Good evening and thanks for your question. The transition period between now and the introduction of a directly elected commissioner is a lengthy one, the Government has indicated that May 2012 will see these new individuals in post. We are currently awaiting the 'flesh' on the bones of these plans so that we can better start to inform local people of how the process will develop, rest assured though that we will continue to work in the best interest of the local community and my hope is that any outstanding projects can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion before May 2012. As for your question about value for money, Humberside Police Authority were recently inspected and graded by HMIC (Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary), they scrutinised various aspects of our business and found us to be performing 'adequately' and improving in many areas including Value for Money and holding Humberside Police to account on behalf of the people of Humberside. You are correct though that in these austere times we need to reduce our budget and plans are in place to make 5% year on year savings for the next 4 years thus reducing our budget overall by 20%.

Hi Craig, thanks for posting your concerns, and you’re right, antisocial behaviour (ASB) has been a serious concern to the Police Authority for a number of years now.  What I’ll do is cover the last two years performance and cover what we are doing in this current year.

During 2008 to 2009, Members of the Police Authority developed a local priority around ASB with a target to reduce the number of incidents.  Members regularly challenged the Force on ASB data and, as a consequence, in the latter part of the 2008/09, incidents began to reduce, particularly in Hull.

In January 2009, the Police Authority maintained this focus and set a further priority and stretched the reduction target specifically in relation to youth-related ASB issues for 2009 to 2010.  This was as a consequence of the Police Authority’s annual public consultation survey highlighting that the main concern of the public was youth-related disorder.

The impact of the focus by the Police Authority in both 2008 to 2009 and 2009 to 2010 was:

·         2008 to 2009: the Force witnessed a 5.5% reduction in ASB and 4.3% reduction in youth-related incidents.

·         2009 to 2010: the Police Authority priority and stretching target for youth-related ASB led to incidents falling 13.9% force-wide, exceeding the target set by Police Authority.  Over the same period, ASB in general fell by 14.9%.  Just out of interest, in Hull (D-Division), youth-related ASB fell by 17.3% (which was larger than the force-wide reduction).

The Police Authority was also a key player in ensuring development of a partnership approach to tackling ASB. Since then, the national focus around ASB, and in particular repeat incidents, has led the Police Authority to develop a priority for the current year (2010 to 2011) in-line with both local concerns and national focus, which considers repeat incidents of ASB.

How successful has this been so far this year? The number of anti-social behaviour incidents which have been reported to the police ‘by victims who have reported at least three previous incidents within the last 12 months’ (this is the measure used by the Police Authority) has fallen by 16.0% so far this year.  In numbers, this means 857 less repeat incidents of ASB so far this year. Again, out of interest, in Hull so far this year the reduction in repeat ASB incidents has been 25.4% (479 less repeat incidents). I hope this answers your question Craig, if you have any further questions please post them on the this page and I'll do my best to respond.

Thank you for your question and for your positive comments in connection with the improvements in policing in your area. The Police Authority remains committed to ensuring that the improvements that have been made in recent years are maintained and that the Force provides the best possible service to the local communities that we serve with the resources that are available.

Several years ago the Police Authority recognised that there would be financial challenges ahead. The Force therefore embarked upon range of measures to manage down costs in a controlled and orderly manner whilst seeking to maintain and if possible improve performance.  In 2007, the Force set out to "modernise" the workforce by examining systems and processes and defining the best working practices with a view to ensuring that the right people with the right skills and powers are in the right place doing the right things at the right time. This initiative was supported with additional resources from the Authority on a "spend to save" basis.

This work was followed in 2009 with the introduction of a "Choices Programme" which involved a systematic review of all Force activities with the aim of achieving an initial savings target of just over £12m by 2013/14. Based on updated assumptions, that target was subsequently increased to £15m when the budget for 2010/11 was approved earlier this year.

In parallel the Authority and the Force have been working with colleagues in the other Authorities and Forces in the Yorkshire and Humber Region (North, South and West Yorkshire) to identify opportunities to make savings and efficiencies in areas such as the roads policing and scientific support services in an effort to minimise the effects of the potential cutbacks by sharing resources such as staff, equipment and buildings.  All of these initiatives are already underway, generating savings and changing how the Force operates.

However, the Government has indicated that the Police Service will have to make its contribution towards addressing the budget deficit. £1.8m of savings has already had to be found in the current financial year and it seems highly likely that we will have to make substantial savings in addition to those already planned between 2011/12 and 2014/15.

The Government has indicated that these savings could amount to 25% to 40% by 2014/15. Clearly, given that over 80% of the police budget is spent on pay/salaries then cuts at this level will be extremely challenging. In preparation for this we have already taken measures to freeze recruitment and along with a number of other public bodies we are seeking expressions of interest in early retirement/voluntary redundancy packages.

Until the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) is known we only have these figures to go on. The Chief Constable is presently assessing the impact of cuts of £20m and £30m and has engaged in debate with the public through the local media. The Police Authority is currently carrying out wide ranging consultation through our citizen’s panel, at local meetings and through "the Big Conversation" to inform spending decisions.

Although the CSR will be announced on 20 October 2010 it is unlikely that the detailed information on the support that this Authority will receive from Central Government (the key factor in determining our budget for 2011/12 and later years) will be made known until late November/early December. When this information is published, the Authority will consider the analysis of the public's views and take into account the Chief Constable's operational and risk assessments when making its final budget decisions in February next year.

Hello Pamela, this is an interesting question, thank you. You are correct that the changing demographic of Humberside brings with it some unique challenges; this is the same for all front line service agencies. We, and Humberside Police, have done a lot in recent years to ensure that our policies and practices do not adversely affect any of the new and diverse communities. We have tried to ensure that our Neighbourhood Teams are well established within communities, and understand them, so that they can react and respond accordingly to calls for service from all residents, specifically in the Police Authority we have been mapping changing local communities on some very sophisticated computer software which allows us to identify where different groups or communities are likely to be living and congregating, so that we can find the best ways to engage with them. Humberside Police also offer a range of direct services to communities such as cohesion officers and translation services, they also work very closely in partnership with voluntary, community and independent advice and support groups for various new and emerging communities in an attempt to identify as early as possible the types of issues that may be affecting them. I hope this answers your question.

Hi Susan, thank you for your question. Yes I am sure this has been a thought in many residents’ minds, I’ll start with a little bit of background information for you.

The Police Authority has been working on the proposed new head quarters project that is to be based on Clough Road in Hull for a considerable period. This work first began following a need to address the issue of custody facilities at Queens Gardens Police Station (QGPS) in 2006 when the Home Office issued revised guidelines on the ‘Safe Detention and Handling of Prisoners’. A gap analysis was carried out by the Authority, the Force and other partner agencies and an improvement plan was implemented as a result. However, it was clearly understood that not all issues could be resolved within the constraints of the city centre site. The facilities at QGPS are not capable of being fully upgraded to meet the latest standards. Further changes in Home Office requirements in 2009 have exacerbated this situation. Improvements implemented have been made as a temporary measure to satisfy the Home Office on the basis that the new custody provision is constructed.

The way forward recommended by the Chief Constable and supported by the Authority was that a new facility should be built for Hull and as this would account for significant numbers of Headquarters’ staff it should become the new Headquarters. It was also determined that the custody facilities at Priory Police Station should be used solely by the East Riding. In addition to providing a large central provision for prisoner processing in the East Riding the proposals would also provide resilience in the event of the loss of a site as well as a contingency facility for Hull and East Riding major operations and weekend public order arrests.

To date £4.5m has been spent on the Clough Road Project on land acquisition, site surveys and ground investigations, design and planning fees to take the project to the current stage where planning permission has been granted. The tender process for construction is currently underway with tenders due to be let in the new year. As reported in the press recently, the current approved budget for the scheme is £32.98m.

So, to address your question Susan, as you may be aware the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) will be announced on the 20^th of October, which could give a better indication of the level of cuts that the Home Office will have to find, although it is more likely that it will be the end of November to early December before the Authority receives details of the amount it will actually receive in Government grants for the 2011//12 period. This key information will determine the actual extent of the financial challenge that the Authority and the Force will face.

Under the rules that apply to local government spending “revenue expenditure” i.e expenditure on running costs such as pay, supplies, vehicles, IT costs and so on, is treated separately to “capital expenditure” such as the cost of acquiring land, construction of buildings and the purchase of vehicles and equipment etc.. As the Authority intends to borrow to pay for the Clough Road Project over a period of at least 30 years, the costs associated with interest and the repayment of principal on this borrowing, along the lines of mortgage repayments, will be treated as “revenuer expenditure” within the revenue budget under these rules. These costs will reflect the fact that the construction of Clough Road has enabled our existing 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.

Additionally, other planned spending within the capital programme such as the provision of the facilities to deal with major incidents is now being included in the Clough Road Project. Importantly, and in light of anticipated major changes likely to arise from the Review, the rationalisation of the land and buildings owned will be vital in the realignment of Force resources that will follow. This is likely to reduce our land and buildings costs even more, but the flexibility to achieve this begins with Clough Road. So to summarise, 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 East Riding land and buildings the Force have. This will create more reductions in costs and produce money from selling buildings the Force don’t use which can be reinvested to drive continued cost savings. 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 at Queens Gardens and anticipated annual revenue savings from the disposal of Tower Grange and leased properties. The Clough Road Buildings will be more energy efficient and have the potential to generate income through the sale of excess renewable energy.

A very long response to your question Susan but as I'm sure you can see from this, a lot of thought and planning has gone into the project, thanks again.