The Mayor of South Yorkshire, Oliver Coppard, would not rule out cuts to local policing during an interview with The Star after his team discovered a £65m shortfall in the accounts they inherited from the former office of the police and crime commissioner.
Mayor Coppard did say there was nothing untoward or criminal about the shortfall, adding it was "fundamental human error" and he was "frustrated for the people of South Yorkshire".
Mayor Coppard did say there was nothing untoward or criminal about the shortfall, adding it was "fundamental human error" and he was "frustrated for the people of South Yorkshire".
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NewsTranscript
00:00How does something like this happen?
00:02Well, that's why I'm bringing in an external team to have a look at exactly what has gone wrong.
00:07What we think has happened is, in 2019, the former office of the Police and Crime Commissioner
00:12have authorised about £65 million worth of borrowing for essential kit for South Yorkshire Police
00:17and cars, IT equipment, things of that nature, but then have not begun the repayments at that point.
00:23So, £16 million worth of repayments have already been missed in the accounts going forward.
00:27There's £49 million which aren't in there, and that's the challenge that we now face.
00:32And so we're talking to government, we're talking to South Yorkshire Police colleagues
00:35in order to try and figure out how to overcome those problems.
00:38And is anything dodgy about it? I think that's one of the first questions people want to know.
00:42Is anything dodgy? Is it criminal?
00:44No, we don't think so. It's a fundamental human error.
00:46It's been missed by external and internal checks, but it is a problem.
00:50It's a problem that we're now going to have to fix, and that's why I'm talking to the government
00:53and the police about exactly what we can do to solve those problems.
00:56My team came in in May. I became, essentially, the Police and Crime Commissioner at that point.
01:01And as soon as we got those figures, the accounts, we'd gone through them
01:04and that's why we've figured out what that problem was.
01:07I was first made aware of a problem about three weeks ago, and then I got the final figure yesterday
01:12and that's why I'm talking to you today.
01:14So, £65 million that is owed is what we're missing, essentially.
01:18Whose money is that?
01:20So, the money was borrowed from the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner budgets.
01:25That's essentially an internal process that they undertook from reserves.
01:29That's why nobody came knocking on the door asking for that money back.
01:32Now, that's a perfectly legitimate process. It lessens the costs of borrowing,
01:36but of course, without paying that money back, it creates a gap in the finances
01:39and that's the problem that's occurred.
01:41And speaking of the gaps then, I know, more importantly, the Chief Constable of South Wales Police
01:45has talked about challenges ahead and there being a difficulty.
01:48Are we going to get cuts to local police?
01:50Look, I don't want to speculate on exactly what may or may not happen
01:52because, as I say, we're talking to the government and the police about what may happen next
01:56and I'm hopeful that the government will be helping us going forward.
01:59But, frankly, this is not about laying blame at anyone's door or saying a problem has been created
02:04by anyone who has done something wrong in that sense.
02:08This is about a problem that has occurred.
02:10This is about saying we've got to fix it and we are working every day now to try and fix that problem.
02:14Can you rule out cuts, though?
02:16Well, look, this is a significant challenge for us. Of course it is.
02:19But I don't want to speculate about what may or may not happen.
02:22We're talking to the government about how to solve these problems.
02:25We're going to do everything we can to make sure we can get in the money, the resources,
02:28the capacity to keep South Yorkshire and South Yorkshire's communities safe.
02:32One thing that we're keen to ask you about, because it's a campaign the National Order are running
02:36called Silent Crime, which is about trusting police on lower level things.
02:40Are you worried about how a shortfall like this can influence trust in local policing
02:45when, effectively, there's just a £65 million gap that we now have?
02:50Look, South Yorkshire Police do an incredible job.
02:52We've seen that just over the last few weeks and last couple of months.
02:55The issues that we saw in Sheffield, hadn't it?
02:57Members of the police stepped up and kept us all safe.
03:01I understand why some people, some members of our community, don't always have confidence in the police.
03:06Of course, it's why I've said I will bring in a Police Confidence Board, a Community Confidence Board,
03:10to make sure that everybody in South Yorkshire is not just kept safe, but feels safe.
03:14For me, that's hugely important.
03:16There are challenges ahead. There have been challenges for policing, not just in South Yorkshire,
03:20but right across the country over the last number of years.
03:23We're now going to have to contend with this challenge as well,
03:25but I've got every confidence that, working together, we can overcome those challenges.
03:29What does this challenge look like for people on the street?
03:34Because they want to know how this is going to affect the local policing teams,
03:38people that, officers that they know in their communities and they turn to.
03:41How is it going to affect people day to day?
03:43Of course, and I understand that. Of course I do.
03:45Like I say, right now, I don't think it's fair to speculate,
03:47either for the public of South Yorkshire or for South Yorkshire Police.
03:50We're working as hard as we can, as fast as we can,
03:53now that we understand what that challenge looks like and the scale of that problem,
03:56to talk to government and the police about making sure we have the resources that we need.
04:01Are you frustrated about it? Because it's, you know, none of this shortfall has anything to do with you,
04:06but now it's up to you to deal with it. So, are you frustrated with it?
04:10Of course I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated and disappointed on behalf of the community of South Yorkshire.
04:15I'm a part of this community. This is my home, of course.
04:18I want to make sure we have everything that we need for the things that we want to do.
04:21That's the job I am elected to do. That's why I'm talking to the government.
04:25That's why I do this stuff day in, day out.
04:27It is a frustrating situation to be in, but rather than some sort of naval gazing,
04:31we're going to get on with the job and make sure we can fix those problems.
04:34And does this, for any reason, accelerate the need to bring in a deputy mayor?
04:38Because the deputy mayor was supposed to oversee the day-to-day of this side of the job,
04:44but that's another big thing to now sort out on that side of the job.
04:47No, look, I have overseen this job day-to-day. That's why we've uncovered this problem.
04:50My team have done a good job at finding out exactly what has gone wrong.
04:53We will now work to solve those problems.
04:55Me gripping this organisation and making sure I understand exactly how it works, what's going on,
04:59what the problems look like and what the opportunities look like is exactly why I've taken on this job.
05:03I will continue to do that. We will bring in a deputy mayor,
05:06but for now it's exactly the right thing for me to do to provide that leadership to this organisation and to South Yorkshire.
05:11And what's next? What's the next step?
05:13We will continue talking to government. We will continue talking to South Yorkshire Police
05:16to make sure that we can get a grip on this problem and keep everybody in South Yorkshire safe.
05:20Awesome. Thank you for that.