Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, has written to the Chancellor and the Home Secretary to urge them to protect funding levels for Surrey Police and carry out a full review of the formula used to allocate Government funding to police forces around the country.
Kevin Hurley said:
“Surrey gives more to the Exchequer in taxes than any other county, yet Surrey Police only receives around half of its funding from the Government, compared to West Midlands Police which receives 87%. Surrey residents have to make up that difference by paying more in council tax. It is disappointing therefore that, in these challenging times for policing nationally, areas like the West Midlands – which in the recent past received substantial increases in government funding compared to Surrey – would suggest that we now take additional cuts to help protect them from the impact of the recession.
“I promised the people of Surrey that I would work to protect their policing. Like all forces, over the last two years Surrey Police has experienced multi-million pound reductions in its funding and difficult decisions have had to be taken to protect services to the public. I will not sit back and let my counterparts in other areas attempt to single Surrey out and put our already low funding levels under further threat.
“Where we can all agree is that the funding formula used by the Government to allocate money to police forces is unfair and needs to be reviewed urgently.
“Until that review is completed, the Government must maintain police funding levels for Surrey. The people of Surrey deserve some protection from more of their taxes and their police funding being redistributed out of the county and on to other police forces substantially better funded than their own.
“I will be meeting with Surrey’s Members of Parliament next week and this issue will be top of my agenda. I know they have historically been very supportive of policing in Surrey and I look forward to working with them to make sure that Surrey’s voice can continue to be heard on this critical issue.”
To read Kevin’s letter to the Chancellor and Home Secretary, click here