Durham Police and Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg has slammed the Government for miscalculating how much money Durham is likely to receive to Police County Durham and Darlington from next year. At present Durham Constabulary receive £80m from the Government for policing services.
The Government have recently announced a review to the way funding is distributed across all Police Forces. The latest information which was received Friday 6th November, shows that Durham would only receive £70m per year in future years. This represents a reduction of £10m per year which is 12.5%. This does not include any additional funding reductions as a result of this month’s comprehensive spending review.
Mr Hogg said, “I am both angry and bewildered as to how the Government can say that we can police County Durham and Darlington with £10m less to spend each year.  I have written to the Government in the strongest terms stating that they should abandon this whole process and leave the current funding formula alone as it is causing too much instability, not only for Durham but also for other Forces.
“Durham is the highest performing Police Force in the Country and this is what the public expect, however continuation of this is dependent upon the Government taking a sensible view as to the level of funding we need. Currently the Government’s view totally lacks this common sense approach.”