The cost of policing football matches: tenth report of session 2008-09 report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence

House of Commons papers 676 2008-09

Corporate Author:

Great Britain Parliament House of Commons Home Affairs Committee

Author:

Keith Vaz (chairman)

Publisher:

TSO (The Stationery Office)

A report (HCP 676, session 2008-09, ISBN 9780215540126) from the Home Affairs Committee says Football Clubs should continue to pay for all policing on their "footprint". However, where it can be shown - using evidence which is shared with the clubs - that the police are incurring costs beyond the club's footprint, this should also be met by the club. The Committee says while it is unacceptable for local communities to in effect subsidise the clubs it also criticises the methods by which the costs are calculated. The Committee called for more openness in the relationship between the clubs and the police and says it is unacceptable that the cost can apparently be decided by one individual police officer without consultation with the clubs. Clubs should also have a greater input into the deployment of officers. The Committee says that if a suitable nationwide "formula" cannot be agreed on by the clubs and police for covering these costs the Home Office should consider providing legal clarification, and if necessary legislate on the issue. The Committee expressed concern that the police had not recognised how much investment clubs have put into safety and do not seem to provide a proportionate deployment to the perceived threat, particularly at lower league grounds. The Committee says it doubts the necessity of deploying up to 150 police officers on top of the hundreds of stewards at an event when there are only an average of 1.2 arrests at a match. It suggests that the police review their arrangements for policing football matches and adopt standardised rules governing their deployment. The Committee further says that the current insolvency rules for football clubs going into administration are understandable and should not be altered as a whole, but more protection should be put in place to cover money owed to police forces when a club goes into administration, saying that a mismanaged club should not leave the community as a whole short-changed. It suggested that the Football League consider taking action to prevent any potential shortfall.

Extent	[2], 13, Ev 22p.	ISBN	9780215540126
Size	N/A	Price	£10.00
Binding	Paperback	Published	19 Jul 2009
Availability	Colour copy: 3 - 5 days	Delivery	Delivery options and charges

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