Police tsars ‘threaten collaboration savings’

Since 2009, the region’s forces have been working to share certain services and reduce spending while protecting front-line crime- fighting operations and officers on the beat.

Now a report has been prepared which details the progress so far, which it is hoped will be endorsed and built upon by Yorkshire’s four new commissioners after their election in November.

But amid claims commissioners could lead to less co-operation as they seek to protect their own areas, the officer who has led the programme has admitted they will “have it in their gift” to suspend their force’s participation, prompting fears for future savings.

Mark Whyman, who was seconded from his post as an assistant chief constable in South Yorkshire to oversee the collaboration, said the £25m figure was “an indication” of what could be achieved.

“The purpose of the report is to make sure incoming police and crime commissioners are aware of the benefits of the work and have all the information on what has happened with efforts so far.

“However, after the elections it will be in the gift of individual commissioners to collaborate or not to collaborate, and they will be able to keep their involvementin collaboration efforts under review.”

The constabularies were forced to look at ways of cutting costs when the Government announced in 2010 that all forces in England and Wales would see cuts of 20 per cent over four years.

Yorkshire’s forces began a process of joint procurement, buying kit, uniform, and equipment from common suppliers as well as creating a joint scientific support unit for forensic work.

Mr Whyman pointed to a string of successes achieved under the Policing Yorkshire and the Humber banner, including savings of almost £5m in procurement achieved by larger contracts.

“Through collaboration we get a better deal from national suppliers and a better deal for the public and workforce,” he added. “Another good example of how it can work is with the underwater team. Across the region we had 28 officers trained to be divers but that meant a lot of expense.

“We now have reduced the number to 10 officers and that alone saves £400,000. People would say you can only make that saving once, but there are associated savings with kit which are ongoing.”

Other figures show that merging scientific support operations has saved £6m while more efficiencies are being achieved by sharing information technology and human resources.

Shadow home secretary and Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford MP Yvette Cooper said such savings were at risk from “fragmentation”, as commissioners strove to protect their own areas to remain popular.

She added: “We opposed police and crime commissioners in Parliament and still think the £100m cost of holding these elections would be better spent on over 3,000 new police constables.”

Candidates for the commissioner posts in all four force areas are being selected, and elections are due to take place on November 15. They will be paid up to £100,000 a year.

Prime Minister David Cameron has consistently rejected Labour’s criticism, and said the public hardly understood the duties of police authorities, which currently oversee police forces. He said: “Commissioners will be a democratic voice speaking out for people, with powers over how police spend their money and where they focus their efforts.

“We all know that the police can’t do everything and have to make choices. That’s where the new commissioners can help.