Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, has welcomed a pledge from the Home Secretary to conduct a full review of national police funding arrangements.
Surrey – which receives one of the lowest levels of Government funding for its police force despite contributing more in tax to the Exchequer than any other county – has long argued for changes to the way police funding is allocated by the Home Office.
Surrey Police has faced multi-million pound reductions in its funding over several years as a result of the Government’s austerity measures. There will be continued real-terms reductions in the funding provided by the Home Office to Surrey Police until at least 2015. The force has already made major changes to the way it works to protect services and continues to seek further savings.
Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey said:
“Three weeks ago, I wrote to the Chancellor, Home Secretary and Police Minister to urge them to undertake a full review of police funding arrangements and to protect funding levels for Surrey Police from any additional cuts until that happened.
“The Home Secretary has today agreed with that view, keeping in place important protections around Surrey’s police funding for the next two years and committing to carry out a national review of how the Government distributes money to police forces.
“In my letter I offered Surrey’s support to the Government as they undertake this review and I have since been contacted by the Police Minister to take this further. I look forward to working with the Home Office to develop a funding system that reflects the real costs of policing.”
Read Kevin’s letter to the Chancellor, Home Secretary and Police Minister here.