MG - Can you remind me what the actual figure was that all forces spent on air support prior to NPAS? And can you also remind me how much NPAS said they would save per year when all forces joined? Also how many air assets were available to the police services in England and Wales before NPAS and now? I genuinely can't remember, the years are catching up with me.
Max, all my figures are based on the 36 Forces that were part of NPAS back in 2014. I asked them what was their total budget for Air Support for the last Financial Year prior to them joining NPAS. The total for those 36 Forces was £36.1M
At the time, there were(I think) 31 helicopters, with the Met operating 3 and Thames Valley 2(from different bases). I think there are now 15 bases with 18 aircraft(the Met still have 3). I heard at a social gathering(AKA as a retirement piss-up)the other night, that there is an "eight base" model and also talk of "super bases" with more than one aircraft.
NPAS were saying that they would be saving upto £15M a year here:
Benefits of NPAS | NPAS
Well, the "upto" bit is right.