Conservatives condemn Home Office for short-changing Surrey Residents 10th November

The Conservative Group on Surrey County Council have condemned the Home Office for refusing to pay back all of the monies spent by Surrey Police on preparing for a possible merger with Sussex Police which was later abandoned following a Government u-turn.

Surrey Police claimed £649,000 for the costs of the aborted merger, but received only £100,000 from the Home Office, a figure which Council Leader Nick Skellett, described as ‘nothing short of disgraceful’.

Mr. Skellett remarked; “Only last week Surrey’s Police were assessed by the Home Office as being amongst the best in the country, and this week that same police force is told that it has to find £549,000 from its own funds to pay for the costs of a failed merger.

These proposed mergers were Government policy, and for them to charge us for their u-turn is simply wrong. This money will have to be found from somewhere, and that will mean less money being spent on doing what the police do best, which is fighting crime and making the public safe. What the Government have done is nothing short of disgraceful”.

The Executive Member for Safer and Stronger Communities, Mrs. Christine Stevens, is to write to the Police Minister, Tony McNulty, to ask him to review the decision.

Christine Stevens said; “Yet again Surrey is being underfunded and undervalued by the Government, and it is local people who will suffer as a result of this. The police do a wonderful job, and I cannot praise them enough for the work that they do in keeping Surrey safe, but if they are losing nearly £550,000 to pay for a Government u-turn then that is £550,000 which cannot be spent on other things”.

She added; “It has not gone unnoticed that Lancashire Police received the full amount which they requested, which was £750,000, whereas Surrey, alongside Sussex, Kent and a number of other authorities have only received £100,000. We have no problem with Lancashire receiving this money, because that is what is cost them to pursue a policy that the Government first advocated and then abandoned. The Home Office should think again and I shall be writing to them to express that view”.

Maurice Neighbour, who chairs the Safer and Stronger Communities Select Committee, was also perplexed at the decision.

“In my role I look at what the police do in Surrey, and I know that they do a very good job, and that if they had more money they could do even more good work. Now, however, they have got less money, and this is scant reward for all of their hard work. Surrey’s police have been treated appallingly”.