A member of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner will present information on the Precept Consultation.
Minutes:
The Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson gave a presentation to the Board on his proposals for an increase to the Police element of the precept for 2015/16.
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 included:
· You are carrying out a review on a new custody suite. The Salisbury suite was closed and as a temporary solution you are using the Melksham suite, but will there still be a new suite in Salisbury, or will it be near Amesbury? Answer: During the first quarter of this year, a review would be carried out on the proposals for a custody suite for the south. I am sure that there is a need in the south of the county, however it does not necessarily need to be centrally in Salisbury. The review gives us more time to look at some of the other details which were not addressed at the time. We aim to get it right as it will serve us for the next 20 years.
· The presentation does not really give enough information for me to make a decision on whether I support a raise to the precept. Answer: The Executive Summary of the Medium Term Financial Strategy provides further information and is available on the website.
· The highest increase you can make without a referendum is 1.99%. You need to make sure that every cost saving has been looked at. Answer: We are looking at back office reduction; we are working with Swindon, Wiltshire and Avon and Somerset to reduce the numbers of back office staff. Part of our strength is having police out on the streets and in our communities. This is what I want to protect as this is the heart of local policing.
The consultation was open from Tuesday 6 January to Wednesday 4 February 2015. The Commissioner urged everyone to take part and feed their comments back.