A long-awaited review of the police funding formula will take a step forward by the end of the year, Bedfordshire’s police and crime commissioner has said.
Bedfordshire Police is funded as a rural force despite having two large urban centres (Bedford and Luton) and an international airport requiring complex counter-terrorism resources.
The commissioner (PCC), Festus Akinbusoye, told the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel yesterday (7 February) that the public consultation of funding formula review will be run by the end of this year.
This was during a debate on increasing the police precept part of council tax by £15 a year for a band D property.
Read: PCC says Council Tax increase will pay for 17 new police officers
Phillip Wells, the chief financial officer, told the panel the PCC’s precept decision had to balance the impact on the service provided by the force to protect the public versus the very low increase in the central funding provided by an “outdated formula” used by the Home Office.
Cllr Gareth Mackey said: “It is unfair that the government expects a county that has the very unique problems of Bedfordshire in terms of the national crime picture to be expecting residents to be picking up the amount they are.
“It is grossly unfair and needs to be challenged at every opportunity,” he said.
Cllr Steve Moore (Luton Borough) said his residents’ responses to the policing funding formula “can’t be shared before the watershed”.
The PCC said: “We might be a small police force but the demands that our officers carry are very, very heavy.
“So when the public consultation is open we will be making a very, very hard push to make sure that all of our residents are aware of this and they take their part of that consultation.”
Deputy PCC, Ian Dalgarno said a Home Office briefing on the funding formula review was presented at last week’s meeting of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.
He said that the Home Office representative was asked if this review would take place in this parliamentary term.
“His view, and it’s quite an interesting one, was he’s actually been involved in previous reviews which never actually went anywhere.
“He was fairly confident that this one will see the distance and we’ll get through all the treacle that’s going to come out.
“Because you can be rest assured that some of our larger forces will not want to change because there’s only so much in the pot.
“And if they’re going to redistribute it hopefully some of it will come our way.
“So there’ll be an initial consultation, and then there’ll be a further consultation on the outcomes of that and the recommendations that come from it,
“But there was a commitment to ensure that this all happens in this parliamentary term.
“We’ll look to ensure that we put the best information forward to support the force in that budget formula process as we go forward,” he said.
by John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
