Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire's Draft Policing Service Budgets and Precept 2022-23
Report of the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel (The Panel) to the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire (The PFCC)
With regard to:
The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire’s Draft Policing Service Budget and Precept 2022/23
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 2022/23. 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 31 January 2022. You attended, accompanied by your Deputy Commissioner and your Director of Finance.
The Panel received your report on the proposed budget/precept which showed a total net revenue budget requirement of £233.072 million for 2022/23. Your report included details of Home Office Police Grant for Staffordshire which had been set at £129.410 million, an increase of £6.993 million on the previous year. Other sources of funding were from the Police Pension Grant £1.825 million; uplift ring-fenced grant £2.035 million; Council Tax freeze grant £3.541 million; Revenue Support Grant of £8.423 million. The use of £1.262 million of reserves to support the capital programme and the use of the reserves over a four year planning period to support the budget totalling £2.611m was noted.
You were proposing to part fund the balance from Council Tax funding of £88.265,871 with an increase of 4.19% per annum (an increase of £10 per annum) increasing the Council tax to £248.57 p.a. per Band D property.
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 Technology and Digital Capabilities; a modern and fit for purpose Policing Estate; a modern fit for purpose Police fleet; increased contact services capacity; IT capacity; and a change and transformation programme.
It was noted that there had been a longer term (3 year) commitment from Central Government this year enabling better planning. However, you stated that there was concern over inflation and the economy which could led to financial uncertainty in some areas.
You explained your rationale behind the decision to increase by the maximum allowed this year even though there had been a favourable government settlement and an increase in Council tax collection which should have increased funding. You stated that you were looking to invest early in your term of office and to support the new Chief Constable with his plans to change services. Your plan is to keep Council Tax precept increases to less than inflation in the future, where possible.
You explained that over the following few months you would be setting targets and arranging public performance meetings with the Chief Constable, where performance would be monitored regularly. The Panel want to ensure that improvements are achieved, and we will monitor this throughout the coming months. We request sight of the performance data, including risks and mitigation at the end of the first quarter and will scrutinise the detail in public if appropriate.
At the conclusion of our discussions on your proposal, we unanimously resolved to support your Precept increase of 4.19% and Revenue Budget for 2022/23.
As required, this Report will be published on the County Council’s webpages for the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel
B Peters
Chairman
Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel
On behalf of the Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel