Maria Miller MP has welcomed today’s Government announcement of a substantial £450 million increase in police funding across England and Wales as part of a comprehensive settlement for police forces and counter terrorism policing.
The funding settlement was announced in the House of Commons by Policing Minister Nick Hurd. It will mean that grants to police forces in cash terms will be protected and will give locally elected police and crime commissioners the flexibility to raise precept contributions by up to £1 per month for a typical household. Together, this will mean force budgets will increase by up to £270 million nationally.
There will also be an increase of around £50 million funding for counter terrorism policing, and at a national level £130 million extra will be provided for priorities such as special grants to help forces meet unexpected costs and national technology programmes.
The Government will now carry out a public consultation on the proposed settlement.
Maria said: “The settlement announced by the Government today will make sure that the police have the resources they need to keep us safe. I underlined to the Minister the need to ensure that frontline policing continues to get the funding it needs, and he confirmed to me that the local Police and Crime Commissioner has the flexibility to determine how resources are allocated in their local area.”
“Following today’s announcement and during the period of consultation, I will be talking to the Chief Constable for Hampshire Constabulary, Olivia Pinkney, and the Hampshire PCC Michael Lane, to discuss how this settlement will be applied in Hampshire.”