Threat to future of 101 police number

11:58am Thursday 1st November 2007

Comments (13)   Have your say »

HAMPSHIRE police say they are confident their controversial 101 non-emergency number will continue despite a Government warning that funding for the scheme is due to be slashed.

The county was one of the first places in the UK to get the 101 number, which was set up to tackle anti-social behaviour and ease pressure on the 999 service.

Since its launch in May last year tens of thousands of calls have been received by the service, to the extent that last November Hampshire was handed an additional £500,000 in Government funding to pay for extra staff to ensure calls are answered and dealt with.

However the Government has now warned those county's operating the 101 number to expect a reduction in cash because of severe financial pressures'.

Five Wave 1' pilots scheme of the number were originally set up in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Cardiff, Sheffield, Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, and Leicester and Rutland, and are widely regarded as successful.

Last night, for example, Hampshire received more than 670 calls to the number, although Halloween is typically one of the service's busiest days of the year.

But a scheduled expansion of the 101 project was suspended last October amid apparent cost fears.

A verdict on the future of the scheme is due imminently, but a report by South Wales Chief Constable Barbara Wilding disclosed that the Home Office has already told existing pilot areas to expect a cut in funding, which had been due to continue until at least 2010.

According to Ms Wilding's report, delivered to the South Wales Police Authority, a Government official said "severe financial pressures within the Home Office" were to blame for the rethink of the expansion.

Creating a national non-emergency phone number to take pressure off the 999 system and combat anti-social behaviour was a pledge in Labour's manifesto for the last general election.

However the Home Office has been accused of quietly' abandoning its manifesto pledge, after it emerged in June that administrative support for the project had been slashed.

The non-emergency number had originally been due to roll out nationwide by 2008, with total development and implementation costs expected to top £140 million.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Ministers are currently considering the future of the non-emergency number.

"The service is still live and is currently being assessed."

Today though a spokeswoman for Hampshire Constabulary said they were confident the scheme could keep running.

The spokeswoman added: "It's nothing new.

"It's always been clear that the funding for the scheme as it stands at the moment couldn't continue. However we are looking into ways of keeping the number running if funding is reduced."