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| Five police forces face cuts struggle - watchdog | Five police forces face cuts struggle - watchdog |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Five forces will struggle to cope with future budget cuts, the police watchdog in England and Wales has warned. | Five forces will struggle to cope with future budget cuts, the police watchdog in England and Wales has warned. |
| HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) named the forces as West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Bedfordshire. | HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) named the forces as West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Bedfordshire. |
| HMIC also said other forces risked stretching crime prevention units after scaling back neighbourhood policing. | HMIC also said other forces risked stretching crime prevention units after scaling back neighbourhood policing. |
| The HMIC report largely praised police forces for absorbing significant budget cuts that had already been made. | The HMIC report largely praised police forces for absorbing significant budget cuts that had already been made. |
| These are expected to total a 20% cut in budgets by 2015 as the government reduces spending. | |
| HM Inspector of Constabulary, Zoe Billingham, said there had been a "good" response overall to the financial situation but there was "considerable variation in the approaches taken by forces". | |
| Balance books | |
| She said: "In some cases this leaves us with concerns about how some forces will manage in the face of further cuts. | |
| "We also have some concerns that neighbourhood policing risks being eroded as forces change how they deliver local policing." | |
| The report said that West Yorkshire Police had left "large elements of its operation untouched" and South Yorkshire Police had not "achieved savings seen elsewhere". | |
| While Northamptonshire Police's approaches to the spending review had been "innovative", it had "struggled to maintain its performance levels". | |
| Lincolnshire Police and Bedfordshire Police had also "responded well" but as small forces they might have "limited opportunities to reduce costs further", the report said. | |
| HMIC said most forces planned to balance their books by the end of the spending review period. | |
| They were increasing the proportion of their workforce on the front line, while working to make 31,600 staff reductions by March 2015. | |
| Broadening the remit of neighbourhood policing would have a "potentially detrimental effect" on crime prevention work and "impair" the level of service the public received, the report added. |