Local Government Finance

The Minister said that this was a fair settlement, but how can he apply the word ““fair”” to the treatment of Derbyshire police authority, which has been underfunded for many years? Two years ago, the Government acknowledged that, but have refused to implement the formula that would remedy it. The statement today means that the authority will be £3 million short each year for the next three years, on top of the £4.5 million efficiency savings that it has to make. It already has 230 police officers fewer than the family of authorities with which it is compared. Now it seems that the authority will have to make cuts that will make that situation even worse. How is that fair?