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.
Comments