Written Statement: Provisional Police Settlement 2019-20

Today, I am publishing proposals for the Welsh Government component of funding to Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales for 2019-20. These include the provisional allocations of core revenue funding for each of the four Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales.

Whilst policing policy is not devolved, funding for the Welsh police forces is delivered through a 3-way arrangement involving the Home Office, the Welsh Government and council tax.

A common needs-based formula, operated by the Home Office, is used to distribute funding across English and Welsh police forces, and the approach to setting and distributing the Welsh Government component of police funding provision is based on a principle of ensuring consistency and fairness across England and Wales.

As in recent years, the Home Office has again decided to overlay its needs-based formula with a floor mechanism. This ensures all police forces in England and Wales can expect to receive an increase in funding of 2.1% for 2019-20 when compared on a like-for-like basis with 2018-19.

The total support for police forces in Wales will be £357.3 million. Within this, I propose to set the Welsh Government’s contribution to police funding for 2019‑20 at £143.4 million. Today’s announcement marks the start of a consultation period which will end on 10 January 2019. Following this, allocations may be revised for the Final Settlement.

Responsibility for policing is not currently devolved. Welsh Government continues to believe in, and to make the case for, devolution of this important public service. The UK Government’s policy of austerity has imposed significant cash and real terms cuts to police funding over the last 9 years. The overall funding provided for this Settlement does nothing to reverse years of under provision to enable police forces to maintain current levels of service and will require the Police and Crime Commissioners in Wales to make difficult choices in setting the level of their council tax precept. This will have a disproportionate impact on those council tax payers who will find it increasingly difficult to pay their bills. While decisions on the distribution of funding between police force areas is one for the Home Office, I believe that police forces in Wales will be disappointed that the proposed Settlement neither supports policing in rural areas nor takes account of the additional responsibilities which policing the capital city for Wales entails.

I continue to believe that devolution of policing to the Welsh Government is a necessary next step.

Police Revenue Funding

Table 1: Aggregate external finance (RSG+NNDR, £m)

Table 2: Police grant and floor funding (£m)*

* This is the amount of police grant set out in section 3 of the Police Grant Report which includes the allocation under 'Principal Formula' and 'Add Rule 1' (columns a and b) plus the amount 'floor funding' that the Home Office has made available.

Table 3: Total central support (£m)