---

Police Grant Report

There will be a public consultation, and I hope that it will take place in the summer of 2010. It will be up to whoever forms the Government and whoever the Policing Minister is to take that forward, but there will be a need to examine the funding formula. We anticipate that that will happen and it will involve widespread discussion. We certainly want to look at that positively. The hon. Members for Chesterfield and for Peterborough made points about population estimates. They are based on the census, but they are projected forward by the Office for National Statistics. The formula does still use the most up-to-date population data possible as part of our assessment for the future. When I see the evidence before me, I can do no other than accept that there are disparities in the funding agreements because of the formula; the range is from 36 per cent. in Northumbria to minus 4 per cent. in Essex, and we are examining those wide variations. But I still contend that the formula is good for the current cycle in its form, it has delivered more resources and the £259 million that we have put in has been important. The hon. Members for South-West Devon (Mr. Streeter) and for Bury St. Edmunds raised the valid point about funding post-April 2011. They will both know that I cannot commit on the broadest Home Office funding issues at the moment, because we do not have a CSR. In answer to the point made by the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds, I should say that the Chancellor has made a commitment to ensure that forces can maintain their officers numbers, be they police community support officers or full warranted officers. The forces will receive sufficient funding to maintain whatever officer numbers they wish to maintain, based on the current levels for April 2011. The priorities for this Government have been education, health and police numbers. All Departments will face challenges as a result of the funding settlement, but those commitments have been given to date. It is important—these are my final two points in response to those that were raised—that we get better efficiency from the system. We talked about that this morning in the Home Affairs Select Committee and we have mentioned it in the debate today—it was mentioned by the hon. Member for Chesterfield and my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East. I refer hon. Members to the high-level working group report that we published yesterday, which aims to get £540 million of efficiencies out of the system within the next three years—I have made a commitment that the police can keep those efficiency savings to put into front-line services. Those efficiencies are being sought through better procurement, for example. I think that it is madness that we have 43 individual forces buying body armour. It is madness that we have 43 forces buying vehicles, having air support, looking at forensics or getting IT. It is not a cut to combine those elements into one contract to get the best value out of the buying power—it is an efficiency that releases money that we can put into other services. Similarly, the hon. Member for South-West Devon mentioned back-office services. There are co-operations and collaborations that we can do and we have considered mandating some of them to get value out of the system. We can, particularly in smaller forces, get better use of personnel, HR and a range of other matters by having that back-office support without having formal mergers. I put down a clear challenge yesterday on the question of overtime for police. We are spending an awful lot of money on overtime and with better deployment, use of special constables and some scrutiny of overtime we can save money and can, I hope, save £70 million. I am conscious of the time, so my final two points relate to voluntary mergers. We have made it very clear that, following the difficulties of the merger debate several years ago, the White Paper published before Christmas set a framework for voluntary mergers. The people involved can merge if they want to and they will have the support to do so, but they will need the support of the chief constable, the authority and, ultimately, the public who they serve. To help that process, we have put in place a £500,000 fund up front to help with some of the costs of preparing for mergers. That is available to be drawn down and applied for now and will be until April of this year. We have also said that we will consider one of the blockages to mergers, which is council tax precept equalisation. We are happy to consider how we can work through that now and in the longer term with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. There is a wish to move the mergers forward. They can save resources, but they have to be voluntary and locally driven. Finally, may I refer briefly to the roll-out of the four force pilot, even though my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East is unfortunately not here? It is, dare I say it, rolling out. Forces are at different stages of implementation and are being strongly supported by ACPO in taking up that four force pilot. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary is writing to police chiefs and chairs to encourage them to adopt the four force pilot in their local areas. There is a lot more that could be discussed, but time is pressing. Let me simply say that I hope that Members will approve the grant today for £259 million extra for next year. I hope that—dare I say it—that the Opposition will support us in that commitment and will not renege on it, whatever happens in any potential election. I believe that we have strong financial base for police funding, strong reductions in crime and strong police numbers. I accept, however, that specific issues need to be addressed, which we will consider and reflect on. I commend the grant to the House. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,"That the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) for 2010-11 (HC 278), which was laid before this House on 20 January, be approved."