Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner.

Members received a report of the Commissioner regarding the Q1 Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring 2021-22.

The Chamberlain extended thanks to the Force for their constructive approach to discussing savings. With regard to revenue and the additional risks on table 4, she queried when the mitigations will be sufficiently developed for RREC to scrutinise. For capital, the £10mil cost from Action Fraud slippage may be coverable this year but it was pushing the pressure into future years. The Police Authority Treasurer agreed these were the two areas the Force needed to grip.

Members welcomed the report and suggested that in future it distinguish a value of savings that were within the gift of the Force and which were not.

There was concern that the £1.3mil of savings relating to the National Enabling Programme (NEP) would not be realised and Members sought an understanding on what could be mitigated.

Table 4 had two items listed as red, three as amber. In light of this, Members did not feel that the conclusion drawn by the Force (that it was on course to meet savings), was realistic. Members called for greater discipline for realistic projections and forecasting. This process needed to facilitate transparency and accountability of the Force. The Chief Operating and Finance Officer (COFO) noted that officers were perhaps too optimistic and she agreed to address this.

Assurances were given by the Chamberlain and Commissioner that the Government had indicated it would cover the cost of the National Insurance increases for the public sector.

Members noted that the largest cost was in people/salary, but they were not content with continued holding of staff vacancies for savings. This had been discussed at RREC was already in the process of being addressed by the Force.

The Chief Operating and Finance Officer of the Force confirmed a that the £5.6mil savings plan would be delivered. £2.2mil of this was outside the control of the COLP  but officers were working closely with the City Corporation and this figure had already reduced to £1.7mil. The Force were holding discussions and hoped to have further accommodation costs removed. There was a rating appeal with the valuation office regarding the status of the building in use at New Street and the outlook was positive. If granted, this would create a further £500k saving. Conversations were ongoing with the Director of IT to reduce IT costs, and a lot of progress had already been made in this area. Actions included going through every legacy system and deleting any that were not desperately necessary. 

IT was noted that the loss of Counter Terrorism Funding was following a re-prioritisation of funding by the Government whereby COLP had been impacted.

All work on savings had to tie in with the Transform and City Corporation TOM work.

RESOLVED, that the report be noted.