Balancing the books Where your money has gone
IN my experience, it is rare you will find a truly contented Master of Coin (if you will excuse the Game of Thrones reference), but the smile on my chief finance officer’s face told its own story.
But the Constabulary reporting a break even position with expenditure equal to budget for 2018/19 is not the main headline.
I thought you would like to know every penny of the £1.7m you contributed through last year’s Council Tax increase has gone towards keeping you safe and making Gloucestershire an even better place to be.
It has enabled neighbourhood policing and child protection teams to recruit an additional 30 officers and staff
and all frontline officers and staff are now equipped with body worn video cameras.
By March 31, when the financial year ended, the Constabulary had 1,062 police officers – eight more than its original target for this period – and means it is ahead of schedule for its ambitious plans to recruit another 50 officers by the end of March 2020. Those will come out of this year’s precept increase and will take the number of officers to more than 1,100 with a further 85 to replace those who retire and leave.
On top of that, the Chief Constable can call upon 161 Special Constables who contributed 41,000 hours of duty during the year - a significant increase on last year’s 31,000 hours – and 362 volunteers. There is also a significant amount set aside to fund the Emergency Services’ Network and for further investment in the capital strategy.
So, although the chief constable would always want more money to invest – who wouldn’t? - the financial situation is healthy.
Finally, thank you to everyone who took part in the public consultation on fire governance as part of the process I am carrying out on behalf of the Government.
Despite the well-documented opposition from some county councillors, it was interesting to see most firefighters and police officers who responded supported the business case I have prepared.
It has been an interesting debate and whichever side of the discussion you are on, the final decision rests with the Home Secretary.
It’s just a shame the situation in Westminster means it will not now be before next May.