Police Funding - Grantham Journal article 2 November 2007

It is time to bring out into the open the row about the funding of Lincolnshire Police which has been going on for months behind the scenes.

We have always had first-class policing in Lincolnshire. In Grantham in particular, I think we have under Chief Superintendent Terry Hackett, who has made a great effort to engage with the community he serves, a force that displays all the finest qualities of the service – tact, fairness, firmness when required, steady judgement and conscientious dedication to the public good.

Policing is paid for partly by a Home Office grant (in other words, the national taxpayer), partly by a precept which is included in the Council Tax (i.e. the local council tax payers). The current police budget for the County is around £95million a year. We are entitled to more Home Office grant under the national funding formula, but £1.6m is being temporarily withheld to provide transitional relief to other constabularies. Without this being withheld, the grant would increase next year by 6.3%; if it is withheld, the increase goes down to 2.7%, roughly the rate of inflation.

Against that background, Lincolnshire Police Authority, supported by the County Council, have come out with a budget for next year which increases by 7.3%, then by 8.3%, then by 6.5% - an increase of 24% by 2010-2011, to be paid for by a staggering increase in the Council Tax Police Precept (or levy) of 60% over 3 years, adding £107 a year to the Council Tax on a Band D property by £107 a year.

This is where I part company with the Police Authority and the County Council. I have always seen it as a first duty of an M.P. to protect the taxpayer. An increase in the Council Tax – certainly of this order of magnitude – must be the last, not the first resort.

We must press the Government to release the £1.6 million to us now. I believe if we focus on this we may get it. If we indicate that we think the Council Tax is an easy answer we will not.

In July I wrote to the Chief Constable, following meetings with him and the Police Authority, with a number of suggestions for savings without impacting front line policing. They included more use of civilians in back-office jobs (we are below the national average in civilianisation) making use of Specials (trained volunteers who are the equivalent of the T.A. in the army) and less use of uniformed officers in traffic policing now we have electronic cameras.

I believe that the police should concentrate on three priorities: crime prevention, crime detection and the maintenance of public order. Anything else is a less than efficient use of a vital resource.