Local government minister, John Healey, now has to decide whether or not to cap seven police authorities and Portsmouth City Council. The authorities have all now submitted their cases against being capped, and now must wait for the minister's decision. The MJ reported earlier this month (3 April) that Mr Healey had given them 21 days' notice to submit their cases before he would take a decision about capping. All the police authorities had set a precept rise of more than 5%, and Portsmouth City Council had agreed an increase of 5.04%. A spokesman for Portsmouth City Council, the only local authority facing the threat of capping, said it had submitted its case last week. Lincolnshire Police Authority chairman, Angela Crowe, said its case against capping ran to more than 3,000 pages. ‘Our financial recovery plan, submitted to the Government in June 2007, clearly sets out that it was impossible for us to remain within the cap of 5% which the Government announced last month,' said Cllr Crowe. A CLG spokesman said the decisions about whether the authorities would be capped were expected ‘in due course'.
