Angus Macpherson, Police and Crime Commissioner will present information on the Precept Consultation.
Minutes:
Kieran Kilgallen from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner gave a presentation to the Board on the proposals for an increase to the Police element of the precept for 2015/16.
Kieran announced that Wiltshire and Swindon Police Force proposed to join with Avon and Somerset Police for a strategic alliance.
The challenges for next year
· The big challenge for the 2015-16 financial year, and for the years beyond, will be to maintain and improve performance against reducing budgets.
· There were key factors which need to be taken into account when considering the precept and these were:
o There had been a 5.1% cash reduction in grant
o Net costs had increased by 1.3%
o The Commissioner could not increase council tax beyond 1.99% without a local referendum
· Over the next three years the funding gap would continue to increase.
· The size of the gap was dependent on the level of council tax that was proposed by the Commissioner.
· A 1.9% increase in council tax compared to no increase merely reduces the funding gap in year 3 by £2.275 million – an increase does not close the funding gap.
Our current funding
· The largest element of the Commissioner’s budget (62%) was funded from grants provided by the government – it is these grants the government are reducing
· Just over a third (38%) of the Commissioner’s budget was funded through the policing and crime element of the council tax.
· Any increase in the precept would therefore only cover part of the 5.1% lost grant.
· The two local authorities were funded differently:
o 40% of Wiltshire Council’s funding comes from grants provided by the government
o 48% of Swindon Borough Council’s funding comes from grants provided by the government
o This is in comparison to the 62% of the Commissioner’s budget which was funded by grants provided by the government
The impact on council tax
· The policing and crime element of council tax for a Band D property for this financial year equates to £160.92.
· This is in the lowest in the south west region which consists of Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, Dorset Police, and Gloucestershire Constabulary.
· The Commissioner was proposing a precept increase of £3.06 per year for the average Band D property. This equates to a 1.9% increase.
· An increase of this amount would provide funding of £345,000 in 2015-16, and £728,000 in 2016-17. This would help reduce the effects of the lost grant albeit only by a small amount. It would, however, help the long term funding position when further grant reductions were expected.
Questions and comments were the received, these included:
· An increase of £3.06 per band D household would only bring in 10% of what was needed. Have you ruled out a referendum and how much would one cost? Answer: The first port of call was the alliance with Avon and Somerset Police. It could cost around £300,000
· Had it been decided how many jobs would go once the merger took place? Answer: No not yet.
· Was Avon and Somerset as good of a Police Force as Wiltshire and Swindon, and would they be contributing their fair share? Answer: Tables show that Wiltshire was slightly ahead. The PCC was keen to maintain a local NHP team whatever happens.
· The Fire Service was going through a similar situation, had you looked at other options? Answer: We did, and a strategic Alliance with Avon and Somerset became the only option left.
· Cllr Deane felt that the Force should be making savings, he wanted to know why the administration of police pensions had been moved an external company Capita? Answer: There were two types of Pension Funds, one for Officers, which was no longer run by us, but was run nationally. The other was a scheme for civilian staff, this was still managed in house at Trowbridge.
The Chairman asked for a show of hands from those in support of the proposed 1.9% increase to the precept for 2015/16. The majority of those in the room were in favour of this proposal.