Councillors and committees

Agenda item

BUDGET QUARTERLY UPDATE

The purpose of this report is to inform the Police & Crime Panel of the Surrey Police Group financial position for the 2016/17 financial year and the OPCC month 4 2016/17 financial position.

 

 

Minutes:

Key points raised in the discussion:

 

  1. The Chief Finance Officer of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office (OPCC) introduced the item to the Panel and confirmed that for 2015 between the Police Group and OPCC there had been a total under spend of £154,000.

 

  1. A Member of the Panel asked for further information on carrying forward the capital budget and if a time limit was put in place. The Officer confirmed that there was no time limit and that the police had a history of not spending the full budget allocation because of the way capital projects had been managed. It was noted that the PCC agreed to be more flexible with the capital carry over.

 

  1. A discussion was undertaken around IT overspend and whether this overspend was due to the implementation of a data centre. The Chief Finance Officer explained that work in relation to the data centre was charged to revenue and IT overspend was mainly due to staff turnover and agency staff costs.

 

  1. The Panel queried issues with staff retention and queried if there was any possibility to increase staff incentives. The Chief Executive of the OPCC confirmed that the police were reviewing the package of benefits to officers, with a view to making sure officers stayed with the force. She further explained that the Chief Constable could pay a south east allowance but there were not enough funds to do this without making cuts elsewhere.

 

  1. Panel Members questioned why a significant amount of money was being put into pay a pension deficit when it could be used to retain staff. The Chief Finance Officer informed the Panel that payment into the pension deficit was made from under spend against the budget and would ultimately reduce the amount that would need to be paid against the deficit in the longer term.

 

  1. The PCC confirmed that it would seem that Surrey Police would be within budget for this year and that additional savings would be achieved through recruitment. 

 

RESOLVED:

 

The Police and Crime Panel noted the financial performance of the Surrey Police Group and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey.

 

ACTIONS/FURTHER INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED:

 

None.

 

Supporting documents: