With the Home Office continuing to overlay its needs-based formula with a floor mechanism, we heard that all police forces in Wales and England will receive the same 1.4 per cent reduction in 2017-18. We note that the three-way police funding settlement in Wales, involving the Home Office, Welsh Government and council tax, follows consultation with the four Welsh police forces, with £349.9 million being allocated to police and crime commissioners in Wales. With the South Wales Police Federation stating last year that the council tax precept gap with the other Welsh forces had now been closed, this will deliver increases in the amount paid towards police services by council taxpayers of 3.79 per cent in North Wales, 3.99 per cent in Gwent, 4 per cent in South Wales, but 6.9 per cent in Dyfed-Powys.

It is reported that this latter figure reflects the preceding funding freeze in Dyfed-Powys, where the outgoing police and crime commissioner stated that he had delivered more officers on rural beats for more time, for less money. Both the Dyfed-Powys Police and Carmarthenshire County Council websites note that the level of crime in Dyfed-Powys is low compared to other force areas, which makes it the safest place in England and Wales. However, the council do add, ‘We must not become complacent’. Although we therefore recognise concern at the size of their precept increase, we therefore also recognise the need to protect the level of services.

Under Labour, our police were bogged down in paperwork. This UK Government has cut red tape and given police just one simple target—to cut crime. As I said last year, crime had fallen by more than 30 per cent since 2010 according to the independent crime survey for England and Wales. Although total police-recorded crime across Wales, excluding fraud, was up 6 per cent in the year ending September 2016, an assessment by the UK Statistics Authority found that police-recorded crime data did not meet the required standard, and are not currently considered a reliable measure. In contrast, it was confirmed in December 2016 that data from the crime survey for England and Wales had retained its national statistics badge. These data showed an estimated 6.2 million incidences of crime in the year ending September 2016, a 6 per cent reduction on the previous year.

In north Wales, 17 extra police officers and an additional six members of staff will be recruited. At a North Wales Police briefing last month, we heard that although they had to deliver further planned savings of £7.3 million up to 2020, the implementation of their efficiency review recommendations would deliver evidence-based resource allocations, improve quality of service and invest £1.2 million in growth pressures. They also highlighted crime survey findings of reduced risk of personal and household crime in the region and increased numbers of special constables, police special volunteers and volunteer police cadets.

The Home Office is reviewing the police funding formula after revised proposals in 2015 were suspended. These would have seen the share of the amount distributed by the formula to the four Welsh police forces falling by 9 per cent, with north Wales receiving 0.88 per cent of the amount distributed to the 43 forces across England and Wales. They now receive 1.03 per cent, with the amount received per head ranked twenty-third out of 43 when the council tax legacy grant is taken into account.

Thanks to Welsh Government policy, over £0.5 billion pounds in council tax legacy grants being provided to police forces in England in 2017-18 will not be available for forces in Wales. I have written to the Home Office emphasising that the police funding formula is too reliant on a small number of measures to reflect the relative needs of the 43 forces and that rural deprivation and adversity must not be ignored.

Although North Wales Police have told us that forces in Wales, as in England, should be able to access the apprenticeship levy through its new digital account, which can then contribute to the College of Policing, the Welsh Government has refused this. The north Wales police and crime commissioner told me this month that this would cost Welsh forces over £2 million annually.

When I challenged the skills Minister over this in committee last week, we were told that the Welsh Government would instead strike up a grant or contract arrangement, but that the commissioners don’t probably know the exact detail of it. That is not good government. North Wales Police also detailed their collaboration with the Merseyside and Cheshire forces, recognising operational reality and reinforcing why police devolution would be bad for Wales.