The real scale of the cuts planned to police Forces across Wales and the rest of the UK is revealed today in a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.
According to Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, Owen Smith MP, Government ministers are misleading the public by continuing to highlight the change in the relative proportion of police officers to backroom staff while ignoring the reality that both groups are being cut.
This was the approach taken by Wales Office Minister David Jones MP in a recent House of Commons debate, when he stated:
‘It is interesting to note that Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary has found that police forces that are planning to increase the proportion of police officers and front-line staff had increased from 68% in 2010 to 70% by March this year.’
(Welsh Grand Committee, June 20th, 2012)
However, as today’s report clearly shows, all four of the Welsh Forces are intending to reduce both the number of front and backline staff between today and the end of the Current spending period in 2015:
|
Police Officers |
Police Staff |
PCSOs |
Workforce |
|
| Dyfed-Powys |
-55 |
-127 |
66 |
-116 |
| Gwent |
-126 |
-251 |
0 |
-377 |
| North Wales |
-162 |
-104 |
105 |
-161 |
| South Wales |
-292 |
-240 |
175 |
-358 |
| Total |
-635 |
-722 |
346 |
-1012 |
Source: Annex D, P 82: Planned reduction (FTE) from 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2015 as provided by Forces to HMIC in February 2012
Commenting on today’s report, Mr Smith said:
“David Jones remarks are just the latest attempt by Tory Ministers to mask the true impact of the cuts to police budgets.
“His emphasis on the relative proportion of frontline officers to back office staff belies the reality that in Wales there will be both fewer officers on the frontline and fewer staff to support criminal investigations.
“No amount of massaging the message or spinning the statistics can hide the fact that all four Welsh forces are losing frontline officers and backroom staff – just as is the case in every force in the country, with the exception of Surrey.
“The sole chink of light in today’s analysis by HMIC is the fact that Wales stands out as the only part of the UK that is increasing the number of PCSOs: 175 more in South Wales, 105 more in The North - 500 in total across Wales. In contrast, 33 out of 39 English Police Forces are being forced to cut the number of PCSOs as well as losing officers and staff.
“Cheryl Gillan and David Jones keep reassuring people that Welsh crime figures might not necessarily rise as a result of the cuts, but in Labour we know that there was a clear connection between the investment we made in policing, increasing the numbers of frontline officers to record levels, and the corresponding record low in crime figures.
“Let’s hope the Government are right, but at present they are displaying a staggering degree of complacency as they preside over unprecedented cuts in police resources.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Hansard of the Welsh Grand Committee is available here.
The HMIC report “Policing in austerity: one year on” is available here. (Page 82 of the report provides a breakdown of the planned reductions.)
