CASH-STRAPPED police in North Yorkshire have saved £6.2 million to balance their books as they battle the Government spending squeeze.

Police chiefs needed to shave £2.232 million off their budget and also earmarked the need to save a further £4 million to meet their targets last year in the face of tough funding cuts.

The figures, revealed in a report going before North Yorkshire Police Authority next week, show that, as well as winning its “challenging” multi-million-pound savings battle in 2010/11, the force is also set to meet its spending aims in the current financial year.

Its budget for last year totalled £138.498 million – £138.388 million was ultimately spent, representing an extra £110,000 saving which is now set to be put into North Yorkshire Police’s major incident fund.

The force, which expects to suffer funding reductions of £20 million over four years, has had to pay £2.187 million in severance and leavers’ pay following a redundancy process – which saw 50 compulsory and 111 voluntary redundancies.

But a report by chief finance officer Joanna Carter shows it underspent by £1.043m on other employee costs and £949,000 on supplies and service. The recruitment freeze also helped it stay within budget while it also saved £10,000 on transport costs after most of its fleet was converted to diesel, cutting fuel bills, and vacancies meant travelling expenses also reduced.

The force generated income over the last year by selling older fleet vehicles, bringing in £161,000, and gained a further £67,000 for loaning police officers to other forces.

Meanwhile, an overspend of £822,000 on total employee costs was mainly down to the £2.187 million paid to those leaving the force, while the budget for police community supports officers’ salaries spilled over by £369,000.

The force also reported a £56,000 overspend on premises costs, partly due to the need to provide alternative housing for officers who were relocating and problems with the heating system in York’s custody suit, meaning a replacement had to be installed.

Maintenance costs also rose due to a force restructuring operation, requiring an extra parking area to be provided.

However, the force recouped money through the sale of some properties and cutting electricity costs through a Big Switch Off campaign.

Although 50 compulsory redundancies have been made, the report said it hoped to reduce this number by finding those affected alternative positions.

York Press: The Press - Comment

Welcome change to diet of cuts

WE are all getting used to a relentless diet of cuts, cuts and more cuts in public spending. North Yorkshire Police, for example, have revealed that they managed to shave £6.2 million off their nearly £140 million budget last year – but face further cuts of about £20 million over the next four years.

It makes a nice change, therefore, to see that in York, Labour council bosses hope to reverse almost £1 million of cuts made by their Liberal Democrat predecessors.

Labour are to reveal an emergency budget next week which they pledge will restore some funding for youth services, short breaks for disabled people, and day care transport for the elderly, among other things.

The restored spending is a drop in the ocean of the £21 million cut from the budget by the Liberal Democrats in February. Nevertheless, it may well help some of the most vulnerable people in the city.

We welcome this move, therefore – provided it is sustainable.

There is a tendency for new administrations to rush into populist announcements, only to repent later.

Already, Labour has made a number of headline-grabbing proposals – on extending traffic bans in the city centre, on ending “secrecy and uncertainty” over the community stadium, and on the Union Terrace car park among others.

On the question of reversing spending cuts, we very much hope Labour has done its sums properly, and can afford to deliver on its promises. It would be dreadful to raise hopes now, only for them to be dashed later.

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