Financial Matters
Introduction
The Police Authority is responsible for agreeing the police budget for the year - we receive a Government grant and redistributed local business rates, and then decide how much money to raise through the local council tax towards the cost of policing.
The Authority's net revenue spending, i.e. after taking into account income raised from fees and charges and the use of reserves, is funded from Government Grants, a nationally operated Business Rates Pool and Council Tax. The council tax is raised by means of a precept on the seven district councils; the other funding is received direct from the Government.
To illustrate how the Authority's finances work, the following information is based on actual spending for the Norfolk Police Authority in 2006-07. The Authority received 67% of it's funding from Central Government with the remaining 33% being raised locally from the Council Tax.
Where the Money Comes From
The graph shows all sources of revenue income for the Authority, including monies raised from fees and charges and the use of reserves.
Revenue Budget and Spending
The Authority's actual expenditure in 2006-07 was £123.451M.
Spending against the budget is monitored regularly throughout the year, and reports are received at each of the main Police Authority meetings.
The type of costs the money was spent on:
Capital Expenditure
In addition to the Police Authority's responsibilities for providing funding for day to day costs, ie. revenue expenditure, the Authority also has a Capital Programme which enables it to provide funding for buildings and equipment needs.
The final Authority approved capital programme for 2006-7 was £11.647M and the total capital spending for 2006-7 was £6.779M.
This was spent on:
Financial Planning Timetable
Before the end of February each year, the Authority has a legal responsibility to decide on the level of its budget and its precept which is commonly known as the Council Tax for the Authority. This information is notified to each of the District Councils in the County and the District Councils are then responsible for arranging to collect, through the overall council tax for their area all of the monies required by the Police Authority, together with their own needs and those of the County Council and if appropriate, the relevant Parish Council.
District Councils pay the money they collect to the Police Authority at agreed intervals throughout the year.
The Chief Constable is responsible under delegation arrangements for the day to day financial management of the Constabulary. Regular reports are provided to the Police Authority to provide reassurance that all spending by the Constabulary is in accordance with the budget approved by the Authority.
At the end of the Financial Year, which finishes at 31st March, a detailed set of accounts are prepared in accordance with Nationally agreed accounting standards. These accounts are approved by the Authority no later than the end of June. The accounts are examined by external auditors who normally complete their audit by mid Autumn.
The Authority's external auditors are appointed by the Audit Commission which is an independent national body funded by the Government.