Police and Justice Bill

I do find it shocking that mergers will cost so much. For several years, any savings that may be achieved—we now know that they are likely to be less than was initially suggested—will be outweighed by the costs. The Association of Police Authorities estimates that the cost of mergers will be about £500 million across England and Wales. The Government belatedly announced in a budgetary letter to the chief constables at the end of March that they would meet the costs of amalgamation, but it is clear that those funds are being raided from the existing police capital budget. Resources that should have been spent on improvements in policing will now be used to pay for management consultants, merged IT systems and new headquarters. I should be grateful if the Minister asked for replies to be given to the questions that I tabled for written answer as long ago as January, asking about the costs of the employment of management consultants by the Home Office, police authorities and police forces themselves, as part of the police restructuring exercise. I have not yet received replies to those questions, and I am not surprised that I have not, but I think that months later replies are due. With the Home Office budget effectively frozen by the Chancellor from 2008 onwards, the outlook for investment in level 2 services—a premise for amalgamation that is addressed by our amendment No. 82—and for other areas of policing is bleak.