Agenda item

The Commissioner advised that on the 22 January he had received the following guidance. 

The headlines from the settlement for Wiltshire Police were:

·       Central Grant increased by 7.5%

·       Capital Grant reduced by £0.298m to £0.109m from £0.407m

·       Police Officer Uplift Pay to be funded by specific grant (£1.384m) dependent on delivery

·       Uplift Infrastructure for the 20,000 officers to be funded from Central Grant increase

·       Precept flexibility limited to £10 per Band D property

The Commissioner advised that his initial paper had identified that he was considering a £12 increase in precept.  With a £10 capping limit this option was now only available via a referendum.  The Commissioner was not considering a referendum.

That he was now considering the whole funding position.  Wiltshire remained the 3^rd lowest funded area with the lowest council tax in the South West.  Based on this low funding position and assuming the Chief Constable would use any additional funding available to increase front line policing, he was therefore minded to increase the precept by £10 for a Band D property to £216.27.  This increase would help the long term funding of policing in Wiltshire.

The Police and Crime Panel were given the opportunity to discuss the Commissioner’s proposals, after which a vote on the Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposed Council Tax precept for the year 2020-21 was taken.

Decision

·       That the Panel supports the Commissioner’s decision to set a precept of £57.055m.

·    This will require council tax to be set on all property bands based on £216.27 for a Band D property.  This represented a £10 (4.8%) increase on the 2019-20 level. 

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner for his report.

The following Members question from Cllr Junab Alli on behalf of Mr Andrew Martin

Dear Councillor Ali

The saga of the PCC precept continues and I gather there is another panel meeting tomorrow.

 When I last wrote to you,  Macpherson was “consulting” this year about a further 12% while admitting that the extra staff we were asked for last year and are paying for now were not yet in post.   Now that HMG has announced all police may have an extra 10% next year, he seems to have decided to have the 10% as of right without the consultation.   He has also failed to publish the results of his consultation.

That might be OK if he had not poached 13% last year.  HMG clearly intended a 10% this year but they  did not intend 20% plus over two years.

 Macpherson needs to do two things. One, publish the results of his consultation, since they relate to proposed increases for 2020/21.  Two, admit that he has not yet fulfilled the conditions for which he took the increase last year and hence he should not claim a second increase for the new year.

He also owes me an honest answer to my letters, but that is not your problem.

Thank you for your interest

 Andrew Martin

It was agreed that the OPCC would provide a written answer to the question.

The Chairman requested that the OPCC provided a report of Wiltshire Police Turnover/Vacancies.