The Rt Hon Charles Clarke MP,

The Secretary of State for the Home Department,

Home Office,

50 Queen Anne’s Gate,

London. SW1H 9AT

8th March 2006

Dear Home Secretary,

We are alarmed at the treatment Sussex Police Authority has received in the recent government finance settlement. This is the latest in a line of difficult and damaging settlements for the police and for Sussex in particular.

Under the latest changes to the funding system for police authorities, Sussex Police has to rely on £7.2m of damping grant from central government that could be withdrawn at any time. In addition, the government continues to provide significant amounts of specific grant support to police authorities which either do not keep pace with inflation or fail to meet the full costs of the central government initiatives they were intended to finance.

The government wants police authorities to be strategic and plan ahead, which we support, but how can they when significant amounts of future funding are uncertain. For Sussex Police by the end of 2007-08 some £36m (13%) of funding will be in the form of specific grants of uncertain duration and temporary damping grant. This includes the key area of counter terrorism funding where a announcement is still awaited.

We have particular concerns about the government funding of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) through the Neighbourhood Policing Fund, where only 75% of wage costs are met by grant leaving the remaining 25% and other overheads to be met from the inadequate increase in police authority core funding. We note that the government expects financial contributions from other partner organisations, but these partners are often under the same financial constraints as police authorities. The problem does not end there, as there is considerable uncertainty about what the funding arrangements will be beyond 2007-08.

There are continuing concerns about the potential impact of restructuring both in terms of the costs of restructuring and how that will be financed and in relation to the impact on council taxpayers in Sussex. These concerns were not answered adequately during the debate in the House of Commons on police finance.

Sussex Police already has the 5th lowest level of council tax [or is this the central support for council spending?]and spending per head of population that is 3% below the shire counties average. The people of Sussex want more policing not less. The 3.1% increase in core formula grant for Sussex Police falls £5.9m short of the cost pressures facing the service, many of which are the direct result of central initiatives. These include the implementation and rollout of Airwave, the consequences of the Bichard enquiry and, as mentioned above, the need to provide matched funding to meet government targets for additional PCSOs. Efficiency savings can go some way to bridging that gap, but even Sussex, with its exemplary record in delivering efficiencies, has been unable to meet all its commitments for 2006-07 without having to take some decisions that may have a negative impact on performance.

These pressures are likely to continue and we urge the Home Secretary to make sure that policing gets a fairer share of the national spending cake in the coming spending review. Sound and successful local policing is fundamental to all our lives and inadequate and uncertain funding is putting at risk the considerable progress made in recent years.

You will know from the debate on Police Finance in the House of Commons that two specific issues have had a negative impact on Sussex Police in 2006-07:-

• The new arrangements for funding police officer pensions have resulted in a permanent loss of more than £1m for Sussex. We fully support the new method of accounting for police pensions, but concerns about the methodology used to implement the change appear to have been ignored.

• Next year also sees new arrangements for the local funding of counter terrorism measures. Ironically the initial distribution of funding has left the Authority short by over £0.4m.

We are sure that these changes have had unintended funding consequences for police authorities like Sussex and we urge you to look again at the damage being caused by these changes to the grant system. The cumulative impact of poor settlements that fail to meet the real costs of policing can only result in a service that fails to meet the needs of local communities.

We urge the Government to:

• Reconsider its new grant system and the funding allocated to support Sussex Police.

• Ensure that policing gets a fairer share of the national spending cake in the coming spending review, and that the costs of restructuring are properly recognized.

• Deliver a grant system that properly protects and maintains valued local police services.

• Ensure specific government grants keep pace with rising costs and fully support central government initiatives.

• Urgently review the methodology and data used to carry out the police pensions grant adjustment.

• Fully fund the current Sussex Police commitment to counter terrorism measures.

Please ensure that we receive a detailed response to the points that we have raised on this very important matter which concerns all the interests of our constituents.

This letter is signed by Nicholas Soames and sent with the support of:-

Nick Herbert MP (Arundel and South Downs)

Nick Gibb MP (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)

Andrew Tyrie MP (Chichester)

Tim Loughton MP (East Worthing and Shoreham)

The Rt Hon Francis Maude MP (Horsham)

Peter Bottomley MP (Worthing West)