Gwent Police’s funding has been cut by just 0.6% by the UK Government.
The saving, equating to around £416,000, brings Home Office funding to the force to £72.5 million.
The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Gwent, Ian Johnston, had initially been braced for cuts of around 25% to 40%.
Chancellor George Osborne had indicated that police budgets would be protected during the Comprehensive Spending Review statement in November.
The surprise move to not swing the axe was attributed to better tax receipts and lower interest payments on debt being expected over the next five years.
Commenting on the Provisional Police Grant Settlement, Mr Johnston said: “Overall, the Central Government grant funding for Gwent Police has reduced by 0.6% from £72.917m to £72.501m, a reduction of around £416,000.
“Whilst there has been a reduction, this is not as bad as the brutal 25% to 40% cuts we were initially told to expect over the life of this Parliament – which would have spelt disaster for the police.
“However, we are still contending with the consequences of more than five years of severe budget reductions and we still need to make further savings to meet those demands and to also address unavoidable future service pressures.
“We also have the added pressure of the deep cuts to the budgets of local authorities who collaborate with us effectively on some of our support services to victims of crime and with regards to the crime prevention and public protection agenda.
“This by no means marks the end of the financial challenges facing the police and the actual settlement assumes that PCCs will have to make the politically difficult decision of increasing the precept, the proportion of the cost of policing paid from your council tax, to make up for the shortfall.”
Caerphilly AM Jeff Cuthbert, who is seeking the Labour Party nomination for the PCC election in May, also expressed a cautious welcome for the draft settlement.
Mr Cuthbert said: “Although the reduction of about 0.6% in central government funding for 2016/17 is nowhere near as bad as originally feared we must not forget that the UK Government has hit policing hard over the last few years. Indeed aspects of those cuts are still to be felt yet.
“The people of my constituency, and indeed in other parts of Gwent, need the support of the police service for reassurance as well as for dealing with crime. Consequently any further reductions in the budget could have a very direct effect on the ability of the police to respond effectively.
“We must remember also that the police is just one partner in the battle against crime, injustice and fear. Other partners such as local authorities and health are facing a tight squeeze as a result of the Tory government’s austerity programme that they have chosen to follow.
“So there might be some temporary relief for the police but the overall picture for public service and support remains bleak.”
There wont of course be any effect on the budgets of the Crime Commissioner who will simply recupe the loss by increasing the police precept on the people of Gwent, keep a close eye on your Council Tax Bill when it hits your doorstep in a few weeks.
I wonder if a NEW Commissioner is elected in May this year will it make a difference, perhaps we should ask the candidates in the run up to that election, , whoever they may be.
Perhaps Darren Jones, Plaid Cymru candidate for the role of Commissioner can tell us where he would SAVE £400 on the police budgets? Or, would he also get the money from the ratepayers of Gwent? Same goes for Jeff Cuthbert Labour, who is also seeking election to this role, Any Answers?
Straight answers is something you won’t get. It does not matter much as I can’t see either of the candidates you mention getting anywhere near enough votes to be elected Commissioner.
It is nice to see the article being balanced out with people in favour of these policing cuts.
A cut of just under £500,000 is hardly anything; sack secretaries, office staff, and cut perks.
nothing will be cut, end of.
Ian Johnston the Elected Crime and Police commissioner for Gwent, will either raid the reserves ( our money) or more likely he will increase the Gwent Police Precept by much more than the reduced settlement.
Both of which are bad strategies. Of course, if people had respect for others and abided by the law there would be no need to have such a big police budget in Caerphilly.
We dont have a `Big` police budget, in fact, properly managed it is quite a reasonable budget, the problem is the `return` on that money.
The point is, if Caerphilly had lower crime rates the budget would not need to be at the same level as it currently is.
But you do resalise the police budgets are NOT set by the levels of crime being experienced in one area compared to another?
Yes, but you have missed the point. If the crime level was lower the police budget could receive the level of cuts it is being given now with no knock on effects. No one would be complaining about this cut as the current budget before the cut would be seen as excessive.