Police Finance

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Home Department – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 22 March 2004.

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Photo of James Paice James Paice Shadow Secretary of State (Home Office) 2:30, 22 March 2004

The Home Secretary and his police Minister claim credit for all sorts of achievements—they recite figures about extra police officers in every constituency—yet at the same time, they criticise the police authorities for raising their precepts by considerably more than the amount of extra money that they received from the Home Office. Now the Home Secretary is talking about the principle of accountability. Is he talking about the accountability of the same police authorities that have to submit their annual policing plan to him, after which he has the power to send it back, a bit like a child's homework, over and over again until they get it right? Are these the same police authorities whose control over expenditure has shrunk over the years as their budgets have been held back while centrally determined ring-fenced budgets have increased by anything up to 50 per cent. a year, as has happened in some cases? How can he really talk about increasing accountability if he is not going to give the authorities some responsibility for what actually goes on in their area so that they can take the credit or, if necessary, the blame? Will he tell us what powers he is going to give back to police authorities?