23 February 2011
Cuts in police budgets will lead to reductions in the number of police officers and support staff, MPs warned today.
In a report, Police finances, the Commons home affairs select committee said that although there was uncertainty about the precise figures, it expected significantly fewer police officers, police community support officers and civilian staff as a result of the savings forces are required to make over the next four years. The loss of posts would affect services, it added, making it crucial that staff time was used efficiently.
Committee chair Keith Vaz said: ‘There is no doubt that the government is requiring significant savings from the police and whilst the link between police officer numbers and levels of crime is complex, in the police service the largest proportion of budgets by far is spent on the workforce.
‘In order to make these savings, police forces will have to rethink and reduce the range of services that they provide and the way in which they provide those services.’
The report said the police needed a funding system that allowed forces to budget and plan for the long term, especially during a period when their income would be falling.
It also criticised the lack of clarity over what is meant by the front line and urged the Home Office to work with the police service on an agreed definition of front line, middle office and back office.
Vaz also noted that the police service faced a period of ‘fundamental change’ when elected police commissioners are introduced.
‘The [home affairs] committee will return to many of these subjects in more detail when it launches its inquiry into the new landscape of policing in the spring,’ he said.
