Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire's Draft Policing Service Budgets and Precept 2021-22

Report of the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel (The Panel) to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire (PFCC)

With regard to:

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire’s Draft Policing Service Budget and Precept 2021/22

As required under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 this is the formal report by the Panel on their consideration of, and decision on your proposed Policing Service Budget/Precept for 2021/22. The legislation gives us the power to veto your Precept if we consider it to be too low or too high and sets out the procedures to be followed both by the Panel and yourself in the event of the veto being exercised.

The Panel met on Monday 1 February 2021. You attended, accompanied by your Chief of Staff and your Director of Finance.

The Panel received your report on the proposed budget/precept which showed a total net budget requirement of £222.051million for 2021/22. Your report included details of Home Office Police Grant for Staffordshire which had been set at £122.417million, an increase of £7.259million on the previous year. Other sources of funding were from the Police Pension Grant £1.825million; uplift ring-fenced grant £1.483million; Council Tax freeze grant £3.541million; Revenue Support Grant of £8.423million; Local Council Tax Support grant £1.365million and a deficit of £200,000 from the Council Tax Collection Fund.

You were proposing to part fund the balance from Council Tax funding of £83,197 million with an increase of 5.99% per annum (£13.48 pa per Band D property). You informed the Panel that this figure was below the permitted limit of £15 pa per property but that you felt that it struck a balance between what could reasonably be asked of Council tax payers and the investment required in local policing. 

You explained your headline investments which would be made during the course of the Medium-Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) above those provided for by Central Government. These included an Increasing Digital Forensic examination capacity and capability; an Increasing capacity within Force Intelligence; an Increasing transformation capability; a significant investment, via the capital programme, in Police IT; a modern and fit for purpose Policing Estate; and a modern fit for purpose Police fleet.

The Panel noted that this was a challenging financial position and that the Settlement was for one year only in view of Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review and acknowledged the increased level of risk built into the 2021/22 budgets due to uncertainty around future funding. You also explained that the current Covid-19 pandemic had had a significant impact on the tax base and deficits on collection funds from 2020/21. 

Your report to the Panel concluded with a statement by your Director of Finance on the robustness of the budget and adequacy of the proposed financial reserves. That Statement was noted. Members were concerned however, that the debt, as detailed in the Treasury Management Strategy and Capital Programme may increase in the medium term due in part to the proposed investment in an Operation Hub / Firearms Range. You explained that this had only been granted outline business case approval at present and a full business case was needed prior to a decision, but if granted this would affect borrowing in the future. This is an issue that the Panel will look at in more depth when a detailed business case was available.

It was explained that the second year of the Governments uplift programme would see an additional 89 FTE officers in Staffordshire by March 2022. This would mean an overall increase of 210 FTE officers from the uplift programme by the end of 2021/22 and 300 FTE by the end of 2022/23. In addition, the investment into policing by local people through the precept had already increased police officers by 91 FTE and police staff by 35.5 FTE. Whilst welcoming the uplift programme and the recruitment of the additional officers through precept increases, the Panel felt that during these difficult times of Covid-19 and its financial implications, it was important that, if the public were being asked to pay more for policing they should be able to see an increased presence in their communities. You explained that the type of officer posts had changed but the number of employees had increased overall. Crime was changing and was more complex, requiring specialist officers and support staff that had been recruited during 2020/21. The Panel will continue to monitor this.

At the conclusion of our discussions on your proposal, we unanimously resolved to support your Precept increase of 5.99% and Revenue Budget for 2021/22. The Panel noted the need for visible policing and asked the Commissioner’s Office to ensure that whoever is elected at the next election, they consider ways of demonstrating the fact that there is an increased number of officers to the public, who feel there has been a reduction in their communities. 

As required, this Report will be published on the County Council’s webpages for the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel.

S. Sweeney

Chairman
Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel
On behalf of the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel