Training row could leave Wales with fewer police
AROW over how police training is funded could result in 200 fewer officers in Wales and potential recruits choosing to sign up to work for English forces instead, according to top police managers.
Police and crime commissioners and the chief constables of all four Welsh forces are calling for urgent action over the controversial Apprenticeship Levy they say is putting police services at a “huge disadvantage”.
The All-Wales Policing Group has voiced its concerns in a letter to Mark Drakeford, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government. The group’s chairman, North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, says the four Welsh forces are paying a total of £2m and he fears they’ll get nothing in return.
The UK government has agreed a funding deal for the levy for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland under which each of the devolved governments will receive a share of the money paid in based on their population.
In England the money forces pay into the levy go to the English police college but in Wales it goes to the Welsh Government, which is due to get back a total of almost £400m over the next three years. But Mr Jones says that because the Welsh Government is not responsible for policing there’s a big question mark over whether any of the money paid in by Welsh police forces can be spent on officer training.
He said: “Under the English funding model, 92% of the costs of training would be met through the Apprenticeship Levy, with only 8% being borne directly by the forces. In contrast, the funding arrangements in Wales mean that forces here would have to bear between 95% and 100% of the costs themselves.
“Under such pressures, Welsh forces might have to lower the standard of training and it would be regrettable to break away from the uniform standards that are currently in place. Being forced to fund the training from existing resources would inevitably have an impact on front-line policing.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “All police forces pay the Apprenticeship Levy, and in Wales those funds are passed back to the Welsh Government through an arrangement agreed with HM Treasury.”
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “The Apprenticeship Levy is a UK government employment tax which directly conflicts with areas of devolved responsibility. The levy is being imposed on Wales, including the public sector, and at considerable cost.
“Any [money] received from the levy has been largely offset by cuts made elsewhere, meaning there is no significant new money to invest in services as a result of the Apprenticeship Levy.”