Police forces that merge early will get financial aid

19 Jan 06
Police forces that volunteer to merge early will have some of their set-up costs met by central government, policing minister Hazel Blears said this week. But she stressed that forces themselves had a responsibility to generate savings.

20 January 2006

Police forces that volunteer to merge early will have some of their set-up costs met by central government, policing minister Hazel Blears said this week. But she stressed that forces themselves had a responsibility to generate savings.

Proposals to replace the 43-force structure in England and Wales with fewer and larger strategic forces have met with considerable opposition, not least from the Association of Police Authorities.

The APA is seeking assurances that central government will bear the costs of restructuring, estimated to be as much as £600m.

Appearing before the Commons Welsh affairs select committee on January 17, Blears said £30m had been set aside for this year and £75m for next year to help fund initial set-up costs, particularly for those 'pathfinding' forces that volunteer to merge early.

But she refused to give an assurance that central government would bear all the costs. 'The savings achieved will go back into policing, not to the government, so there is some responsibility on police forces to generate savings,' she said.

Police forces submitted their business cases for merging to the Home Office in late December and the department is now working with CIPFA to determine cost implications.

Police performance also came under fire from Conservative leader David Cameron this week. He was critical of the merger programme, which he said was too centralising and being driven through too quickly.

Cameron said he wanted to make chief constables formally accountable to communities. 'Voters should have a direct relationship with the person or body who appoints the chief constable, matched by a direct and transparent funding arrangement so that they can judge the effectiveness of the policing they're paying for,' he said.

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