Agenda item

Report from the Mayor for consideration by the Panel.

Considered

The report from the Mayor seeking the Panel’s approval of their Council Tax policing precept proposal for 2025/26 of an increase of £14 (or 4.56%).

The Deputy Mayor provided an introduction to both the policing and fire and rescue reports put before the Panel, referring in particular to recent correspondence written by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to government with concerns regarding the loss of key grants for the fire and rescue service.  The Deputy Mayor summarised the Devolution Minister’s response, acknowledging the need for longer term funding settlements.  It was agreed that this correspondence would be circulated to the wider Panel.  The Chair highlighted that the Panel had also written to government recently regarding removal of the Rural Services Delivery Grant and Services Grant/Funding Guarantee, along with the need for flooding response to be placed on a statutory footing for funding.

The Panel raised a number of questions around the following:

·        Whether weighting needs to be given to the public consultation responses given the proportionately low response from City of York area;

·        The degree of comfort and rationale around police reserve levels;

·        The benchmark figure applied to the benefit due to policing and fire budgets as a result of the implementation of North Yorkshire Council’s new policy on double Council Tax revenue for second homes;

·        The impact and strategic direction of the Enable shared services collaboration programme;

·        The rationale for the increase in the police overtime budget;

·        The context for the decrease forecasted in PCSO pay; and

·        Potential typographical errors between the policing and fire reports in relation to tax base assumptions.

The following summarises the key responses provided:

·        No weighting is applied to public responses on the precept consultation but a broad look is taken across all aspects.  A slightly less positive response was received from those on lower incomes but a strong response was otherwise received to the proposed increase.

·        Any money held in reserves is not in operational delivery.  NYP is in a strong financial position with a relatively low level of borrowing.  Michael Porter outlined that he would like the force to get to a position of significant contributions being made from the revenue programme into the capital programme.

·        Around £1.75m is estimated to be the benefit to the services derived from implementation of the double Council Tax.

·        A full review has been undertaken of Enable and business cases created.  The Chief Constable and Chief Fire Officer have clear agreement on making the collaboration work with a service that can strategically align to both services.  The ‘Enable’ title has been disbanded as the service is not viewed as a separate entity. 

·        The Chief Constable wants to prioritise a victim-focussed service and for more complex and difficult cases, overtime is appropriate.

·        There are a number of PCSO vacancies as some have become police officers and it will take some time to get these numbers back up.

Resolved

That the Panel notes the information provided in support of its consideration of the Mayor’s precept proposal for policing.

[The Chief Constable left the meeting at the end of this item].