Confusion As ‘Police Czar’ & Police and Crime Panel Chair Clash Over Key Budget

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has criticised the Police and Crime Panel for delaying his budget, however the panel Chair has said his stance is ‘worrying’.

Yesterday the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner’s appointed PR agency sent a released entitled “Police czar blasts delay in setting police budget”, which was subject to a mini russian revolution, with a later copy sent through with an adjusted headline of “Police boss criticises budget delay”.

In the release it was stated that the North Wales Police and Crime Panel “voted to defer debate of Mr Jones’s recommended increase of 3.79 per cent in the police precept which will put an extra £2.25 million into frontline policing and 17 more police officers”.

It added, “Instead the Panel, meeting in Conwy, voted unanimously in favour of a proposal from the chair, Conwy’s Conservative County Councillor Julie Fallon, that they defer debate of the precept until Tuesday, January 31, because they hadn’t seen a copy of Mr Jones’s Police and Crime Plan.”

Mr Jones, commented : “It is disappointing and frustrating that such an important and necessary step is being delayed. The Chairman of the Panel only informed us of this 90 minutes before the meeting so there was no intention to compromise.

“Today’s meeting was run in a dictatorial fashion by the chair who didn’t allow any input from us at all, it’s a bit like the tail wagging the dog”

Mr Jones added: “I am still consulting on the Plan so the Plan is not ready to be seen and can only be finalised once we know how much money is available. The Plan depends on the funding and not the other way round so their argument is nonsense.

“I have 12 months to publish a plan which expires in May this year.”

“There is a legal requirement for me to consult the people of North Wales and that is ongoing and the Deputy PCC will be at a public meeting in Pwllheli this week.”

“The proposal of a 3.79 per cent increase is based on a sound business case which has been worked through in great detail and in consultation with the Chief Constable. There is only one statutory consultee and that is the Chief Constable and he is still working on how he will deliver the priorities in the Plan so I can’t publish until I get an understanding of how he intends to deliver on my priorities.”

“I have also consulted with the public by holding an online survey which almost 1,000 council taxpayers took part in and which saw an overwhelming majority in favour of an increase of at least five per cent.”

Yesterday evening we enquired with the panel Chair Julie Fallon over the detail, and invited comment and context behind the decision.

Councillor Fallon told us, “I am very disappointed that the commissioner has decided to again completely ignore the Police Crime Panel who are there to represent the people of North Wales. We have not voted against the budget, we have merely asked for the information that we have seen every year before we make a recommendation to approve the increase.”

“As a committee of a broad spectrum of political parties, including Plaid Cymru, we feel it is important to understand what priorities the PCC has set in his Crime Plan to ascertain if this is reflected in the budget.”

“In the PCC’s own report the number one bullet point when discussing his financial plan is his own Crime Plan. I wrote to the PCC’s office two weeks ago asking that the panel have sight of the plan and he refused.”

“It is very disappointing that he disregards our request and quite frankly it is worrying that he is encouraging us to make decisions without the information necessary.”

“From what I can see it would appear that he is one of the last commissioners in the UK not to form a Crime Plan and that in itself gives me great cause for concern, both for our very experienced Chief Constable in his forward planning and for the residents of North Wales who deserve to know what the plans are of the PCC who was elected so long ago.”