PSNI cannot get extra funding at expense of rest of justice system – Long

The PSNI cannot be given additional funding at the expense of other parts of the criminal justice system, Naomi Long has insisted.

Stormont’s Justice Minister also told MLAs that it had not been helpful that a correspondence a senior civil servant sent Northern Ireland’s police chief warning him about a direct funding bid he made to the Prime Minister had been leaked into the public domain.

Permanent Secretary at the Department of Justice Hugh Widdis cautioned PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher that he had acted “outside well-established financial protocols” by writing to Sir Keir Starmer making the case for more financial support.

Mr Widdis told Mr Boutcher that requests for further Government funding should only be made by Stormont’s Department of Finance following engagement with the Department of Justice.

The leaked letter suggests the police chief undermined the role of devolved Stormont ministers by bypassing them in a direct approach to No 10.

Mr Boutcher has been flagging grave concerns about the PSNI’s financial situation since he took the job last year, insisting he does not have the necessary resources to police Northern Ireland effectively.

The issue was raised at ministerial question time on Monday when DUP MLA Deborah Erskine asked Ms Long if she supported the Chief Constable’s requests for further funding for the police force.

The minister responded: “What it is about at the end of the day is working with the Chief Constable through the structures that we have.

“The reality is in a devolved institution money that comes to Northern Ireland is not hypothecated.

“It is actually for this Assembly on the basis of recommendations brought by the Executive to vote through a budget and decide how we spend our money locally.

“Even were the Chief Constable to be successful in lobbying Westminster, that money will come to the Department of Finance and it will be for us around the Executive table and in this room to decide where that money ends up.

“The important thing is I work closely, as I have been, with the Chief Constable to build the strongest possible case at the Executive table so the funding that does come to Northern Ireland actually makes it into the Department of Justice’s budget because to date that has not been the case.”

DUP MLA Peter Martin asked Ms Long if she could move money from other parts of the justice budget to help the PSNI.

She responded: “I have had to ask every part of my department to make savings. This is not unique to the PSNI.

“Every single part of my department is operating on less resource than it would ideally have.

“The overall share that the PSNI has had of the department’s budget has not really changed.

“If I fund the police at the expense of probation, then more people will go to prison and we will need more money for prison.

“If I invest in policing at the expense of prisons, then we will have to start looking at what they are looking at in England in terms of early release because we will not be able to manage our prison numbers.

“If I invest in policing to the expense of courts then the police will be arresting people but there will be no opportunity to get them before the courts and charged and trialled.

“I have a job to do which is different to the Chief Constable. His job is to advocate for policing, my job is to advocate for policing and justice.

“It is a complete system and we need a holistic approach.”

Mr Martin said: “Does she stand by the letter from her permanent secretary to the Chief Constable admonishing him for asking for additional financial resources directly from the Prime Minister?

“Could she tell us if she was sighted on the letter before it was sent and does she support its contents?”

The minister said she had not seen the correspondence in advance.

She added: “To be frank, it has not been helpful that this was leaked into the public domain because it has created a very false narrative of the relationship between the department and the Chief Constable.”