing which has made Cleveland one of the most successful forces in the country in reducing crime and improving community safety.
“I believe that we can protect the front-line for at least the year ahead, but against a background when we know that by the end of the four years our funding will have been cut by 20 per cent or more, no-one should be under any illusion that there will be an impact—and there will be pain.
“The Government has suggested that somehow the cuts they are imposing can be cushioned by increasing the burden on Council Tax payers. For a start there is a freeze on Council Tax levels for the coming year—and it is very unlikely that either authorities...or commissioners if they finally come into being...will be able to seek substantial rises in future years.
“ I simply do not understand how Ministers can defend wasting huge amounts of money on still going ahead with introducing the Commissioners and on top of that, so-called Police and Crime Panels, when we are facing cuts of this magnitude.
“By their own admission the cost of the first round of elections alone will be £50million—on top of that will be £122,000 a year salaries which Commissioners will receive, not to mention the very substantial support structures which will be required to enable them to serve the needs of hundreds of thousands—in some cases—millions of people, plus the separate support which will be needed for the Police and Crime Panels.
“How it is possible for any Member of Parliament to contemplate supporting the squandering of such huge amounts on changes for which there is no evidence of real public support when their constituents will be seeing police officer numbers cut is simply beyond me.”
Chief Constable of Cleveland Police Sean Price said: “I fully understand the reasons for needing to cut public sector spending However, I am disappointed at the extent of the levels of savings that have to be made, in particular the front-loading of cuts in the first two years. This is an unprecedented situation however we have made a commitment that we will meet the savings while protecting our people and front-line services.
“The decision to outsource the majority of our back office functions such as Finance, HR and ICT to a private company Steria, means that we have been able to protect police staff jobs as well as making significant savings. This also means we have been able to release police officers from back office functions, which saves money.
“One of our key priorities as part of the 2010/2011 Policing Plan was to ensure efficient and effective use of both our people and the public’s money. Cleveland has been committed to this for many years and will continue this practice to meet the requirements of the Comprehensive Spending Review. As such, we already have considered a number of options and are currently working through the figures.
“ These are difficult times but our commitment to Putting People First has seen us achieve our lowest ever recorded levels of crime and high levels of public confidence, which I am determined to maintain through our front-line services.”