Lancashire PCC Clive Grunshaw said the Chancellor’s U-turn on
Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) cuts did not mean the “age of
austerity” was dead.
Mr Grunshaw claimed the ‘Cut the Cuts’
campaign, started in his region, was a “great victory” for the people of
Lancashire and “common sense” – but there are still worrying times
ahead.
He told
Police Professional: “I wrote to the Home
Secretary and the Prime Minister, spelling out exactly why police
budgets should not take any more cuts, particularly in the light of the
recent terrorist attacks.
“It seems they have listened and put public safety ahead of spending cuts."
But he added: "We haven't seen the end of the assault on police budgets by any means, but we have a reprieve.”
The
decision by Mr Osborne to freeze police budgets until 2020 came a huge
surprise to many but police forces and PCCs will have to wait until the
middle of the month to hear from the Home Office how much they will
receive in the provisional police grant settlement.
Unison
General Secretary Dave Prentis said the dark days were not yet behind
the police service – warning more jobs are still at risk.
And he
stressed that one in three police community support officers (PCSOs)
have already gone in England, along with one in five police staff.
He said: “It would have been unthinkable to cut police budgets in light of the dreadful events in Paris.
“But
the threat of cuts has not gone away. Many forces around the country
are planning to cut staff in scientific services and investigative roles
in the coming months, and those jobs may still be at risk.
“Given
that the Chancellor had an extra £27 billion of income this was a
missed opportunity to use some of that money to start to reverse those
cuts, and give extra cash to the police so they are equipped to deal
with any threat to national security.”
A week on, reaction to the CSR is still coming in.
Sir
Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service
said: “The Met is highly effective at protecting the public, but we can
still be more efficient and reduce our costs.
“We have a big
task to modernise our technology to support digital transformation. So
there will still be some tough choices to come.
“Change won't stop because that's how we continue to get better.”
The
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, added: “Keeping London and Londoners
safe is my number one priority as Mayor. That's why I welcome the focus
on keeping officer numbers high. It's absolutely the right thing to do.
“The
Government's commitment to counter terror funding, neighbourhood
policing and the protection of frontline officer numbers in London is of
vital importance.
"Further savings will be necessary, as we
continue to streamline and reform the Met Police, but this settlement
allows us to maintain those neighbourhood teams, whilst keeping officer
numbers high.”
Voice of the PCCsAvon and Somerset
police and crime commissioner Sue Mountstevens said: “Clearly, money
will need to be found to fund on-going national security and counter
terrorism work and this may have an impact on local police budgets.
“We shall have to wait and see.
“I
am clear that I will still be prioritising greater collaboration with
neighbouring police forces in order to fund the significantly increased
complex and time-consuming crime on our most vulnerable in society such
as child protection, safeguarding, domestic abuse and cyber-crime.”
Bedfordshire
PCC Olly Martins added: “However, whilst it is good that we shouldn’t
face further cuts to our already anaemic police strength in the county,
Bedfordshire Police is still chronically underfunded and that hasn’t
changed.”
John Dwyer, Cheshire’s PCC said: “I’m absolutely
delighted that the Chancellor has listened to what I and my colleagues
have been saying to him privately over the last few weeks.
“The
headline message appears to be no real terms cuts to policing budgets,
and a major increase in funding for counter-terrorism, which – given
recent events and our own experiences over the last few years – is very
welcome.”
Essex PCC Nick Alston said: “I didn’t doubt that the
government would listen carefully to what PCCs and chief officers have
been saying but I am delighted that it has responded by keeping the
overall budget for policing at the present level through to 2020.
“We will need to see the detail of how Essex will be affected, which we won’t know until mid December.
“However
in anticipation of the need to make tough savings we have worked hard
to truly understand what matters to our communities: tackling the
changing crime types that cause such dreadful harm; delivering much
better and more modern ways for the public to contact the police; and
providing the best possible response to emergencies among many other
issues.
“I am also currently reviewing what the option to raise
the precept by more than two per cent might mean. I am likely to argue
that any additional money raised through local tax is used specifically
for local policing.
“In light of the announcement today I am
aware that many people will be asking whether the current proposals to
reduce the number of PCSOs employed by Essex Police will be reversed.
The chief constable and I will take time for reflection before taking
any decisions.”
Hampshire PCC Simon Hayes commented: "Here in
Hampshire, we are recognised as leading the way with efforts to share
resources with key stakeholders such as Hampshire Constabulary,
Hampshire County Council and Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service.
“Greater
partnership working will ensure that we can rise to the financial
challenge imposed by previous Comprehensive Spending Reviews since 2010,
which have resulted in the Constabulary having to make £80 million
savings.
“We have yet to see the detail of the Chancellor’s
announcement; in the past we've found that all is not what it may first
appear.”
Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire PCC, agreed. “We now need some time to assess the impact of the news.
“Whilst
very welcome, we still face significant challenges, which will not be
easy. However, the hill we have to climb is not as steep as before.”
Dr
Alan Billings, South Yorkshire PCC, said: “The Government still does
not recognise the way the demand on the police service is changing.
“Overall
crime has gone down, but the crimes that are going up are more serious,
organised and complex and require greater not fewer resources to
solve.
“In addition, non-crime demand on the police rises, not
least because of the growing number of vulnerable people – including
children and elderly dementia sufferers – who go missing. Finding them
takes up huge amounts of police time every day.
“The cuts to
neighbourhood policing in recent years have also weakened the response
to the threat of terrorism. The security services rely on intelligence
that comes through neighbourhood police and PCSOs.
“South Yorkshire will retain PCSOs though there will be fewer of them.
“Although
the devil may be in the detail, on the face of it, the Chancellor does
seem to have accepted that cuts to policing had to stop before public
safety was put seriously at risk.”
Surrey PCC Kevin Hurley added:
“In Surrey, as everywhere else in the country, we are experiencing
dramatic and extreme changes in the nature of crime.
“Increased
resources are needed not only in public protection, but also in online
crime and visible policing. Child protection cases are up 450 per cent
this year, child sexual exploitation has risen by 115 per cent and
honour-based violence is up by 400 per cent.
“The proposal to cut
our ability to fight these evils in our society was never justifiable,
and now we can breathe a great sigh of relief at this change of heart
from George Osborne.”
West Yorkshire PCC Mark Burns-Williamson,
said: “What I do know is that West Yorkshire Police has already had to
face significant cuts – and the organisation has reduced from one with
over 10,000 officers and staff in 2010 to one with fewer than 8,000
officers and staff now.
“We must still find at least £5.8 million of savings by 2017 and deliver the substantial savings already identified.
“It
is also important to remember that keeping our communities safer and
feeling safer is done in partnership with other organisations. Many of
those have seen their budgets cut too and will see them reduce further
after today’s CSR.”
Lincolnshire PCC Alan Hardwick said because
the provisional police grant settlement would not be known until mid
December it would be “misleading to comment” in the meantime.
