PAYBACK OF the costs of policing last summer’s Gleneagles G8 summit has left Tayside Police nearly £1 million better off than they had predicted.

The force did not know exactly how much financial demand the gathering of world leaders would place on their budget, but after being reimbursed for the major outlay they made have found they underspent by £901,000 in 2005/06— a windfall which is to go some way towards funding projects ranging from the provision of new uniforms to investing in new call handling systems and improvements to police stations across Tayside.

Chief Constable John Vine will deliver the reserve fund update to police joint board committee members at their meeting in Forfar today, with the addition of a cautionary note that the financial picture is not as rosy as it might seem on the face of the six-figure underspend.

“Policing the G8 summit has a significant impact on the force,” states Mr Vine in his report.

“As the lead police force, considerable resources were deployed at each of the planning, operational and post-event stages.

“A number of infrastructure projects were carried out in support of the operation and expenditure incurred on necessary IT, communications and operational equipment.

“This expenditure and the cost of deploying police officers and support staff before, during and after the summit has been reimbursed,” adds Mr Vine.

“The consequence of this considerable activity has impacted on the financial position of the force, resulting in a net underspend of £901,000 for the year.

“The force will return to a more normal financial position in 2006/07.”

Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) for the force for last year was over £76 million and the reserve balance of £2.381m was 3.1% of that total—well over the recommended policy of retaining just 1%.

With GAE for 2006/07 of £79.211m a 1% retention would equate to £1.589m, but almost £300,000 of that has already been earmarked so the available balance is £1.292m, councillors will hear.

“While the healthy financial position is welcome it should be noted that the force is facing significant financial pressures in this financial year,” adds today’s report.