CHAIR ASKS
Acting National Chair Tiff Lynch speaks to Emily Spurrell, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and PCC for Merseyside, to find out more about her asks of Government to help support policing and her views on police funding and pay
TOGETHER ON PAY WORKING
Tiff Lynch: What can PCCs do to ensure police forces across England and Wales are best placed financially to do/manage/ achieve all that is expected of them? Emily Spurrell: We all know that police budgets have been under strain for some years now and that continues to be the case, as they are across public services. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Mayors have a duty to provide an effective and efficient police service for the public, which means we must demonstrate police resources are being used cost-effectively in our local areas. We set the budget for our local force. In the main, police funding in England and Wales is made up of money from central
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government, currently agreed annually at the police funding settlement, along with funds collected locally through the policing precept element of Council Tax. PCCs set the level of precept based on Home Office thresholds. As central government grant funding has been squeezed in recent years, Council Tax payers have been asked to provide an increasing proportion of police funding via the precept.
It is our responsibility to constructively challenge our individual forces to ensure efficient use of resources, human and technological. Governance powers and monitoring processes are in place so that we can demonstrate to the public that
value for money is central to decision- making around spending. I, and my fellow PCCs, continue to press the Government for more robust funding. Keeping the country safe is a core responsibility for central government. This cannot be down to local taxpayers to fund but must come from the centre. For us to make an evidence-based argument to back up our position, it is important that we have high quality data on future financial challenges for the service, and on future predicted demand.
TL: Do you think a multi-year funding settlement would help or hinder policing in the future?
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