West Midlands Police fearing Pope security costs during visit to Birmingham

The Pope’s visit to Birmingham is threatened by a cash crisis after West Midlands Police was told it may have to fund the cost of security itself.

Chris Sims, the Chief Constable, has revealed the force was warned not to expect the Home Office to foot the bill.

Police forces usually receive extra grants to help them cope with major events, but Government spending cuts have thrown these into doubt.

The force has also been told it needs to meet up to a fifth of the cost of policing the Conservative Party Conference at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre in October.

It means up to £800,000 will have to be cut from other budgets, or taken out of reserves.

But security during the Pope’s visit will dwarf even the arrangements put in place to protect David Cameron, the Tory leader and Prime Minister.

Some estimates have put it on a par with the £72 million cost of protecting former US President George Bush and other world leaders at the G8 Summit in Scotland in 2005.

But the force is already making a series of cutbacks after the Government reduced its funding by £7 million.

This includes a freeze on recruitment – leading to a cut in police numbers as officers who retire are not replaced.

West Midlands Police said it is still in the process of calculating the cost of the Pope’s visit, because the arrangements changed dramatically last month.

It was announced in June that Pope Benedict XVI will hold one of the key ceremonies of his visit, the beatification of Cardinal Newman, at Cofton Park near Longbridge, instead of at Coventry Airport as previously planned.

The airport falls within Warwickshire Police’s jurisdiction, but the change of venue means West Midlands Police will now be responsible for security.

Fears about the funding were revealed in a paper written by Mr Sims and Mike Williams, treasurer of West Midlands Police Authority, and presented to authority members.

It warned: “Although there has been no formal guidance issued in relation to the potential scale of any reductions, informal indications suggest the authority will now have to meet 20 per cent of the total bid for funding Operation Pelkin (the Conservative Party conference) from existing resources (about £800,000).

“The position regarding the special grant for the visit by the Pope is also very uncertain. If any further changes to the funding arrangements for Operation Pelkin, and any costs from the Papal visit which have to be met from the budget, cannot be managed within the amended budget allocations, it will be necessary to fund the shortfall from the Initiatives Reserve.”

MP Richard Burden (Lab Northfield) said: “At a time when police are already being forced to make cuts, it cannot be right for Government to pass the buck for major security operations such as the Pope’s visit down to them.”

The paper also warns that overtime payments are to be cut by £200,000 while bonus payments will be cut by £300,000 for officers and £100,000 for support staff, as a result of Government spending cuts.

Training budgets will be cut by £400,000 and the force will cut spending on furniture and stationary by £600,000.

And West Midlands police will save £800,000 through an “amended police recruitment profile”, including a recruitment freeze.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: “As regards the planned visit of the Pope to the region, negotiations are currently under way between the Catholic Church, the Foreign and the Home Office about how the Pope’s security will be financed.

“As regards the Conservative Party conference coming to the region, West Midlands Police are looking at the possibility of having to potentially fund up to a quarter of the security costs themselves. The police are also looking at ways to reduce overtime costs and are particularly looking at reducing the policing of Broad Street on Friday and Saturday night.”

SIC: TBP