Written question asked by Baroness Harman (Labour) on Monday, 14 March 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 21 March 2011. It was answered by Lord Herbert of South Downs (Conservative) on Monday, 4 April 2011 on behalf of the Home Office.

Metropolitan Police Authority: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect of changes to funding allocation to the Metropolitan Police Authority budget on (a) police numbers and (b) Safer Neighbourhood teams in the London borough of Southwark.

Answer: [holding answer 21 March 2011]: The vast majority of funding that the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) receives from central Government is allocated using the Police Allocation Formula (PAF), which allocates funding based on the relative need of forces. It is only right that decisions about how these resources are used are made locally and so no central Government assessment has been undertaken.However, on 10 February the Mayor of London announced in his budget statement that he was proposing to increase funding for the Met by £42 million and that this additional funding would be used to recruit police officers and protect Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

Secondary information