Agenda item

The Panel considered a report of the Acting Chief Executive, Office of the Police, Crime and Victims’ Commissioner regarding consultation on the level of the policing precept in 2020/21 (for copy see file of Minutes).

S White, Acting PCVC informed the Panel that normally he would formally present his proposals for the precept to the Panel at its meeting on 6 February 2020, after the consultation in January which would have taken place following the notification of Government grant and also capping proposals.  However, because a General Election had taken place on 12 December 2019 the announcement of the level of Government grant and any capping proposals were not yet known.

The Acting PCVC informed the Panel that for any consultation to be meaningful, facts and figures were needed and he was frustrated that as yet these were not yet known.  It was hoped that this information would be known by mid-January, but this would not allow for the normal four-week consultation period to take place.

Councillor Boyes considered this to be an unsatisfactory state of affairs in that the settlement would not be known until mid-January but the precept proposals needed to be presented to the Panel early February.  This would not allow for the normal period of consultation and Councillor Boyes questioned how meaningful any consultation may be and asked whether consultation could take place on a number of predicted scenarios.

The Acting PCVC replied that the Medium-Term Financial Outlook had assumed an increase of 2%, but if this was consulted on and then a greater increase was needed, this could be difficult when a lower figure had been consulted on.  The Acting PCVC informed the Panel that he would not be looking to increase the precept by any more than was necessary.

The Acting PCVC informed the Panel that he had a statutory duty to consult on his precept proposals and that he would communicate what he could when the settlement figure was known.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.