Brown publishes NI policing plans

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has published budget proposals for the devolution of policing and justice.

The move comes after he met the Northern Ireland first and deputy first minister in Downing Street on Tuesday.

The prime minister told the Commons on Wednesday that "our aim is a peaceful, more secure and more prosperous Northern Ireland".

He said he had written to the party leaders outlining the budget, believed to be in the region of £800m-1bn.

Mr Brown said he had made arrangements for the cost of dealing with security emergencies in Northern Ireland to be met from Treasury reserves.

There had been concerns at Stormont that future security problems could have swallowed up devolved budgets for services such as education, housing and health.

The First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have met Conservative leader David Cameron to discuss the proposals.

Mr Robinson has been anxious to ensure that any future Conservative government honours the deal agreed with Mr Brown.

Package proposals

The complex package contains a range of proposals.

• The Northern Ireland Executive would, in any one year, have to meet the first £12m of compensation claims by police officers suffering from hearing loss.

Anything above that would be met by the Treasury. To help the Executive meet the £12m a year bill the Treasury would buy Executive assets worth up to £12m a year, for five years, or £60m in total.

PRIME MINISTER'S LETTER Read Gordon Brown's letter in full

• Another of the proposals is that the Executive would get four former military bases.

This would be on the understanding that three of them are sold off. The fourth, Lisanelly in Omagh, has already been earmarked for an educational campus.

• An extra £20m a year for the legal aid budget will be made available through to the end of 2012/13.

After that an additional £14m a year would be available, thought it is not yet clear for how long this extra funding would continue.

On top of that, there would be a one-off sum of £12m to meet legal aid pressures over the next two years, though if pressures turn out to be higher then up to £39m would be available.

• Changes to financial rules would help address £101m pressure facing police pensions.

• Money would be made available to complete the construction of a new police training college.

The Northern Ireland Secretary will also meet the region's Chief Constable for talks under the plan to ensure frontline policing is protected.

The Northern Ireland Policing Board is expected to hold a meeting later in the week to discuss the detail of the letter.

The Northern Ireland parties will now discuss the details of the financial blueprint.

Sinn Fein and the DUP have been arguing over when powers should be devolved.

Sinn Fein has already approved the deal and says devolution should have happened already.

While the DUP have said the unionist community must have confidence in any proposed arrangements before devolution happens.

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