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Police

Policing is probably one of the most—if not the most—important issues to our constituents. For Cherwell community partnership, which is made up of Cherwell district council and all the other local councils and agencies, making Cherwell a safer place to live is the lead priority. I endorse the comments made by the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart). There is considerable frustration about the number of police officers who train in the Thames valley, but then transfer to the Met. The hon. Lady did not mention the double whammy that because the Met provides those officers with transport costs, they can continue to live in the Thames valley and travel free to the Met area. There is an additional unfairness for parts of the country such as mine because police officers tend to get drawn from places that are perceived to be quieter, such as north Oxfordshire, to areas of high stress, such as Oxford, Slough and Reading. The hon. Lady, like me and every other Member for the Thames valley, would have received yesterday an e-mail from Sara Thornton, the excellent acting chief constable of Thames Valley police, which said:"““the financial outlook is very severe … ACPO and APA have produced a number of forecasts which make it clear that without additional funding or changes in current policy and priorities there will be a significant and increasing gap in police funding over the CSR period … Over 80 per cent. of the Police budget is accounted for by officer and staff costs and the real worry is that this gap will only be closed by a loss of officer numbers … The Thames Valley budget for next year … as it currently stands with a 4.99 per cent. increase in Band D Council Tax and nearly £7 million cut from support costs … is balanced. I have been able to do this by taking money from Headquarters functions and have therefore avoided cutting frontline operational officers. I very much doubt that we will be able to do this again next year. Indeed the draft revenue estimates for 2008/9 suggest that there is a £20 million increase in budget needed and only a £5 million increase in revenue support grant—clearly some very hard choices will have to be made next year.””" The acting chief constable is clearly not alone. It is not like Thames Valley police is somehow out on a limb. Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, has said:"““To maintain … high standards, the Government must maintain sufficient levels of funding. Demands on the police service mean that, although the 3.6 per cent. funding settlement for the service remains above inflation, our expenditure increases at a far greater rate, a fact that must be reflected in our financial allocations.””" In response to the Government’s grant settlement, ACPO expressed concern about the lack of projection for the next financial year and fear that the grant level could be as low as 2.7 per cent. I think that it could be even lower than that because all sorts of pressures on the Home Office, such as the need for prison building and to deal with asylum seekers, could well drive the figure down lower. As the head of the ACPO finance committee, the chief constable of Gloucestershire, says:"““The settlement … gives us no firm foundation for the future … Many authorities will just about be able to get through next year, but unless there is some guarantee of funding for the future it will only be a matter of time before the cuts become cumulative, with consequent decreases in service levels." The Minister said in his speech that he did not want to restrain police authorities by flatlining them, but I genuinely do not understand how, if revenue support for police forces is flatlined over the next few years of the comprehensive spending revenue, we will see anything other than a serious reduction in the number of front-line officers. I predict that when this debate takes place next year, considerably more hon. Members will wish to participate because the cuts on front-line services will have started to bite.