Humberside Police Authority - Chat to Cllr Parsons

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Andrea:

Investment in tangible physical assets such as buildings (the proposed new shiny Clough Road HQ for example)appear to be treated as an Investment by the Force and Police Authority. Expenditure on people on the other hand would appear to be treated as an expense. Whereas investment in buildings are capitalised and depreciated over their useful life (e.g. 20 to 30 years) 'investment' in people is expensed in its entirety during the current year. This perhaps encourages short term thinking and leads to poor decision making where voluntary (and perhaps compulsory) redundancies are sought to achieve short term 'cost savings'. Arguably people will always generate more value to local communties than buildings so has the Force and Police Authority got its priorities wrong when it makes decisions about the relative merits of human versus physical capital?

HPA Response:

Good evening Andrea, thank you for your question.

You make a valid point, however these physical assets and staff expenditure are paid for by different pots of money, revenue spending and capital spending. Capital spending is controlled principally on the grounds of "affordability", whereas revenue spending has been limited by what authorities can raise through precept or council tax to supplement funding from Central Government grants. Police Authorities have to work within the context of the Government's control mechanisms, as do local authorities.

The Government's rules on council tax capping has meant that in recent years the scope for raising revenue funding has been limited. Whereas revenue monies can be used for capital spending,revenue spend cannot be capitalised. Similarly receipts raised from the disposal of capital assets, capital receipts, can only be used to pay for capital spending or repayment of debt and cannot be used to pay for running costs.

In earlier questions, we have explained that the Police Authority has been working on the proposed Clough Road Project for a considerable period due to the need to address the issue of custody facilities at Queens Gardens Police Station (QGPS). The Clough Road Project has led to our exi sting capital spending plans within our approved programme to be reduced and re-phased. For example, planned capital charges will be reduced a result of the removal of Tower Grange Police Station (TGPS) improvements and the reduction of proposed spend at the Training Centre.

Importantly, and in light of anticipated major changes likely to arise following the CSR announcement lasts week, the rationalisation of the estate will be vital in the realignment of Force resources that will follow. This is likely to reduce our estate footprint even more, but the flexibility to achieve this begins with Clough Road. Without this project it will be more difficult and incur more cost to meet the new operational demands of a re-engineered Force.

The new building is being designed to reduce space standards and minimise running and maintenance costs. It allows for the removal of four buildings from the estate which reduces our overall footprint and running costs.

The new provision will also release accommodation at Priory Road Police Station which can then be used to rationalise the C Division estate.This will realise more reductions in estate costs and produce further capital receipts which can be reinvested to drive continued efficiencies. It will also lead to a range of substantial revenue savings across the wider estate. These include a reduction in running costs (maintenance, rates, energy and staffing revenue budgets) for the new facility against those previously expended at QGPS. Other revenue savings from the disposal of TGPS and leased properties are anticipated and there will be opportunities to exploit the potential for other efficiencies.

The Police Authority recognises the need to balance the competing priorities between capital and revenue expenditure and for the need to make the most effective use of the resources available to it. Over the last few years the Authority has invested its reserves in supporting the modernisation of working practices that has led to changes in the workforce mix through a programme of "workforce modernisation", capitalising on opportunities provided by natural wastage within the force.

The Authority had also supported the force by providing further funding to meet the costs of voluntary early retirement and redundancy (VER) and importantly to support retraining and redeployment of staff affected by current savings plans. All recommendations from the Chief Constable in relation to decisions on the release of staff under the VER scheme are closely scrutinised and considered by the Police Authority on an individual case by case basis.

Thanks again for your question Andrea, I hope you find this answer sufficent.

bob christie:

I'd like to start by saying that the police in our area have always done a fantastic job. However, recently the ones i have spoken to are unsure about their future and the future of the service, morale seems to be quite low. What is being done to ensure that police officers are being kept informed of major decisions by chief officers? And when will they know for sure whether their jobs are safe?

HPA Response:

Thank you for your question about police morale and I'm delighted you appreciate the work done by the police officers and staff in the Humberside Force. I know that, like many other people in the public sector, police officers and staff are concerned about their futures. Unfortunately, until we know exactly how much funding will be cut by it is difficult to provide any reassurances about the who or what will be affected. However I do know the Chief Constable is doing all he can to keep his officers and staff up to date on the different scenarios that are being looked at if cuts have to be made. The Chief puts out regular bulletins and spends a great deal of time personally talking personally to staff and officers to keep them informed and I know that, despite their concerns, they continue to try their hardest to make our communities safer. The Police Authority will also be working hard with the Chief Constable to ensure that, if cuts have to be made, the impact on people's jobs will be minimised although it will not be until early into 2011 that we will know for certain how much budgets will have to be reduced.

Greg Spreen:

What can you do to stop criminals coming accross from Hull to commit crime in our area?

HPA Response:

Thank you for question about crime and criminals crossing from other areas. I can reassure you that the police have always recognised that criminals travel to commit crime and they therefore put a great deal of effort into sharing intelligence and information on criminal activity. To help with this the Police Authority has given the force additional monies to invest in resources to fight travelling crime such as automatic number plate readers which can detect and alert the police to criminals movements. This applies equally to criminals from Hull or from other areas such as West, North and South Yorkshire. The Authority has put extra funding in place to work with these forces to create crime and roads policing teams who can tackle serious travelling criminals. As a Police Authority member I am kept up to date with the results they achieve and I can tell you they are very impressive and there have been a large number of arrests and seizure of criminals assets. However, the police will always rely on the public who's eyes and ears can often be the best providers of information as to unusual movements or strange cars and I'd encourage anyone who is conversing with us tonight to report these sorts of things to their local police.

Rosalind Tierney:

Can you ensure us that we will not lose our local PCSOs?

HPA Response:

Thank you for your question about PCSO's. Until we know the extent of any cuts we are not in a position to make any decisions about which areas might be affected. However, we have received very strong support from the public across the Humberside Police Force area for the valuable work PCSO's do in communities to prevent and reduce anti-social behaviour. We regularly tell the Chief Constable how valued PCSO's are to communities and how eager we are that their presence is maintained. While the Chief Constable is not in a position to provide any concrete reassurances just yet he has told us that he will do all that he can to protect front line policing and will look to make savings elsewhere before he reduces police and PCSO numbers on our streets.

Teddy Gray:

Cllr Parsons can you tell me what steps you are taking to ensure that the much publicised budgets cuts do not affect the rural communities in the East Riding

HPA Response:

Thank you for your question. Until Government provide details of the financial settlement we are not in a position to say exactly where and to what extent cuts might have to be made. However, as one of three representatives from the East Riding, I do know how much rural communities value local policing and the relationships they have built up with their local policing teams. While sparsely populated and therefore not affected to the same extent that urban areas are by sheer volumes of crime, non the less, rural areas suffer from their own problems such as poaching and thefts of, often expensive, farm equipment. I know the Police Force puts a great deal of effort into reducing and solving rural crime and I will be doing all that I can to ensure that, when decisions are made, the policing presence on the front line is protected as much as possible and that rural communities continue to receive the support and service they deserve.

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