The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Andy Cooke, has published his Annual Assessment of Policing for England and Wales.
Within the report he criticises how funding for policing is allocated and how the system used ‘isn’t fit for purpose’.
The PCC’s response is as follows:
The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, said: “Sadly His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary is absolutely right when he says ‘the system used to allocate police funding isn’t fit for purpose’.
“The way in which central grant funding is calculated has led to bigger cuts in police budgets for those forces in more deprived areas. For too long the government has favoured rural shire counties and leafy affluent areas over places like the West Midlands, that have higher levels of crime.
“It claims it wants to ‘level up’ and make changes to the way it allocates police funding, but in reality it has failed to do either. We have now been waiting 8 years for the government to reform police funding. There is no levelling up when it comes to our police service in the West Midlands. That is a failure on the part of government to get the basics right, it is entirely contrary to common sense and it will not increase efficiency, effectiveness or productivity.
“This year West Midlands Police faced £28 million of funding cuts. Next year it faces further funding cuts of £28 million. This isn’t acceptable. The government needs to listen to the experts, step-up and put a fair funding package in place for West Midlands Police, as a matter of urgency.”
“The consequences for our region of continuing government failure, is fewer police officers, higher crime and more victims.”
State of Policing Report (specific page quoted above is P13/14) State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2022 (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk)
Report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies entitled: Does funding follow need? An analysis of the geographic distribution of public spending in England: Does funding follow need? An analysis of the geographic distribution of public spending in England (ifs.org.uk)
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