Crime Reduction Programme
Basic Command Unit Found - Grant
Conditions 2003 – 2004 to 2005 - 2006
Introduction
The purpose of this document is to make explicit the
conditions of grant attached to the payment of funds for
the Basic Command Unit Fund.
The document should be read in conjunction with Home
Office Circular 12/ 2003 and addendum
which set out the criteria for the fund.
The grant conditions will cover each of the 43 Police
Forces in England and Wales.
Statutory Basis for Payment of Grant and
Accountability
The Secretary of State for the Home Department is
making this grant payment under the authority of Section
169 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
The grant is for the use of Basic Command Units for the
purposes described below.
The grant is being paid, in the first instance, to
the appropriate Police Authority. The grant will be paid
in 4 installments (April, June, October and January).
The appropriate Force Finance Director is responsible
for making the necessary arrangements for local
management controls and allocating the funding to Basic
Command Units.
Purposes and Uses of the Grant
The grant funding is for the purposes
of the BCU Fund as set out in Home
Office Circular 12/2003 and addendum.
The BCU fund is to provide funding to
promote partnership working and help deliver crime
reduction at the frontline that would not otherwise be
provided. The purpose of the funding is not to shore up,
or to replace, mainstream local funding.
No additional awards will be made to
cover the cost of Value Added Tax, but grant funding can
be used to cover the cost of irrecoverable Value Added
Tax.
If the Police Force or Basic Command
Unit fails to comply with any of the conditions set out
in this document, or commits any other breach of faith
such as misrepresentation or concealment of information,
the Secretary of State may require the repayment of all
or part of the grant monies paid, as may be determined
by the Secretary of State and notified in writing to the
local authority. Failure to resolve an adverse audit
report on the funds paid under this initiative may also
lead to notification of the need to repay all or part of
the grant. Such sum as has been notified shall
immediately become payable to the Secretary of State.
Any grant which is
unspent by 31 March 2006 will become repayable to the
Secretary of State.
Reporting Arrangements – Projects
and Outcomes
Reporting arrangements are set out in Home
Office Circular 12/ 2003 and addendum.
Home Office Directors, in the Regions and Wales, may
vary the reporting arrangements according to local
requirements.
The reports should provide an insight into the extent
of delivery of projects funded under this initiative and
whether the desired outcomes have been achieved.
Reporting Arrangements – Finance
Forces and Basic Command Units to which the award has
been made, must at all times be able to demonstrate to
the satisfaction of the Home Office that it has proper
financial and other controls in place. The grant is to
be identified separately within accounting systems to
facilitate a clear audit trail.
The BCU Fund should be spent as part of an overall
plan to deliver Partnerships’ strategies and should be
allocated in a strategic way rather than on a piece meal
basis. BCUs should use the funding effectively and in
the year for which it is allocated. Police Authorities
are able to make particular arrangements to carry over
funding from one financial year to the next in their
reserves. In the case of the BCU fund, Police
Authorities may carry over up to 5% of individual
BCUs’ allocations in reserves. If carry over exceeds
this amount then BCUs’ allocations may be adjusted by
a corresponding sum in the subsequent financial year.
But Police Authorities will not be paid any more than
the announced allocation in any one year, and for the
whole three years together. Any funds carried over from
one financial year to another should be clearly
identified.
The BCU Fund may be allocated to
current or capital spend.
Funding for Basic Command Units will
be externally audited. The Home Office will send out
audit forms in July 2004 covering BCU spend in the
financial year 2003 – 2004. The Force Finance Director
and external auditor will need to certify the figures
shown for expenditure. Any adverse audit report may lead
to payments being suspended until and unless the
identified problems are resolved. Failure to resolve may
result in a request for repayment of all or part of the
grant (see above).
All invoices, receipts, accounting
records and other documents relating to the expenditure
of the award must be retained for at least six years
after completion of the activity funded. These must be
made available at any reasonable time for inspection by
officials of the Home Office/ National Assembly for
Wales, as appropriate, including the Home Office Audit
and Assurance Unit, the National Audit Office or those
acting on their behalf, to ensure monies have been
properly spent. The Comptroller and Auditor General may
also investigate the economy, efficiency and
effectiveness with which the funds have been used.
Economy
The Police Forces and Basic Command Units to which
the award has been made must administer the grant funds
carefully and economically and avoid extravagance and
waste. They must also be able to demonstrate it has
obtained value for money in respect of any procurement
activities. Procurement should follow normal force
tendering procedures.
Any CCTV systems purchased with the grant funds will
need to be properly specified and planned, in accordance
with the CCTV
operational requirements provided on the Crime
Reduction Website.
Capital Assets
An inventory should be maintained of
capital assets purchased using grant funds.
Any capital asset costing more than
£1,000 purchased by the award must not be sold or
otherwise disposed of within 5 years of purchase without
the prior written consent of the Home Office, which may
also determine how any sale proceeds might be used. The
Home Office must also be informed if any capital asset
ceases to be used for the purpose for which it was
funded.
The prior written approval of the
Home Office is required before a mortgage or other
charge is raised on an asset funded by the grant.
Where the grant is used to purchase
capital assets they must be adequately stored
maintained, insured and available for inspection on
request.
Statutory Compliance
Police Forces and Basic Command
Units, to which the award has been paid, must ensure
that anyone acting on behalf of the organisation
complies with the law for the time being in force in the
United Kingdom.
Compliance includes the requirements
of: the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights
Act 1998. In particular, partnerships need to ensure
that anyone acting on its behalf does not commit any act
of discrimination that is unlawful under the Sex
Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, as
amended by the Race Relations Amendment Act 2001, or the
Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Information Sharing and Exchanges of
Good Practice
Any information, know how,
system or process arising from or relating to an
intervention funded wholly or partly from this award
(including examples of good practice in the design and
implementation of an intervention) shall be shared
freely with the Home Office, and other agencies with a
drug or crime reduction responsibility (except where
sharing information would compromise sensitive police
operations).
Each Police Force and Basic Command Unit to which an
award has been paid agrees, by accepting these terms and
conditions, that it does not regard such information,
know how, systems or processes to be of a confidential
nature. In particular, it agrees that the
parties described above may use such information,
know how, systems or processes for their own purposes.
Intellectual Property Rights
Any intellectual property right (including any
copyright) arising from or relating to an crime or drug
intervention project funded wholly or partly by this
award that is developed by any organisation to which the
award has been made will become the property of the
Crown as absolute beneficial owner, without any payment
being made to the Basic Command Unit or Police Force for
it.
Publicity
Any publicity material, press releases, crime
prevention material, handouts etc produced as part of
the project should include an acknowledgement that the
project had received funding from the Basic Command Unit
Fund, including use of the Home Office logo on, for
example, literature and vehicles.
Schedule of Payments
The
schedule of payments are set out at paragraphs 3 and 4
of the addendum to Home Office Circular 12/2003.
Acceptance of these Grant Conditions
Please confirm that these terms and conditions are
acceptable by signing a copy of this document.
The document should be signed by the
Chief Constable.
Home Office
20 March 2003
Date modified: 21 March 2003
Review date: March 2004
Originator: Home Office Crime Reduction
Partnerships & Programmes Unit
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