2021/22 OPCC Budget Consultation Summary
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2021/22 OPCC Budget Consultation Summary Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire Published: 28 January 2021 OPCC Budget Consultation 2021/22 Summary Table of Contents Executive summary .................................................................................................................... 2 1.0 Introduction and background .............................................................................................. 4 2.0 Summary of promotional publicity ...................................................................................... 5 2.1 Consultation Part 1 (November 2020-January 2021) ...................................................... 5 2.1.1 Media coverage ........................................................................................................ 5 2.1.2 Poster promotion ...................................................................................................... 6 2.1.3 Social media promotion ............................................................................................ 7 2.1.3 Partner promotion .................................................................................................. 11 2.1.4 Internal promotion ................................................................................................. 12 2.1.5 Commissioner’s Monthly Newsletter ..................................................................... 12 2.2 Consultation Part 2 (January 2021) ................................................................................ 12 3.0 Consultation results in detail ............................................................................................. 14 3.1 Summary of part one feedback ...................................................................................... 14 3.1.1 Online survey .......................................................................................................... 14 3.1.2 Focus group responses ........................................................................................... 18 3.1.3 Social media and written feedback ........................................................................ 27 3.2 Summary of part two feedback ...................................................................................... 29 4.0 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................... 31 Appendix A: Phase one online consultation results ............................................................... 33 Appendix B: Statistical breakdown by district / borough ........................................................ 47 Appendix C: Police employee/volunteer responses vs general public responses .................. 57 1 Executive summary The 2021/22 Budget Consultation is the most comprehensive survey to date undertaken by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire, which seeks to build upon good practice seen elsewhere in England and Wales and to address the comments of the Police and Crime Panel from previous consultations. Held against the very challenging backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consultation aimed to establish through a variety of means feedback from all parts of the Warwickshire community, in order to inform the Commissioner’s decision making on setting the budget for policing for 2021/22. The consultation was held in two parts to maximise the amount of time that the public had to feedback their views, while also allowing them to do so in a more informed way as the financial picture became clearer into January 2021. A total of 1,588 took part in an online poll which ran as part one of the consultation from late November 2020 to early January 2021 – a total of over six weeks. This provided feedback on the key priorities respondents believed needed investment and also provided the commissioner with information as to the affordability and willingness of people to pay potential increases to the police precept. For the first time, the OPCC organised focus groups to gather qualitative feedback from seldom heard groups and organisations working with vulnerable people. Also canvassed were representatives of the business and farming community, alongside police staff associations, local councillors, council leaders and chief executives and Warwickshire Members of Parliament. This ensured there was a broad demographic response representing a large proportion of the Warwickshire community; for example, the focus group with town and parish council representatives alone saw detailed feedback and questioning from individuals representing over 100,000 residents from all corners of the county. The overall results reflected that there remained a strong desire to see sustainable investment in policing services, particularly where it improves the ability of the police to prevent and detect crime, enhance visibility of officers and ensure the protection of the most vulnerable. There was also a desire to see grant funding awarded by the Police and Crime Commissioner be prioritised towards projects supporting the vulnerable. Nevertheless, the difficult financial circumstances many people now find themselves in was reflected in the online polling results, which showed around a third of respondents did not support a raise in taxation to support policing. There was greater opposition to a raise than in previous consultations, while around 18% of respondents to the online poll felt that any increase would be unaffordable to them. Similar feedback was received from the focus 2 groups, with the additional view that vulnerable groups are often those who benefit most from the additional services a precept raise would fund. Part two of the consultation made the full draft budget available for inspection and comment, as soon as this was possible. While this was a shorter period than would be ideal, this was unavoidable due to the timings of the key funding announcements (national settlement and local council tax base) which underpin the budgeting process. Nevertheless, the feedback received bore out the earlier consultation, with similar levels of support for the budget overall and precept raise, albeit from a more limited range of respondents. Inevitably, during any budget setting process, the Commissioner must make a judgement call as to the balance of need vs the affordability of an increase. In that context, the consultation has provided a strong evidence base on which to make that decision, prior to presenting the draft budget to the Police and Crime Panel. 3 1.0 Introduction and background Each year, the Police and Crime Commissioner is required by legislation to consult the public on his or her proposals for setting the budget for policing locally (including proposals for capital spending, as well as revenue). Consultation must take place prior to any decisions being made on future budgets, in order to ensure that the PCC has taken public feedback into consideration before proposing a final draft budget. The timeframes for consultation are largely dependent on when central government announces details of its spending plans and provides PCCs with notification of what share of the national funding pot they will receive, alongside information about what flexibility they are given to vary the police precept, the portion of Council Tax which goes towards paying for policing locally. This can be very challenging, given that final confirmation of the national settlement is not generally received until mid-December, and confirmation of other key data may not come until late January (such as council tax base figures). Against this backdrop, draft budget papers need to be finalised and sent to the Police and Crime Panel seven days before the budget meeting, which takes place on February 1, 2021. Furthermore, this year’s budget setting comes amid the context of increased uncertainty on public sector finances due to the continued coronavirus pandemic and other economic factors. For these reasons, the consultation for the 2021/22 budget was carried out in two parts. The first part, to be held during late November and through to early January, gauged public opinion on the funding landscape for policing locally, including which areas of activity they would prefer to see prioritised. The questions built upon the results of the earlier Policing Priorities Consultation, with questions based on the OPCC’s understanding of the financial landscape in late November 2020. Results from part one of the consultation will help to influence the decision-making for the final draft budget proposals, which were published in mid- January 2021. Part two of the consultation invited more direct feedback on the draft budget document itself. This took the form of a short survey which was published and publicised online alongside the draft budget and precept proposals. Those who gave feedback in part one of the consultation were also invited to do so again for part two. The budget consultation should thus be considered to be the results of the online surveys, focus groups sessions, social media comments and direct feedback received by the OPCC for both parts one and two. 4 2.0 Summary of promotional publicity The consultation launched on November 26, 2020, using the branding ‘Your Police, Your Views’. The consultation was published on the OPCC website and featured prominently on the front page, public consultation and news pages. We are grateful to all those who helped to publicise the precept consultation and encouraged people to