Police funding : fourth report of session 2006-07, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

There has been significant investment in the police service in recent years and the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), due to be announced later this year, will determine the funding allocated to the police service for the years 2008-09 and 2010-11. "Police Funding (HC 553)" examines how this investment has been reflected in police performance and crime reduction over recent years, including in numbers of front-line police officers, as well as the likely implications of a possible tighter funding settlement in the new CSR period.The report finds that if the CSR settlement is as tight as seems likely, police authorities will need to work closely with forces to identify where there are less urgent programmes or activities which could be scaled back or postponed if need be.

Any new initiatives from the centre should take full account of local funding implications and the Government must be specific and realistic about the scale and nature of efficiencies it expects the police to make.

The proportion of police officer time spent on paperwork in each of the last three years - about 20 per cent - remains unacceptably high. There has been insufficient progress in introducing personal digital assistants and Chief Constables should ensure this technology is introduced in all forces as a matter of urgency.