Mystery over £205,000 returned by Policing Board amid budget pressures may be solved - they didn't need it say DoJ

The DUP’s lead Policing Board representative Trevor Clarke MLA asked Mrs Long to confirm that the Policing Board was handed £205,000 funding that it did not request in the final days of the last financial year.

The South Antrim MLA said: “At a time when the PSNI and other criminal justice organisations have been pushed to breaking point due to chronic underfunding, it is incredibly odd and incredibly worrying, that more than £200,000 was allocated to the Policing Board without it being asked for.

“This may be a modest sum of money in terms of the overall justice budget but it is a missed opportunity to maximise investment communities affected by dwindling neighbourhood police numbers and the rising threat of a slower and less agile response to crime.

“There is now an onus on the Department to explain how this happened. I urge the Justice Minister to investigate the matter and outline what action has now been taken. It is important to assure the public that it is an isolated incident with measures in place to avoid reoccurrence.

“If the Department of Justice is to reverse the decline in spending on policing and justice over the last decade, it is crucial that it can demonstrate not just a clear need for a major cash injection but the ability to use the allocations it does receive wisely.”

The News Letter asked the department what its understanding was about the purpose of the money before it was transferred to the Policing Board, and whether it was aware of any other instances of funds which have been wrongly allocated.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said that departments received funding in February “to off-set forecasted overspends which were reported in January”.

The spokesperson said the funding “also included an estimated amount for the increased cost of the 2023-24 pay awards which were not finalised at that time.

“Business areas were asked to report immediately if any easements or pressures were identified following these additional allocations.

“The NI Policing Board advised the Department of a potential underspend and the funding was reallocated within the Department to meet other identified pressures”.