Agenda item

40.1  Consideration was given to a report, submitted by the Chief Finance Officer to the Office of the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, containing information about the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposed Council Tax precept for the 2016/17 financial year.

40.2  Attached to the report was a draft of the Police and Crime Plan setting out the strategic direction for policing in South Yorkshire and providing the information necessary for the determination of the revenue budget and Council Tax precept. 

40.3  The Chancellor had announced the outcome of the Spending Review on 25^th November, 2015, stating that the Government would protect overall Police spending in real terms over the spending review period, an increase of £900M in cash terms by 2019/20 which would provide funding to maintain overall Police force budgets at current cash levels.

40.4  The Spending Review also provided some Police and Crime Commissioners greater flexibility in their local funding decisions by allowing those areas that had historically kept Council Tax levels low to increase the Band D Council Tax by £5.  The 2015/16 Council Tax for policing in South Yorkshire was the eighth lowest policing Council Tax in England and therefore the “greater flexibility” was available to the Commissioner.

40.5  The Police Minister announced details of the Police Grant for 2016/17 on 17^th December which stated that for 2016/17 direct resource funding for each Police and Crime Commissioner, including precept, would be protected at flat cash levels assuming that precept income was increased to the maximum amount available.  This meant that no PCC would face a reduction in cash funding next year compared to this year and the majority would see marginal increases in their spending power.

40.6  An analysis of the grant funding position for Policing in South Yorkshire showed that funding from the Government, in respect of Police Grant and Formula Grant, would fall by approximately £1M in 2016/17.  However, the Police Minister was able to suggest that funding for South Yorkshire would actually increase by £0.9M by assuming that Council Tax income would increase by £5 on a Band D property and that additional income would be generated by a small rise in the tax base.

40.7  The Police Funding Settlement was only for one year which made it difficult to undertake medium term financial planning.  It also meant that assumptions had to be made as to the potential levels of funding for years beyond 2017 linked to the overall Home Office totals shown in the Spending Review document.

40.8  The net revenue budget for 2015/16 was £240.128M.  On the basis of the funding settlement and assuming a Council Tax increase of £5 for a Band D property, the overall net revenue budget for 2016/17 would be, based on the current tax base and with no inclusion of the Collection Fund position, no more than £239.724M an overall reduction in resources of approximately £0.4M.

40.9  The overall forecast budget gap amounting to £10.5M.  There was the potential for this to reduce following the determination of the tax base and collection fund position by the district councils.  The gap would, therefore, need to be met from savings in revenue expenditure in 2016/17.

40.10  With employee costs representing approximately 90% of the revenue budget, it was likely that the majority of the savings would be found from reductions in employee numbers.  Where such reductions involved severance/redundancy payments, the costs would be a feature of the Reserves Strategy.  The approach to reducing such numbers would in part be determined by the review of operating structures which was being carried out and guided by the working assumptions set out in the Police and Crime Plan 2016-20.

40.11  The PCC would need financial reserves in order to ensure funding was available to meet future commitments and avoid unplanned reductions in activity as a result of unforeseen or unbudgeted expenditure.  The costs associated with legacy issues was not included in the revenue budget previously.  There was no nationally recognised measure of the level of reserves but the Audit Commission suggested that most Chief Finance Officers regard an amount of between 3% and 5% of net revenue spending as a prudent level for general reserves.

40.12  The PCCs Reserves Strategy would be finalised as part of the budget process, however, during the current financial year the PCC had changed the planned strategy of using general reserves to contribute to funding the capital progress to preserving reserve levels for potential future legacy costs.  This had resulted in planned review contributions to capital for 2015/16 being released back into reserves and the financing of capital spending replaced with borrowing.

40.13  In renewing the Police and Crime Plan 2016-20 Putting Safety First, there would be more emphasis of emerging themes of:-

-          Victims of domestic abuse, human trafficking and hate crime

-          Seeking to understand the causes of fatal road traffic collisions to enable greater prevention

-          Developing an effective counter terrorism capability

-          Ensuring an effective response to armed criminality within South Yorkshire

-          Building confidence with the public and contributing to community cohesion

40.14  The following working assumptions would underpin all decision making:-

-          Remaining committed to neighbourhood policing

-          Deploying resources to areas of highest demand based on threat, harm and risk

-          Finding ways to understand and address appropriately feelings of safety

-          Distinguishing more carefully between demand that requires an appropriate police response and demand that is the primary concern of other partners

-          Consulting public and partners about what they expect of South Yorkshire Police

-          Encouraging the workforce at all levels to contribute towards improving service delivery

-          Maximising partnerships with other forces, local authorities, emergency services and others in the criminal justice system at local, regional and national levels, where it makes for greater effectiveness and efficiency

-          Embedding the Code of Ethics for policing in our culture

After the Police and Crime Commissioner had completed his presentation of the budget report, the Members of the Police and Crime Panel asked the following questions:-

·           The OPCC had organised two events with partners to look and map who was doing/providing what in particular areas and was there any duplication/overlap, could the resources be pooled and work together better.  The message was coming back that everyone was squeezed and struggling with the financial situation but unless all agencies worked together the small resources available may be wasted so it was important all worked together

·           The back office functions of HR, Finance, IT, Legal and Finance – were shared with Humberside and had resulted in a number of savings but there was more to be done.  Priority based budgeting, a close look at activities to ascertain if any more savings could be made, was being undertaken.  This not reflected in the budget as that work had only just commenced but it was hoped that more savings would be found during the financial year.  There was already co-operation with other Forces with regard to specialist activities. 

·           The possible 50-60 jobs would go through natural wastage so the likely gaps were known.  However, it was now becoming more difficult to redeploy given the vastly reduced workforce

·           The £4.8M funding for Legacy issues was divided into two.  Firstly, £2.4M for the potential costs of the National Crime Agency inquiry into CSE and the remaining £2.4M for the Hillsborough costs which were ongoing.  What this figure represented was if there were additional costs, and there would be in both areas, the minimum that would certainly have to be found would be £2.4M.  If South Yorkshire applied to the Home Secretary for a specialist grant and for it to be favourably looked upon, she had made it clear we would have to stand the first £2.4M of expenses which was roughly 1% of the total budget so as a precaution we need to have £4.8M in there

·           The settlement going forward, unlike local authorities who were given some reassurance over the next 4 years the Police did not; the fund was for 1 year only.  There was the flexibility relating to the ability of the Commissioner to raise the Council Tax £5 but it was not known if that would be available for the next year.  The Commissioner had not been formally asked to sign off the budget for 2016/17 as work was still taking place to find ways of balancing the budget.  As part of the budget process work was still underway in terms of the medium term forecast from April 2017 onwards.  At the present time it was felt that the forecast would involve a flat line police finance settlement position probably assuming there would continue to be a reduction in Government grant but that those reductions would be offset by Council Tax increases as that appeared to be the assumption underlying the spending review. That would mean that the reductions in spending would have to be found in future years to offset Government increases and costs increases

·           It was not felt that a full collaboration of South Yorkshire and Humberside Police Forces was being moved to.  The two Forces were working very closely together as it made sense being neighbours.  The collaboration still had a long way to go and more savings to be achieved.  However, the footprint for the new Sheffield City Region, was different and had to be considered.  The Police operated at national, regional and local levels.  

·           The Ministry of Justice Grant was funding that was issued annually.  The figure for South Yorkshire for next year was £1.6M, a slight increase on 2015/16.  There was no indication of the level of funding in future years.  It funded Youth Offending Teams

·           The number of Specials were rising.  They were trained officers and could do everything a Police Officer could do but they were not available when they were at work.  The use of volunteers generally was something that the Home Secretary was very keen all Forces look at South Yorkshire was being cautious and clear that they were not using volunteers to do things that should be paid jobs within the police force

·           It was not a comprehensive list of emerging themes in the Putting Safety First Plan.  Domestic abuse, human trafficking and hate crime had been in the Plan previously but suddenly seemed to have come to the fore.  There was a HMI report on domestic abuse which said that South Yorkshire had to improve with regard to domestic abuse.   Having a police force able to deal with these issues meant having to have the right calibre of officer and training

·           It was becoming a real anxiety for the increased use of the Police Force as the “last resort” particularly with regard to cases involving mental health.  There were growing concerns and issues on the Police having to respond when someone was in trouble.  Discussions were taking place with the NHS and local authorities with regard to mental health cases as police officers were not trained.  It was a growing area of concern across the country

·           The staff at Atlas Court were doing a very difficult job with outdated equipment.  They had great responsibility when receiving a call, making a judgement and making the right response to that call; it was a skilled operation.  They were as much front line as neighbourhood police officers.  There was a Capital Programme of approximately £12M.  Tenders had been received with the chosen bidder being selected by 1^st April; there would then be a period of a year for the design of the actual technology which would be state of the art.  It was acknowledged that in hindsight more should have been done earlier but last year when there had been real difficulties with 101 it had not just been the equipment but also some mistakes made about the number of people in Atlas Court which had now been rectified

Action:-  (1) That the report be received and its contents noted.

(2) That the contents of the documents detailing the Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposals for “Securing the Future of Neighbourhood Policing” be noted.

(3) That the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel supports the proposal, now submitted by the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, to increase the Council Tax by 1.95% for 2016/17, by £5 for a Band D property (a 3.3% increase) to £153.16, equivalent to an increase or 10p per week.