Local government minister, John Healey, has punished two police authorities for imposing ‘excessive' increases in council tax on local residents this year. Mr Healey has capped Surrey Police Authority's precept for 2009/10, requiring the authority to reduce the figure and arrange for residents to be re-billed. It is the first time Whitehall has taken such action twice against the same authority. Mr Healey has also told Derbyshire Police Authority it must ‘restrict its scope for council tax increases in future years'.
