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| Axed police mergers cost millions | Axed police mergers cost millions |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money was spent preparing for police force mergers which were later abandoned, the BBC has learned. | Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money was spent preparing for police force mergers which were later abandoned, the BBC has learned. |
| Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show 27 police forces spent £6.1m preparing for the move. | Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show 27 police forces spent £6.1m preparing for the move. |
| Figures for the remaining 16 forces have yet to be revealed. | Figures for the remaining 16 forces have yet to be revealed. |
| Government plans to cut the number of forces in England and Wales from 43 to 24 were abandoned after widespread opposition from the police and public. | Government plans to cut the number of forces in England and Wales from 43 to 24 were abandoned after widespread opposition from the police and public. |
| The Home Office has earlier said it will reimburse forces for the additional costs they incurred preparing for mergers. | |
| But some forces complain no compensation is available for the existing resources which they diverted into the project. | |
| Examples of what forces spent include $340,000 by Cheshire, almost £500,000 spent by Sussex, and £320,000 spent by Devon and Cornwall. | |
| West Mercia, South Wales and North Wales each spent £400,000, according to the figures. | |
| 'More collaboration' | |
| Jan Berry, chairwoman of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file police officers, said some of the preparations had been useful but money had been wasted. | |
| She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think we, and a lot of other people, feel it could have been done in a far more strategic and holistic way." | |
| Mrs Berry said there was a good case for merging some forces' administrative arrangements, adding: "I think the government will want to see forces working in a more collaborative way." | |
| The mergers were proposed last year after a report said the existing force structure was unfit for purpose. | |
| But they were dropped by the Home Office in July. | |
| Prime Minister Tony Blair has since said the mergers are "not off the agenda" and that greater strategic co-operation between forces is needed. |