16 September 2005
A shake-up of policing in London could be jeopardised because the funds it needs have been swallowed up by the extra costs arising from the terrorist attacks on July 7 and 21, Public Finance has learned.
Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair last week outlined how the capital's police service is to be reshaped over the next three years with the roll-out of the Safer Neighbourhoods programme and the merger of the anti-terrorist branch and special branch into a single counter-terrorism unit.
But senior Met sources said the estimated £5m set aside to implement the service review had been used up in the counter-terrorism effort.
Other projects that have also been put on hold include a large-scale co-ordinated IT project, which was to be introduced in response to Sir Michael Bichard's Soham inquiry recommendations, and a police staff training and development programme, a source added.
Latest figures put total costs of the post-July 7 policing effort at £60m, of which approximately half are additional.
The police overtime bill alone stands at £15m, while the cost of reimbursing other police forces that lent officers and staff to London is estimated to be £5.3m.
As PF went to press, the Metropolitan Police Authority's finance committee was preparing to receive a paper on the progress made on next year's budget and the medium-term financial plan.
Neighbourhood policing and anti-terrorism remain top of the Met's corporate priorities and a bid is already being prepared for an additional 1,500 counter-terrorism officers at a cost of £150m.
Keith Luck, the Met's director of resources, told PF the force was looking for a 4% grant increase from central government but he added that latest indications suggested it was only likely to receive 3.2%, meaning savings of a further £15m would have to be found.
Luck added: 'In council tax terms, we are working to the mayor's published guidance, which indicates a 5.5% precept increase for all functional bodies.
'Given the full year effect of growth in recent years and the limits set by grant and council tax precept uplifts, the Met is faced with a significant budget shortfall, even before the carry forward effects of any overspend in 2005/06 as a result of the incidents in July onwards.'
PFsep2005
