THE North Yorkshire Police Authority was accused today of salting away millions in its reserves as external auditors highlighted "significant weaknesses" in its financial management and accounting procedures.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Phil Willis claimed that huge hikes in the police precept from council tax payers had been used to build up massive balances rather than paying for front-line services abd were therefore unnecessary.

The precept went up in 2003 by 76 per cent - the highest in the country - and by another ten per cent the following year. The external auditors' report shows that the reserves have grown to £25 million.

But James Fender, the authority's vice-chairman, today refuted the MP's claims, saying it had been necessary to build up the large reserves partly to deal with the pension demands of a large number of officers who were entitled to retire in the next two or three years.

He said reserves had also built up because capital projects, such as new computers, cars and building improvements, had to be properly planned and had not been able to go ahead in the intended year. Reserves were also needed to pay for major incidents.

The auditors say they have serious concerns about the financial management arrangements in place, and say they had not been able to properly monitor capital expenditure because the necessary information had not been supplied.

Updated: 10:43 Wednesday, January 19, 2005