asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 26 January (WA 26) and 1 February (WA 79) on the proposed police reorganisation, why the payment made to the Lincolnshire authority exceeded the upper limit of £100,000 set by the Government. [HL2042]
Lincolnshire Police Authority had committed to a contract for programme office premises on behalf of all five east Midlands region authorities on advice from the Home Office, prior to their merger plans being halted. Given that this cost substantially raised the amount of this authority's additional expenditure, and the total claimed by the other authorities in the region had been reduced as a consequence, we agreed that this additional commitment should be reimbursed in isolation from considering Lincolnshire's other additional costs.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they arrived at the figure of £100,000 as the upper limit for compensation to police authorities for expenditure on merger plans; and what consultation was held with the authorities before the figure was decided. [HL2043]
The police authorities were invited to submit claims for their additional expenditure on merger plans. An upper limit of £100,000 was set to ensure that the total amount paid to police authorities was affordable from available funds and that it would provide a threshold under which the majority of forces could expect to be fully reimbursed for their additional costs on this work.
asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the Cumbria and Lancashire police authorities, which had undertaken a voluntary pilot merger, were compensated in full for the work carried out when an upper limit of £100,000 was applied to other authorities. [HL2044]
Cumbria and Lancashire were an exceptional case in the preparations for mergers as they formed the pilot for the merger process and had advanced further in their preparations for amalgamation than the other police authorities. It had been agreed before the national plans for mergers were halted that the Home Office would reimburse Lancashire and Cumbria for the cost of their joint programme office and would further fund their pioneer work towards developing lessons learnt by undergoing the merger process on an accelerated timetable.