Northumbria PCC Makes Most Savings In England & Wales

Northumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner is praised for saving almost £3million for the force in a year.

New figures from the Taxpayers Alliance show it's seen the sharpest decrease in spending in England and Wales.

The role of Police and Crime Commissioner was established in 2013, replacing the old system of Police Authorities.

Since the change, North Yorkshire PCC have decreased their spending by 68.8%, saving £2,912,046 since from 2010-11 to 2013-14.

It works out at £1,213 of spending per 1000 members of the Electorate in 2013-14 which is less than half of spending that some offices are spending elsewhere.

Andy Silvester, from the Taxpayers Alliance, said:

“It suggests that Northumbria Police Authority frankly was rather bloated because this figure is actually quite out of whack with the rest of the country. That said, more power to those at the Northumbria Office of Police and Crime Commissioner for making such a huge saving, exactly the kind of saving we need to see at every arm of government.”

Nationally, the report found that while OPCC’s are saving £2million less than the Police Authority was, there are potential savings of £29million possible, equivalent to just over 1,200 new Police Constables.

While Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird says she is pleased with the figures, she has concerns for the future of policing amongst austerity cuts.

She said:

"We have saved almost 70% a year on those overheads, every penny of which has been put into policing and community safety where the public would want the money to be spent. We will continue to make all possible savings going forward and the figures show that nationwide Police and Crime Commissioners cost less than the Police Authorities. This is despite the fact that the role of PCCs is far wider than that of Police Authorities.” "The future for policing is worrying. These savings are being ploughed into policing but they will be eclipsed a thousand-fold by the ‘25%-40%’ cuts threatened in the Spending Review which would remove tens of millions from the Northumbria Police budget. The National Audit Office has recently confirmed that Northumbria has suffered the deepest cuts of all police forces in England and Wales in the past five years.”

“ 85% of all the costs of policing are its people and the Chief Constable and I are determined that we will preserve neighbourhood police and keep the place of Northumbria Police as the best in the country for satisfaction with its service”

“People in Northumbria rightly feel safe and I hope that me being the top in the country at making savings should give confidence to local residents that I am doing my best to safeguard what matters to them.”

You can read the full report here: