The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee report into the ‘Financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales’ has highlighted the West Midlands as having been unfairly treated.
The report highlights that “West Midlands Police had its initial funding allocations reduced by £132 million between 2010-11 and 2013-14 as a result of damping, while Northumbria Police received an extra £99 million in the same period.”
The report is also critical of the new proposed police funding formula that could further disadvantage the West Midlands.
The report also states:
“The process by which the Department allocates funding to Commissioners by a formula is ineffective and the results have been subverted by the decision to apply an equal percentage funding reduction to all Commissioners regardless of local conditions.”
“The [Home] Department should ensure the new funding formula takes proper account of the demand for police services, the scope for savings, local circumstances including precepts, and the levels of reserves.”
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said,
“This report highlights that the West Midlands has been unfairly treated in the past and lost £132 million between 2010 and 2014, compared to what the government’s own formula says we should receive.
“The report also rightly states that the West Midlands has been penalised for having a low precept and that demand should be taken account of in the new formula. Crime is higher and more complex in urban areas like the West Midlands than in rural areas. The government needs to recognise that and give the West Midlands a fair deal. Their current proposed formula makes no mention of demand on the police.
“As the report finds, we need a common way to measure demand, so relatively high crime areas like the West Midlands, with high demand and lots of threats, get the money they need to provide the policing we deserve.”
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