North Yorkshire Police has welcomed today’s Spending Review announcement, in which the Chancellor pledged that there will be no real-terms cut to police budgets, and that this is a time to back the police.
Commenting on the announcement, Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said:
We were braced for further cuts to the police budget, so the Chancellor’s speech today is a very welcome announcement.
However, it does not mean we can afford to reduce our focus on providing the public with the most effective, efficient and affordable service that we possibly can. Even without further cuts, the police budget is still less than in was in years past, so we will continue to look at where we can use technology to improve the way we operate, and how we can make the best use of our resources.
In his announcement today, the Chancellor mentioned that police forces will be expected to make efficiency savings by sharing some functions, and that there will be a new fund to support this. We have already formed a collaboration with Durham Constabulary and Cleveland Police – the Evolve Programme – so working with other police services is built into our plans. However, we await more information on the new fund with interest.
There has been a great deal of concern about the potential impact of the Spending Review on the police service in recent months, and it is good that some of that uncertainty has been removed. Our utmost concern is to keep the people of North Yorkshire safe, and that is where we want to concentrate our attention.
