Statement by Justice Minister Naomi Long
Date published:
Justice Minister Naomi Long has commented on media reporting in relation to a leaked correspondence. The Minister also makes clear the role of the Accounting Officer in NICS departments.
The Minister said: “The Permanent Secretary in any Department is the Principal Accounting Officer for that Department. This carries with it responsibility for ensuring the regularity and propriety of departmental expenditure, for promoting value for money and for ensuring there are robust systems of corporate governance and financial control within the Department including living within the budgetary controls set by the Assembly.
“The Department of Justice Permanent Secretary and Accounting Officer, Hugh Widdis, recently wrote to the Chief Constable in relation to his role as accounting officer for the PSNI. Such correspondence is entirely appropriate, and it is regrettable that private correspondence has since been leaked.
“The substantive issue, however, is the underfunding of the justice system, which I have been consistently raising. As a result, the PSNI is under resourced, and officers and staff are under extraordinary pressure due to falling numbers. Whilst that pressure is significant even when things are calm, it is compounded when there is unrest such as we witnessed over recent weeks, in which officers were injured whilst keeping our communities safe.
"The position the PSNI are in now is as a direct result of budgets being continually squeezed over many years. I fully support the call for additional funding, and I met with the Chief Constable last week to discuss how we can jointly maximise our ability to secure more resources. I have also raised the need for more investment with the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister.
"I have also offered the support of my officials to help the PSNI build a sustainable and robust case for extra funding to put to the Executive.
“I will continue to support and work with the Chief Constable and the PSNI in the coming weeks and months, and with Executive colleagues, to secure what funding I can.”
Notes to editors:
1. A draft budget 22-24 consequences document was published in January 2022. This document highlighted the budgetary impacts across the justice system, including to the PSNI.
- Pg 13 - The Draft Resource Budget 2022-25 for the DoJ is not just difficult, it is damaging to the justice system, there is a real risk this Draft Resource Budget will severely impact public confidence in the justice system. The Department is facing essential pressures in the region of 7% of the baseline and this continues to be reviewed. This is on top of the net reduction proposed for the Department in this Draft Budget. The Department is heavily demand-led: we cannot control the amount of calls on police time, the number of cases in our courts, the amount of legal aid required to provide access to justice, the number of people committed to our prisons, or those placed on probation. This Draft Budget would inevitably affect the functioning of our police, courts, legal services, prisons and probation, and other areas of the Department.
- Pg 16-17 - Although PSNI will always strive to keep people safe, the proposed budget is likely to have a significant long-term impact on front line services to the public and to victims 17 of crime which in turn, severely impacts public confidence in policing and justice. By necessity, their ability to respond to threat and risk will be diminished.
- Pg 26 – Police Service NI (PSNI) Summary of Impacts, mitigating actions, prioritisation and areas where work will need to be paused or slowed down: 67% of the DoJ budget (excluding security funding) is allocated to the PSNI. The ring-fenced allocation of £14.8m for the police to help deliver against the NDNA commitment of raising police numbers to 7,500, falls far short of what is actually 27 needed even to achieve or maintain officer numbers at 7,100 and is also largely offset with a 2% budget cut of £14.6m. This proposed budget would not only mean stopping the uplift in headcount currently underway in 2021-22 but also reducing headcount further in future years and therefore contrary to the commitments given in NDNA to grow police numbers to 7,500. The stark reality is that this Draft Budget would lead to a smaller Police Service NI with fewer officers and staff together with more limited operational activity and reach. Even if PSNI were to immediately freeze all recruitment, reducing the Service to 6,700 officers by March 2023, it would fall far short of the savings needed in the short term. Given the scale of the funding gap and limited time available, it is difficult to see how PSNI could deliver the savings required just to live within budget, especially in the next few years. Although PSNI will always strive to keep people safe, the proposed budget is likely to have a significant long term impact on front line services to the public and to victims of crime which in turn, severely impacts public confidence in policing and justice. By necessity, their ability to respond to threat and risk will be diminished. Examples include: Impact upon serious crime investigations; Higher risks in the areas of Child Sexual Exploitation, Child Abuse and Domestic Abuse; Less proactive policing against crime targets; More demand presenting into the Health Service – mental health calls, violence with injury, road traffic victims; and Increase of fear of crime. There would be a significant impact on organisational resilience and plans for much needed modernisation as well as increasing the likelihood of costly mutual aid. The impact of cuts to budgets could increase the risk of legal challenges.
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