Back in July 2013, Coconutty asked:
It think it will be VERY interesting to find out, once everyone has joined NPAS,
by way of Freedom of Interest Requests, just how much each force is paying for NPAS,
and for how many hours cover, and compare this with what was being paid and the hours flown pre-NPAS
I published costs for the North West earlier in the year. Here's the full hit. Savings? What savings! Well more or less.
I asked each Force, under the FOI act, what was their total budget for Air Support in the last full financial year before they joined NPAS, and what was their total contribution to NPAS for Air Support for this current financial year.
For the likes of Cambridgeshire and Hampshire, I asked them for their budget for the last financial year before they closed their ASUs.
As it’s a spreadsheet and I took the post NPAS payment from the pre NPAS payment, savings are in green, and overspends are in red(well, more pink really). So, we seem to have a total nationwide saving of £3.6 million. A long, long way from the advertised £15 million.
Most Forces replied well within the 20 working days, a couple needed a gentle reminder, but after 3 months Sussex still can’t tell me what they were paying prior to joining NPAS, so I guess they have no idea whether they are getting a good deal or not. For that reason I’ve put them as paying the same.
Some Forces appear to have made large savings, with North Wales coming out best by saving £737,560. How on earth are they managing to get by without all that extra cash? However, Devon and Cornwall are paying an extra £293,390 for 150 less hours.
Of all the Forces asked only Merseyside couldn’t tell me how much they were paying NPAS. They said that they didn’t hold the information for cost or hours. So, they have no idea what they are getting, or how much they are paying for it! Perhaps this apparent lack of interest explains why they were happy for their ASU to be shut down without making a fuss like S Yorks did. I had to get their current budget from W Yorks/NPAS.
West Mercia told me that their pre NPAS cost of £564,000 didn’t include the costs of the bobbies. On a further request they said that the cost for them was £1,668,204. That would put their budget over £2M, but is not reflected in the post NPAS costs. Nor is it reflected in the budgets of other Units.
West Midlands also said that they receive £310,000 a year from NPAS for the transfer of their aircraft to NPAS. So, can we assume that the other Forces who still have their own aicraft are also receiving similar payments? If so, surely that is going to reduce the meagre savings even further?
