Commenting on the Home Affairs Select Committee Report on Police Funding, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said,
“The Home Affairs Select Committee are right when they say that the police funding reform process was a ‘shambles’ and that it was ‘deplorable’ that Home Office officials made errors in calculating the allocations for police forces.
“I am also pleased that committee has said that the Home Office should also consider compensating PCCs for the costs they incurred in the process to gain access to commercial data that was not publicly available. I look forward to hearing more from Theresa May and the Home Office about this money.
“The Committee are also correct to suggest that efficient and innovative forces should be rewarded. I am pleased that HMIC rates the West Midlands as one of only five outstandingly efficient forces in the country and hope that this is recognised in future funding arrangements. Forces like the West Midlands should not be penalised for doing the right things.
“The Home Affairs Select Committee also point out that West Midlands Police has been hit harder than anywhere else in the country by the cuts so far and is more reliant on central government funding than elsewhere.
“I also hope that Theresa May takes on board the committee’s recommendations that new and emerging crimes such as cyber-crime, child sexual exploitation and radicalisation are key drivers of demand on policing and need to be acknowledged in funding arrangements.
“We have further concerns around using data on the number of licensed premises in a funding formula. It could impact unfairly on the results as premises vary greatly in size, as does the demand that individual premises place on the police.
“The Home Office needs to sort itself out and support the development of a fair funding formula that has the credibility and legitimacy to actually be implemented.”
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