Agenda item
Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2023/24 - 2026/27
Minutes:
Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner introduced this item and provided context for the proposed precept highlighting the following key points:
a)
The proposal had been below inflation tax rise and the force, as
with many services had been struggling with inflation which would
continue throughout the year. Work would continue to ensure that
the budget would be sustainable in the future and the organisation
would be working to be more efficient and smarter;
b)
The Commissioner acknowledged the national events in policing that
occurred in the previous year around police officers committing
crimes nationally and had included Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of
Scilly. The Commissioner reiterated her zero tolerance stance on
those officers and requested help from the majority of the decent,
hardworking and high integrity police officers and staff to uncover
and expose those officers/staff that should not be present in the
organisation;
c)
The Commissioners Annual budget survey to constituents highlighted
that confidence in policing and for Devon and Cornwall Police force
had increased. The Commissioner acknowledged that the survey had
been conducted prior to national revelations and advised that she
was unsure constituents would have the same level of
confidence;
d)
The plan had been to build trust and resilience to ensure the
region would be safer and that the foundation of creating a force
where people were motivated and better connected to constituents.
During times of economic hardship there had been a corresponding
increase in crime, the Commissioner made her case for what she
believed was required to ensure communities could be safer today
and into the future;
e)
The force would be opening new police stations across the region to
build on connected good policing. The force would also be
implementing a new crime recording system to achieve justice for
victims however was acknowledged that the implementation phase
would cause some issues over a number of months before the positive
impact could be realised;
f)
The survey had been conducted online over a month period,
constituents could ring the Office of the Police and Crime
Commissioner and undertake the survey with staff. 7,318 people
responded to the survey with 2,617 responding just to the budget.
4701 responded to the police station front desk survey. The survey
respondents had influenced the budget and how the force would work
with them going forward;
g)
More people considered the council tax precept as value for
money;
h)
Police stations had provided a positive impact on community
cohesion and had provided places of safety where people could
engage with neighbourhood teams via email web chat. 70% of survey
respondents agreed that investments should be made to open more
police stations. 86% of respondents advised that they wanted to use
police stations as places to record crime and 65% would like to
share information with the police about what’s going on in
their communities. In response to this feedback the
<Commissioner would be opening 6 more police stations which
would add to the six already opened in Tiverton, Bude, Newton Abbott, Falmouth, Penzance and
Newquay;
i)
The Commissioner advised that she had honoured her pledge from the
last precept meeting in January 2022 to see the largest recruitment
drive in years, creating a new pipeline for the front line. In
February 2023 the force would see its highest number of police
officers recruited into the force of 3610 and since 2016 the force
had increased its officers per 1,000 population from 1.8 to
2.02;
j)
The proposed precept would see investments made for a dedicated
team exploiting technology to deploy enhanced officers more
effectively and the precept would see £200,000 allocated
within the budget;
k)
There would be investments made in firearms licensing due to the
region having had the highest number of legally held firearms in
Great Britain with no local powers to set the fee for the
service;
l)
The Commissioner would be seeking investment to lock in the
temporary investment that had already been made into firearms
licensing to make it permanent. This investment was being made on
the back of the Kayham tragedy and also
due to the new government guidance that was released in October
2022 which required more checks and improved process. The
investment in the budget would amount to £600,000;
m)
An investment of £262,000 a year was proposed with increases
in the medium term into digital forensics which would provide the
ability for the police to investigate crime effectively and
efficiently to minimise the length of time victims, suspects and
families are awaiting justice;
n)
The Commissioner highlighted the forces effective response to drugs
in the region which had seen the force collaborate across the
southwest region. Operation Scorpion had seized suspected drugs
worth an estimated £797,000, £363,000 of cash seized,
391 arrests and weapons seized and destroyed. 85% of respondents in
the survey were supportive of further investment in those joint
operations between southwest forces to tackle drug dealing in the
region;
o)
The Commissioner had been impressed with Operation Medusa and had
wanted to invest to secure a closer working relationship with both
the police and crime commissioner and police force to tackle county
lines coming from Liverpool and the surrounding area;
p)
The focus on the four priorities would see the budget for those
areas increase to £9 million due to increases in grants from
the Government for victims and violence;
q)
The Commissioner acknowledged that her precept request had been in
the context of unprecedented pressure for all constituents and
local authorities with limited resources. The force had driven
£8.6 million in efficiency savings but with inflation levels
running above 10% and the rising costs of energy, the Police would
not be able to maintain services at its January 2023 level without
the use of £3 million of reserves as well as the increase in
council tax. The alternative would be to cut the number of police
officers and staff;
r) The Commissioner requested the Panel to support the precept of 6.8% equivalent to £15 for a Band D property or £1.50 if paid over 10 months by direct debit;
Nicola Allen, Treasurer for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) presented a detailed report to the Panel and highlighted the following key points:
s)
Grant levels would remain the same but that £15 council tax
flexibility would be applied for 23/24 instead of the assumed
£10;
t)
It had been assumed last year there would be a 2.5% pay award for
police staff, however this had increased to 5% which equated to
£7.8 million. The Home Office provided grant funding but it
had covered half which meant Devon and Cornwall Police had to cover
the shortfall;
u)
Inflation had been the biggest issue on the budget, it was assumed
to be 5% but due to energy rises this had now increased to
11.1%;
v)
As part of the consultation, responses had been due on
30th January 2023 and all Police and Crime Commissioners
were expected to provide details on efficiencies and productivity
included in their budgets to demonstrate that they weren’t
just looking for council tax increases as the first point of call.
The Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner responded
highlighting opportunities for the government to look at national
barriers they could help the region with and to support the force
in getting over those barriers;
w)
Overall the Police had been looking at additional funding of
£523 million which had come through to policing;
x)
£174 million had been announced as an increase to grant. The
CSR in 2021 announced £100 million so the Police would
receive an additional £74 million than expected. The force
had been given monies to support the pay award for 22/23 however
were deducted £70 million due to the reversal on the National
Insurance that had been done in Autumn 2021;
y)
The additional funding had been dependent on the national uplift in
police officers of which totalled £275 million of specific
grant. This had increased by £140 million which £6.5
million would be at risk if the force did not maintain police
officer levels;
z)
£349 million had been assumed as the council tax flexibility,
the figure assumed that all commissioners would take the £15
flexibility available to them. Overall the increase as published
for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly would be
4.3%;
aa)
For Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s provisional
settlement this meant there would be provisions for a 2% pay award
for police officers and staff. For every 1% on the pay award in
equated to £3.3 million for the force per annum;
bb) The National uplift in officers needed to be
maintained until at least 2024, the force did not know what the
requirement would be to maintain officers in 24/25 but if officers
numbers were not maintained £6.5 million would be at
risk;
cc)
Continuation of the pension fund had been agreed at a total of
£153 million and for Devon and Cornwall Police this equated
to £3.3 million. This had been agreed the last time police
officers received a re-evaluation of their pension scheme and this
had been a specific grant since;
dd) The Home Office had ceased capital grant
money for 22/23 which would not be reinstated in 23/24;
ee) The proposal before Panel would see the grant
requirement increase to £384.4 million which would be an
increase of 12.8 million on 22/23;
ff)
A capital programme of £71 million over 4 years and covered
vehicles, estates, IT and equipment;
gg)
There would be increased funding of £16.1 million
(4.3%);
hh) Staffing equated to 85% of the overall budget
which had been a major risk factor, 58% had been for police
officers, 27% for police staff. If the force required to maintain
police officer numbers the majority of savings would need to be
found on 42% of the budget;
ii)
There had been pressures of £23.9 million on pay and
inflation and when put against the additional funding of
£16.1 million it represented a gap of £7.8 million.
Within that the force had been looking at £4.6 million for
gas and electricity with increases of both over 100% compared to
22/23. This increase had been due to a cease of being on a fixed
contract which would end on 31 March 2023;
jj)
Pay increases were expected to be £19 million which had been
due to an increase in the base for 21/22 which would be caught up
on for 22/23 prior to provision for 23/24. Within Pay and
inflation, pension re-evaluation had been included for the Local
Government Pension scheme which has seen Devon and Cornwall’s
fees increase by £1.8 million for next year;
kk) The force would be looking at savings and
efficiencies of £8.6 million of which £3.9 million of
efficiency savings, planned reductions for temporary teams and
other mitigations such as cost reductions, holding police staff
vacancies and workforce flexibility;
ll)
Within the proposals it was not being forecast to do any external
borrowing in 23/24 but it was noted that it would be likely the
need to do some in 24/25;
mm) Inflation in
November 2022, inflation was recorded at 10.7%, November 2021, 5.1%
and in November 2020, 0.3%. Electricity costs would go up by 103%
and cost £2 million for 2023/24 with gas at 129% or
£800,000. Fuel had remained fairly static, fuel estimates had
been based on the service having to do 15 million miles a year,
this is a service which could be reduced;
nn)
People and companies had become more selective about the tenders
that they were bidding for and were only interested in tenders that
were negotiated rather than fixed with the reason being due to
inflation. The building costs index for inflation had been 7.4% but
this had increased in the southwest up to 11.1% this figure did not
take into account the delays in supplies;
oo)
The council tax base had increased by 1.36%, it had been estimated
to be 1.5% with the decrease due to collecting authorities raising
the cap for supporting working families from 80-100%;
pp)
There would be a surplus of £1.6 million and this would be
the final year in which the force would pay £863,000 back on
the deficit;
qq)
Additional tax support would be available for Devon, Cornwall and
the Isles of Scilly at a total of £3.3 million;
rr) The Independent Audit Committee reviewed the reserves strategy and they had not brought forward any issues.
In response to questions raised it was reported that:
ss)
A contingency budget had been built into the net revenue budget to
take into account inflation and contract awards in general which
totalled approximately £3.5 million. The force had reviewed
its capital programme or work that had been underway and put those
projects on hold. The force had been in discussions with the Home
Office and other Commissioners and the forecast of a 2% pay award
had been in line with expectations nationally;
tt)
The Pay award for Police officers and staff would be on the 1
September and if there were any increases agreed for 22/23 the
impact on 23/24 would be for 7 months and not twelve. It was
commented that organisation had been structurally constrained this
year and future years in that the force needed to maintain police
officer numbers but some areas of the organisation required police
staff rather than officers;
uu) From the 1st April 2023 and after
the implementation to the changes rules surrounding second homes,
Cornwall Council would be doubling the council tax on those homes.
The Devon and Cornwall police force would not see any increase in
the council tax base until 24/25 year;
vv) There hadn’t been an estate in Paignton to open an enquiry office but the Commissioner had been looking at other options for the Paignton community;
ww)
The Chief Constable advised members that bureaucracy had been
stripped back within the force and would continue to do so to
deliver a good basic community service that would see more police
officers in the community;
xx) The OPCC would
begin reporting within the performance scorecard at future meetings
the footfall to public enquiry offices. The Commissioner advised
the Panel that this wasn’t the main measure to determine
whether it was value for money as there had been wider challenges
in relation to trust and confidence in policing and challenges on
the 101 phone line. It was a requirement to show the public that
the police were on their side and the ability to enable the public
to access places of safety;
yy)
The overall staffing numbers for the organisation equated to 3,610
police officers, 193 PCSO’s and 2,298 members of police
staff;
zz)
Since the Commissioner took office there had been an increase in
the precept by £88.72 or 51.33% increase;
aaa) For Plymouth the rise in the precept would help to increase and maintain police officer numbers. The Chief Constable would like to see areas in which there had been Safer Streets funding more police officers for those areas. The Commissioner would be seeking the opening of the Devonport front desk which could bring front desk numbers in Plymouth to three.
The Panel agreed to:-
1. Accept the council tax precept proposal.
For (13)
Councillors Alvey, Atiya-Alla, Croad, Dewhirst, Hackett, Knowles, Loudoun, Salmon, Samuel, Tilbey, Towill, Wright.
Against (0)
Abstain (1)
Councillor Reilly.
Absent/Did Not Vote (0)
(Please note that Councillor Reilly informed the officer during the meeting that she had pressed the wrong button during the vote and she had voted Abstain)
Supporting documents:
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 297 KB
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - Appendix 1 - Panel - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 414 KB
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - Appendix 2 - Panel - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 255 KB
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - Appendix 3 - Panel - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 5 MB
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - Appendix 4 - Panel - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 94 KB
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - Appendix 5 - Panel - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 309 KB
- Proposed Precept, Budget and Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) - Appendix 6 - Panel - 27 January 2023, item 115. PDF 158 KB