WELSH POLICE FORCE MERGER PAYOUTS

That this House applauds the four Welsh police authorities for their conduct over the police force mergers; is deeply disappointed at the cap of £100,000 that the Home Office has placed on payouts to police authorities; believes that the Welsh police force merger proposal was ill-prepared with a deeply unrealistic timetable for Welsh police authorities to consider such a radical structural change; is concerned that senior Welsh police chiefs and their staff were forced to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds and many hours of police time preparing responses to the merger proposals; is further concerned that this could have had a detrimental effect on policing in Wales; is further concerned that the whole affair has ultimately cost the Welsh police authorities around £500,000; believes that this money should have been invested in frontline policing in Wales and not spent on consultation costs; is further concerned that some of the costs incurred may have to be met by Welsh council taxpayers; and strongly urges the Government to pay back, in full, all costs incurred by Welsh police forces related to the police force merger proposal.