Welsh Police Budgets are funded by the Home Office, the Welsh Government and Council Tax.
The Conservative-led UK Government elected in 2010 inherited £545 million-worth of police cuts from Labour’s final budget, to be made by 2014.
Labour’s deficit reduction and spending plans under Mr Miliband would have meant cuts or tax rises matching those announced by the UK Coalition Government.
In 2015, the UK Government announced that the amount of money the police receive from Government would increase each year in line with inflation for the following five years.
Part of the £900m extra funding over the following five years is going on specific areas of policing like cybercrime and tackling child sexual exploitation.
Because these are often dealt with regionally, not every individual force will see the benefit of this uplift.
Access is also being given to a £175 million police transformation fund.
The UK Government’s Police Settlement increases total funding across the police system by up to £450 million in 2018-19- an increase of over £1 billion since 2015-16.
The UK Government has protected the Police grant to forces in cash terms - and if locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners raised council precept contributions up £1 per month per household – this would have allowed £3 million extra in Gwent, £3.1 million in Dyfed Powys, £4 million in North Wales and 6.7 million in South Wales.
The Commissioners have announced a 7% precept increase for South Wales, 5% for Dyfed Powys, 4.49% for Gwent – vetoed by their Police and Crime Panel – and 3.58% in North Wales.
Although North Wales has not increased its precept to the maximum, South Wales is still paying less as it is playing catch up.
Total Police Recorded crime across Wales rose by 12% in the year ending September 2016 – 14% in Gwent, 13.7% in North Wales, 13% in Dyfed Powys and 10.9% in South Wales.
However, Welsh Police Forces have attributed much of this to changes in recording in 2014, and greater public confidence in recording crime.
North Wales Police also emphasised that there is now better understanding - and therefore identification - of Child Sexual Exploitation, sexual violence, cyber crime and serious and organised crime.
Further, the UK Statistics Authority has stated that the Crime Survey for England and Wales provides a more reliable measure - and this indicates that crime across England and Wales fell by 9% in the 12 months to June 2017, compared with the year before.
The 2016/17 Crime Survey for England and Wales found that 63% of people in Wales say that the police do an excellent or good job – and North Wales Police is 4th from top across England and Wales in public confidence.
Although, the number of police officers in Wales rose by 1% between 2016 and 2017, the four Police and Crime Commissioners and four Chief Constables in Wales have warned that their inability to access the £2 million they pay to the Apprenticeship Levy could result in fewer police officers in the future, and potential recruits choosing to sign up for English forces instead.
Despite Welsh Government claims to the contrary, the UK Government has fully funded the Welsh Government for this, after covering the amount paid into the levy by Welsh Public Sector employers and the consequential Barnett block reduction.
Welsh Police Forces need this funding to go to the Police College. They have told me that this is recognised by the Home Office - and they are calling on the Welsh Government to get in the room with the Home Office and sort this out.
Operation Tarian was initially created in 2002 to provide intelligence led, joined up law enforcement by integrating the services of the Dyfed-Powys, South Wales and Gwent police forces, to tackle drugs crime.
In 2004, Operation Tarian+ was launched to co-ordinate the response to serious and organised crime in Wales, with financial support from the Welsh Government.
Although less of a problem for North Wales, which works with Cheshire Police on this, there are concerns that the Welsh Government is cutting its contribution.
“There are also concerns that the Welsh Government is planning to phase out its £1.98m annual contribution to the All Wales Schools Liaison Core Programme from 2019, as the funding disappears into the new schools curriculum”.
- the danger inherent in calls for Police Devolution is evidenced by proposals to grab power from our 4 locally accountable Police and Crime Commissioners and centralize this in a Commissioner politically accountable to the Welsh Government”.