We are committed to delivering an open and transparent service and it is our intention to publish information each month that the public have an interest in viewing. However, as we are also committed to protecting the communities we serve, and given the nature of police work, preventing and detecting crime, it must be recognised that certain information will not be disclosed.
Any information concerning ongoing investigations, investigative methods, intelligence and the use of related operational techniques must be protected. This is crucial to ensure the Constabulary’s operational activities are not compromised and we are able to continue to effectively meet our policing obligations.
To this aim, we will apply, when appropriate, reasonable consideration of the exemptions afforded under the Freedom of Information Act such as commercially sensitive information.
Using the information
Information is published in a Microsoft Excel format. This allows the data to be sorted and examined to meet individual requirements.
- Body Name – Which organisation has incurred the expenditure
- Service Area Categorisation – A high-level view of the Service area to which the cost can be attributed.
- Supplier name – The name of the company supplying the service.
- Transaction number – The General Ledger (GL) reference which has been allocated to that item of expenditure.
- Date – The date the transaction was recorded on the GL. This is not necessarily the date the service was received.
- Amount – The net amount, exclusive of VAT.
- Text – A description of the type of expenditure, for example, ‘Energy costs’
Spend/Orders Over £500
Our General Ledger system ensures that all purchase orders are routed through the relevant/nominated budget holder for approval. Business Support (BS) carries out various checks prior to an order being raised to ensure that Contract Standing Orders are complied with.
In addition, all new vendor requests are approved by BS. Expenditure where the total contract value is over £25,000 will be managed by the Force procurement team. The team will decide upon the most appropriate route for the requirement and will always consider collaboration opportunities, the use of available frameworks and compliance with EU and UK legislation when making this decision. In accordance with Contract Standing Orders the following procurement processes are followed:
Category A: Below £5,000
For orders below £5k Standing orders require that good procurement practice is followed by seeking at least one written quotation, if possible to ensure value for money.
Category B: £5,000-£25,000
Items above a value of £10,000 but below a value of £25,000 are to be procured by way of competitive quotation and from not less than three suitable persons or organisations.
Category C: Over £25,000
Items in excess of £25,000 shall be referred to the force procurement team to be procured through a formal procurement process. The team in conjunction with the requester of the goods or services will decide on the procurement route to be taken. The above values apply to the whole value of the contract including extensions. The above limits do not apply to requirements that are met by ‘call offs’ from framework agreements to which we have access or force contracts. The procurement team will advise in such cases. All contracts above £10k will be published in full following the redaction of any commercially sensitive information.
Value for Money
We aim to give you value for money policing. The Commissioner sets the annual budget including its own costs which are approximately 0.5% of the total police budget. The Commissioner has a rigorous scheme of governance and financial control in place to ensure that value for money is achieved in all expenditure over £500.
Financial control involves a control structure that ensures that all resources are used as efficiently and effectively as possible to attain the Commissioner’s overall objectives and targets. Internal financial control systems are in place to minimize the risk of loss, unlawful expenditure or poor value for money, and to maximize the use of the Commissioner’s assets and limited resources.
The Commissioner’s and Constabulary’s financial management framework follows national and/ or professional best practice and its key elements are set out below:
- Financial Regulations establish the principles of financial control. They are designed to ensure that the Commissioner and the Constabulary conducts its financial affairs in a way which complies with statutory provision and reflects best professional practice. Standing Orders set out the rules and limits to be followed in respect of contracts for the supply of goods and services. The financial regulations and standing orders can be found on the website
- In accordance with the Prudential Code and best accounting practice the Constabulary and Commissioner produce a four year medium term financial plan (“MTFP”) and a five year capital programme. These are considered in the late autumn each year and form the basis of further discussion and debate on the annual revenue budget and capital programme.
- Responsibility and accountability for resources rest with managers in the organisations who are responsible for their service areas.
- The revenue budget provides budget holders with the authority to incur expenditure up to a set limit and a basis on which to monitor expenditure.
- Budget spend is carefully monitored at all devolved levels of budget holding and the Commissioner monitors the expenditure outturn most months through a regular public report to the Strategic Governance Board to ensure budgetary control.
- All expenditure is managed and controlled on an enterprise resource planning system (AGRESSO) which has authorisation controls in place to set up suppliers, request purchase orders, receive goods and services and match invoices to orders and goods received. The control system also ensures segregation of duties to minimize any risk of fraudulent payments.
- In order to ensure compliance best practice in procurement we have a small in house team of qualified procurement professionals whose role is to deliver best value whilst ensuring compliance with procurement regulations. Opportunities to collaborate by undertaking procurements with other public sector contracting bodies will always be considered. The aim being to reduce the administrative cost of procurement and achieve any savings that aggregation can bring. suAs a result of this, all our activities are undertaken through either full market approach tender processes or mini-competitions run via compliant Framework agreements from the Home Office, or other compliant bodies, in order to deliver best value to the public.
- Capital expenditure is an important element in the development of the Commissioner’s service since it represents major investment in new and improved assets. The Commissioner approves a capital programme each year and monitors its implementation and funding closely at Strategic Governance Board meetings. New expenditure requires prior approved business cases before procurement.
Annual spreadsheets for expenditure exceeding £500
Information is only available from November 2012 when Police and Crime Commissioners first came into office. A monthly breakdown is provided on separate tabs for each year.
2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012
These document have been provided in Microsoft Excel format. If you are unable to view the information you are after please contact the office who can provide the information in different formats.