Policing and Crime Bill
10:57 am
Paul Holmes (Chesterfield, Liberal Democrat)
One more question on a slightly different issue. Sir Norman in one of his answers introduced as a sideline the issue of raising funding for police authorities through the levy of the precept on the council tax. Is the Bill a missed opportunity to tackle that? Most police authorities are capped by the Government by central directive, and, certainly in Derbyshire, are subject to what the majority group on the county council says that it will allow in terms of an increase? Last year, in my area, it would not allow a big enough increase in council tax to offset what was perceived to be underfunding from the Government. Do police authorities need more say in how they raise their funds?