The committee that oversees the Police, Guernsey Prison and population management will not get any extra money in next year’s budget, despite warning there was a “real risk to the public” without it.
Deputy Marc Leadbeater, Home Affairs President, had put forward three amendments which could have given his committee up to £4m extra, depending on which of two budgets the States opts for.
He said the “strain” was showing on the police, who spent nearly a third of their time dealing with “mental health crises and the missing persons reports”.
“The police cannot afford to get serious cases wrong through the lack of resource or burnout.
“This would fail the victims and decrease confidence in the police.”
Home Affairs insists the money is needed to maintain existing services rather than expand them, despite seeking funding for additional frontline officers.
‘Sympathy cannot substitute for scrutiny’
Explaining why she wouldn’t support extra money for police and prison officers, Deputy Sarah Hansmann Rouxel said that while it was right to fund “unavoidable pressures”, deputies needed to be sure committees had done the “difficult work” before asking for significantly more money.
“Sympathy cannot substitute for scrutiny.”
Policy and Resources Member Deputy Andrew Niles said the ‘Option B’ budget already gave Home Affairs 4% more money, describing the situation as a “1% difference in opinion”.
“We can’t just look at the expansionist budget of creating more roles and paying for them,” he told the Assembly.
All three amendments rejected
All three of Deputy Leadbeater’s amendments failed.
Amendment 14, which was asking for up to £1.95m extra for “frontline services”, such as police officers and prison guards, lost by 21 votes to 11 with six abstaining.
Amendment 15, which wanted up to nearly £1m for the “purpose of protecting vulnerable groups” – including £400,000 to continue funding Guernsey’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre – lost by 19 votes to 12, with seven abstentions.
Amendment 16 asked for up to £988,000 to safeguard the island’s international reputation and the economy, by tackling financial crime problems and sorting out problems at the Population Management Office. It lost by 23 to seven, with five abstentions.
