Financial Report

The Police Authority’s financial position is that it is holding reserves of £23.5m to meet future obligations and potential risks. One of these reserves is the Sustaining Service Delivery reserve and in 2008/09 it was planned to use £2m of this reserve in order to match planned spending with planned income. This plan was achieved and the Sustaining Service Delivery reserve now stands at £11.7m and is available in future years to maintain the medium term financial strategy.

Summary of Accounts 2008/09

This document summarises the Authority’s full 2008/09 Statement of Accounts and gives a view of the financial position at 31 March 2009. In order to present this information in a more concise and user-friendly way, some modifications to the full Statement of Accounts have been made.

The full statement of accounts are available on the Police Authority’s website, www.westmerciapoliceauthority.gov.uk.

Review of the Year

In 2008/09 the resources available amounted to £192.7m which included £2.0m to be drawn from reserves.

The Statement of Accounts is audited each year by the Audit Commission. In addition to auditing the Statement of Accounts, the Audit Commission evaluates the effectiveness of the use of resources. This exercise - Police Use of Resources Evaluation (PURE) - awards a score for each of five criteria together with an overall judgement. In the previous financial year West Mercia received the highest possible score for value for money and financial standing together with the highest score for the overall judgement of use of resources. The results for the 2008/09 PURE assessment will be announced in the autumn of 2009.

In resource terms, the plan for the year was mainly to consolidate the increase in resources which had been engaged in the two previous years. There was a net increase in recruitment as new posts were filled.

The Authority must maintain adequate reserves and these are kept under regular review by the Treasurer. Reserves have been preserved to meet future liabilities, obligations and potential risks. At 31 March 2009 reserves amounting to £23.3m are being held to meet these requirements.

At the end of the year it was possible to maintain the revenue reserves in line with the budget strategy. Also during the year capital expenditure was £12.6m and this has been funded primarily by government grant and working capital pending longer term borrowing.

Spending on Activities During the Year

The total cost of policing in West Mercia during the year was

Accounting adjustments relate to requirements in the full Statement of Accounts to include depreciation and an actuarial assessment of future pension cost. This summary relates to expenditure incurred during the year only.

Summary Balance Sheet at 31 March 2009

This is a summary of the value of what the Police Authority owns, together with debts owed to and by the Authority.

Capital Investment During the Year

The assets of the Police Authority are enhanced by capital spending in each year. In 2008/09 the details were:

Cash Flow

The cashflow summarises how receipts and payments during the year relate to the final balance of cash and investments:

Efficiency Plan

West Mercia has a long established value for money tradition exemplified by an excellent audit report and results from the Audit Commission on Police Use of Resources.

West Mercia has consistently achieved the annual efficiency target set by the Home Office and since 1999 a cumulative total in excess of £42m has been redirected into service improvement and absorbing the additional demands which have been placed upon the service.

West Mercia recorded £10 million of efficiency gains in 2008/09 which is in excess of the planned target. The Efficiency Plan included:

• the local implementation of national initiatives such as the commencing of CJSSS (Criminal Justice: Simple, Speedy, Summary) and further civilianisation under the workforce modernisation programme.
• wholly local initiatives such as a review of BCU (Basic Command Unit) Intelligence support, a Crime Management Review in Herefordshire and the continuation of savings arising from the devolvement of Prosecution Quality Teams.

During 2008/09 a Strategic Resource Leverage process was introduced, containing two specific elements:

• Cash releasing initiatives

  Divisions and Departments are required to identify cash savings of 1.25% of their total budget without affecting frontline policing.

• Cash re-investment initiatives

  Proposals to improve performance or to be more efficient by an initial additional allocation of resources are considered under an invest to save programme.

The capital investment programme is essentially an ‘invest to save’ process spread throughout West Mercia and significant developments have been approved for the following:

• Hereford Custody

• Approval for new Bromsgrove police station with custody

• Approval for custody improvements at Telford police station

• Approval for new police station at Market Drayton with detention facilities

• Approval for new custody provision at Wellington

• Delivery of new road and Gatehouse for Hindlip Headquarters.
  
  

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