Agenda item

The Panel will be asked to approve the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Precept proposals for the forthcoming financial year.

Clive Barker, the Chief Financial Officer at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), introduced the report starting on page 19 of the agenda pack, which recommended an increase of £13 in the precept of a Band D property for 2024/25. He then gave on overview of the changes since he reported at the previous meeting. There had been a slight uplift in the collection funds estimated by Wiltshire Council, but he stated that this did not materially impact the settlement. There had also been a reduction in the Safer Streets Fund since the publication of the Mid Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) due to financial pressures on the Home Office.

The Chairman clarified the options open to the Panel were to:

• support the proposals without qualification;

• support the precept and make recommendations, or

• veto the proposed precept by the required majority of nine (at least two thirds of the persons who were members of the Panel at the time when the decision was made).

During the discussion, points included:

·       The Panel thanked the Chief Financial Officer for the report.

·       Funding for the newly published Estates Strategy would have to come from the revenue budget.

·       The Police Officer Uplift Grant and Police Pay Award had been funded from the Home Office’s budget. Whilst there had been a perception that a greater proportion of funding was coming from local, rather than central government, once the Police Officer Uplift Grant and other Home Office grants were taken into account, the balance of funding remained similar.

·       The police funding formula linking the level of crime to the level of funding was written in 2013 and it was unlikely to be updated in the near term.

·       The OPCC was legally obliged to deliver a balanced budget.

·       Under the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC’s) proposals a Band A property would see a precept increase of £8.67 and a Band H property £26. Overall, a Band A property would be paying £179.51 from 2024/25 and a Band H property £538.

·       In response to a query about the level of flexibility in the way that grant funding allocated by the Home Office for a specific purpose, could be used, the PCC noted that there was a degree of flexibility to identify areas of greatest need.

·       It was noted that most forces in the region were proposing to increase the precept by the maximum possible amount of £13 on a Band D property. Some forces, such as Devon and Cornwall (£12.94), were proposing to increase it by slightly lower amounts.

·       When asked about whether investment in South West Forensics Collaboration, would remove the need for further outsourcing of forensics work, the Chief Financial Officer noted that the aim was to eliminate further outsourcing within three years.

·       The cost-of-living pressures faced by residents were emphasised.

·       The Vice-Chairman raised concerns about the PCC’s lobbying of central government about funding.

·       It was noted that any increase in funding for 2024/25 would have a knock-on effect for future years.

·       Given the feedback in the consultation paper about crime prevention, a question was asked about the increased investment in senior leadership positions and whether there was the right balance between that and investment in other staff to ensure optimum performance. In reply, the PCC spoke of the importance of investing in senior leadership to drive the plans and procedures to improve. Once the procedures had had more time to embed there was likely to be a gradual shift towards greater investment in frontline officers. The PCC was confident that the processes being put in place were delivering and had improved monitoring and oversight. He stated that there was a very strong leadership group in Wiltshire Police and that they had the support functions in place in order to be able to deliver.

·       Members of the Panel expressed differing opinions about whether increasing the precept by a lower amount than £13 on a Band D property would impact morale within Wiltshire Police.

·       The PCC noted that they were seeing an increase in morale as the issues that had put the force into special measures were being addressed. He noted that the police wanted to feel appreciated by the public and joined because they wanted to catch criminals. He felt that resources, clarity and good management were contributing factors to improving morale. He also emphasised the importance of ensuring that promotions within the force were on merit and that senior officers were open to reform.  

·       When pressed about whether undercapacity in certain areas was leading to an underspend, the Chief Financial Officer noted that there was a slight overspend at present as fewer people were leaving the force than anticipated but the budget would be balanced by the end of the financial year. Underspend in any area would go into the reserves. He noted that there had been a sizeable reduction in the reserves for the current financial year due to a £5 million investment in capital projects.

·       It was asked whether there were any plans to reform the facilities at Monton Park in Chippenham so that they did not have to be shared with Wiltshire Council. In response, the Chief Executive of the OPCC, Naji Darwish, noted that, whilst there were often operational challenges in the sharing of sites, discussions were ongoing to ensure policing had the right amount of desk and briefing space. He noted that the office space at Monkton Park was well located and high quality. The OPCC were considering ways to mitigate the limitations of the site, such as the limited parking. 

·       When questioned about whether the PCC could guarantee that the additional funding from the precept increase would go towards more front-line officers, he confirmed that officer numbers were increasing and reiterated his focus on neighbourhood policing.

·       The Panel stated that they would be keen to receive information about trends in staff retention figures. The Chief Financial Officer noted that there had been a reduction in staff leaving Wiltshire Police since September 2023.

On the proposal of Cllr James Sheppard, seconded by Cllr Elizabeth Threlfall, it was proposed to support the PCC’s precept proposal for 2024/25 without qualification. It was then resolved to make the:

Decision

To support the PCC’s precept of £73.488 million for financial year 2024-25, which would require council tax to be set on all property bands based at £269.27 for a Band D property. This represented a £13 (5.1 percent) increase on the 2023/24 level.