Ed Davey
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Police Pension Liabilities
Ed Davey Excerpts(5 years, 5 months ago)
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Mr Hurd
My hon. Friend makes a serious point. Across the police system, reserves have grown by hundreds of millions of pounds since 2011, at a time when all the public were hearing from the police system was, “We need more money.” One of the things we have done is to say, “Yes, you need reserves, but you need to account for how big those reserves are and what you intend to do with them.” That goes for the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, who has, I think, increased reserves by £20 million.
Sir Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton) (LD)
Police chiefs say that filling this pension deficit could cost up to 10,000 police officers. Does the Minister agree?
Mr Hurd
No, I do not. I think the number is exaggerated, which is not unusual for the police. I recognise that there is an unbudgeted cost, and I have given an undertaking to work very closely with the Treasury and with the Home Secretary to find a solution to both this and the additional resources and capacity needed to meet the very real demand pressures on the police.