This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Police funding to be restructured
12/10/2004
A key source of police force funding - grant aided
expenditure (GAE) - is to increase by around 17 per cent
over the next three years, taking it to almost £1.1 billion
by 2007-08.
The way that record funding is distributed is also to be
changed, following publication today of the report from the
police GAE working group.
It has developed a new formula for distributing GAE that
seeks to ensure local allocations are more closely related
to local policing needs.
From now on, a range of additional factors such as local
crime, deprivation, rurality, city policing and population,
will be taken into account - unlike the current incremental
system which was less responsive to changes in local
circumstances.
As well as introducing the new system recommended by the
working group, the Executive has set aside £11 million in
2007-08 from the overall GAE increase, to support the move
towards the new distribution.
It will enable levelling up of those police forces who
should receive a larger share under the new system and
ensure no force loses out because of the changes.
The levelling up process is expected to be complete by
2009-10 when the new system will be fully implemented.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said:
"The Executive is committed to investing in and
strengthening our police forces to help create safer,
stronger communities throughout Scotland.
"The substantial increases I have announced today in
police GAE for 2006-07 and 2007-08 highlight the importance
which the Executive attaches to preventing and tackling
crime, and supporting the police in their on-going efforts
to protect the law-abiding many from the law-breaking
few.
"As part of our commitment to making communities safer,
we also need to recognise that each police force area is
different and has different needs.
"In June, I received the final report of a working group
set up to develop a robust and better way of allocating
police GAE, one which took forces' differing needs into
account.
"That group has undertaken considerable work and
produced a comprehensive report which has been widely
endorsed by all those involved. I congratulate all
concerned and am pleased to confirm that we have endorsed
the group's recommendation.
"This means that a new formula will be introduced which
ensures the way we distribute funding is linked more
directly to the cost of policing each area, with
population, deprivation, rurality and crime levels all
being taken into account.
"In line with the group's recommendations, we will be
providing additional resources to level up force
allocations, instead of redistributing existing funds
between forces.
"Some funding has already been given to Grampian, Fife,
Central Scotland and Northern police forces to kick-start
this process, and I am now making available further
resources for levelling up which by 2007-08 will total
£11m.
"By levelling up in this way, no force will have its
allocations reduced because of the move towards the new
model, which will be fully implemented once this levelling
up exercise is complete.
"While it will be for Chief Constables to decide how
best to use these additional resources at a local level, I
expect them to ensure that, as at present, every penny
possible of taxpayers' money will be invested with a view
to improving frontline policing and making our communities
safer.
"We already have record numbers of police officers on
our streets and I want to continue to see more of them on
the frontline.
"The newly created Police Business Benefits Unit (BBU),
I announced last month, will play a vital role in this,
working with forces to help them continually improve their
efficiency in their backroom work such as IT, payroll,
legal service and fleet management, to help forces cut
red-tape in this area and ensure resources are targeted at
police efforts to prevent and detect crime."
Chief Constable Willie Rae, Chairman of the Association
of Chief Police Officers in Scotland Finance and Best Value
Standing Committee, said:
"ACPOS welcomes the announcement of increased GAE funds
from the Scottish Executive today.
"This will allow the Scottish Police Service to provide
what we need to carry out our business efficiently for the
next three years.
"This funding will help us to maintain frontline
policing numbers at their current record high and continue
to provide a first class service to our communities.
"We are very happy that the Executive has moved
significantly to level up the funding and in doing so has
not taken money from one force to help another but has been
able to find additional resources for this purpose.
"It has been well documented that the Scottish Police
Service faces a high level of retirements around 2009.
"The Executive has taken this into consideration and we
are now in a position to help cover for those losses two
years in advance.
"That means the officers recruited will be fully trained
and on the street by 2009 - and that is excellent news for
the Scottish public.
"It also takes into account the expected rise in both
wages and pensions over the next three years.
"Finally we are looking to our new Business Benefits
Unit which will start to make a real difference within the
timescale covered by this funding. That means we will find
ways to make our Forces even more efficient and redirect
that money back into the budgets, particularly for
frontline policing."
Police force funding takes the followings forms:
- Grant aided expenditure, or police running costs.
Following the Executive's spending review, GAE is to
increase from £938.954 million this year to £1003.6
million in 2005-6, £1045.2 million in 2006-7 and
£1098.93 million in 2007-8 - amounting to a 17 per cent
increase by 2007-08. Once joint police boards and
police authorities have set their budgets, in light of
these amounts, it is for chief constables to determine
how their resources are deployed to meet local needs
and priorities.
- Police capital, covering expenditure on fixed
assets such as police stations and communication masts.
This currently stands at just over £31 million a
year
- Police central Government funding. This pays for
the common police services such as the Police College
and the Scottish Criminal Record Office and also most
of the funding for the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency
as well as for additional support for police forces for
specific initiatives or to meet specific pressures. In
2005-06, the planned expenditure under this heading
will be over £109 million
The Police GAE Working Group included representatives
from the Executive, ACPOS and COSLA.
Its interim recommendations, submitted to the Executive
in 2002, were accepted by Ministers and led to interim
additional allocations for the Grampian, Fife, Central
Scotland and Northern police forces, who had been
identified as deserving a higher share of police GAE.
The Minister confirmed in a Parliamentary Question today
that the Executive is now committing significant extra sums
towards levelling up over the next three years - £1 million
in 2005-6, £4 million in 2006-07 and £11 million in
2007-08.
And provision is in place to allow the balance for
levelling out - currently estimated at £4.5 million - to be
found by 2009-10, subject to the next spending review.
Once the levelling up process is complete, subsequent
allocations will then be made using the new formula.
Indicative allocations for each force, excluding pension
costs, are available from the Scottish Executive press
office.
Police numbers (on a whole time equivalent basis) are
currently at a record high, and have increased in recent
years as follows:
- 2001 - 15,018
- 2002 - 15,111
- 2003 - 15,432
- 2004 - 15,714
The Police Business Benefits Unit, the creation of which
was announced on September 26, will initially be based
within the ACPOS Secretariat.
Its remit is to help forces improve their efficiency in
back office work to ensure that as much funding as possible
is ploughed into frontline police efforts to prevent and
detect crime.