£325,000 policing study goes in the bin

In early 2010, the region’s constabularies asked consultants Deloitte to tell them how to cut costs by sharing resources.

The firm’s analysis resulted in a weighty 120-page document which suggested that the forces could shave millions from its annual bills by regionalising specialist units and merging “back-office” departments such as finance and human resources.

But some of its proposals – such as having two 999 call centres for the entire region – were highly controversial and were rejected by chief constables.

Mark Whyman, the deputy chief constable tasked with overseeing collaboration between Yorkshire’s four forces, said the report was no longer the template for their plans.

“Deloitte was too ambitious,” he said. “I am not criticising what they did, but it would have cost a lot of money to get it off the ground.”

That money has become even harder to find since November 2010, when the Government announced in its comprehensive spending review that all forces in England and Wales would see cuts of 20 per cent over four years.

It meant chiefs had to cut costs as soon as possible and look for “quick wins” – areas that could generate savings with the least upheaval.

The forces have teamed up to buy uniform and equipment from common suppliers, leading to an annual cost reduction of £6.3m.

A common programme for purchasing vehicles is on course to save more than £7m, and the forces expect to save up to £9m a year through a joint scientific support unit to handle forensic work.

Mr Whyman said he was confident that a new laboratory in West Yorkshire, where staff will work in the same building as scientists from private firm LGC Forensics, would be “absolutely spectacular”.

He said that in other areas of policing, it was harder to achieve four-way collaboration because the forces were at different stages of preparedness.

This has driven forces to seek bilateral arrangements with their neighbours so they can start cutting costs immediately, without having to wait for all the other constabularies to sign up.

The South Yorkshire and Humberside forces have shared IT, human resources and training departments, while West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire have begun informal talks about having a joint team of detectives to investigate homicides.

The collaboration programme began with investment to boost the region’s capability to investigate serious and organised crime, with the creation of specialist units to tackle cross-border criminals.

Its focus has since shifted to identifying savings, and even the team delivering it faces annual budget cuts of three per cent for the next three years.

West Yorkshire, which contributes more than two-fifths of the regional policing fund, must save almost £100m over four years.

Mr Whyman said: “We have saved some money on estates, on staff-to-supervisor ratios and we have held vacancies where we can, but it is going to be difficult, there is no doubt.”