Shadow Social Justice Minister and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood welcomed the increased funding for policing across Wales, including the 8.4% increase in North Wales for 2022/23, in a Senedd debate this week.
Speaking in yesterday’s Debate on the Police Settlement 2022/23, Mr Isherwood also welcomed funding from other UK Government programmes to help tackle crime in Wales, with North Wales Police receiving over £500,000 from the UK Government’s “Safer Streets” and “Safety of Women at Night” Funds.
He said:
“Funding for the four Welsh police forces is delivered through a three-way arrangement involving the Home Office, the Welsh Government and Council Tax, with the Home Office operating a common needs- based formula to distribute funding across Welsh and English Police Forces and the Welsh Government component based on consistency across England and Wales.
“Police Budget cuts to 2014 were first announced in Labour’s March 2010 UK Budget Statement, which stated that the scale of the deficit meant that the UK didn't have enough money. Since 2015, the UK Government has raised its contribution to overall police funding in line with inflation.
“Since 2019, the UK Government has announced the investment of over £1.1 billion to increase police officer numbers and provide forces with resources to tackle crime.
“The UK Government has now announced an overall £1.1 billion Police funding increase compared to the 2021/22 funding settlement, bringing the total up to £16.9 billion, and confirmed 3-year total grant funding for police forces. This provides an extra £540 million by 2024-25 to recruit the final 8,000 police officers to meet the UK Government’s commitment of 20,000 additional officers across Wales and England by 2023.
“All Forces are receiving a 5.9% core funding increase but, overall, the funding package for Wales and England represents a 7% cash increase on last year, with North Wales, for example, receiving an overall 8.4% increase. Wales has also benefitted from other UK Government programmes, with North Wales Police, for example, receiving over half a million pounds from the UK Government’s “Safer Streets” and “Safety of Women at Night” Funds.
“Funding to Police and Crime Commissioners will increase by up to an additional £796 million in 2022/23, assuming full take-up of Council Tax Police Precept flexibility: with Council Tax Police Precept increasing in Wales this year by 5.5% in South Wales and Gwent, 5.3% in Dyfed Powys and 5.14% in North Wales. Across Wales, this equates to a Band D property paying below 30 pence extra a week.”
Mr Isherwood also noted the lower crime rates in Wales relative to the UK as a whole:
He said:
“According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, the best indicator of long-term trends in crime, overall annual crime increased 14%, but this included a 47% increase in fraud and computer misuse, and crime excluding this decreased by 14%, largely driven by an 18% decrease in theft offences. Further, overall Crime Rates in Wales are fairly low compared with the rest of the UK on average.
“ As I learned when I visited ‘TITAN’, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, an estimated 95% or more of crime in North Wales operates on a cross-border East/West basis and almost none on an all-Wales basis, and North Wales Police therefore collaborate with 5 North West England Police Forces to tackle serious Organised Crime. Devolution of Policing would therefore be operational insanity and financial lunacy.”