Force told to make cuts that won’t damage frontline services POLICE in Hampshire have been ordered to make millions of pounds of cuts within months to help tackle the national debt.

Policing Minister Nick Herbert said Hampshire Constabulary would lose almost £3m of the cash it had expected to spend in 2010/11.

Mr Herbert argued the cuts represented a “fair share” of the savings needed to reduce the budget deficit and “get the economy moving again”.

It will be up to police chiefs to decide how and where to make the cuts, but the minister claimed they could be achieved without serious damage to frontline policing.

He said: “It is for chief constables to use their expertise and decide what makes most sense for their force, but I am quite clear that this saving can be achieved by driving out wasteful spending on support functions, reducing bureaucracy and increasing efficiency in key functions – leaving the frontline of policing strong and secure.”

Hampshire Constabulary has been told its main grant – which is used to pay for police officers – will be slashed by £2.9m to £127.8m, and its capital grant – for buildings and equipment – by £300,000 to £3.6m.

Nationally, the revised funding allocations will cost police forces in England and Wales £125m.

The savings will contribute to the £367m of cuts the Treasury has demanded from the Home Office.

Simon Cole, Deputy Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary, said: “Together with the Hampshire Police Authority, we shall consider the implications of this potential reduction and do everything in our power to ensure that this does not impact on the delivery of frontline policing to our communities.

“The current year’s budget approved in February already required reductions of about £6m. Therefore this proposed cut in grant, coming part way through the year, would present us with a significant challenge.

Decisions that were taken last year to increase our effort to identify budget savings mean that we will be in a good position to respond to this challenge.”

John Apter, Vice Chairman of Hampshire Police Federation, said: “The news that £2.9m, subject to Parliamentary support, will be removed from this year's police budget is concerning, but has not come as a surprise.”

David Hanson, shadow police minister, said: “I’m extremely concerned that the new Government has made this decision.

The funding cut will have a real impact on policing, crime and the fight against terrorism.”