GWENT Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Jane Mudd faced criticism after being unable to provide basic information about Gwent Police’s staffing levels and finances during a specially convened Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) Public Services Committee meeting held on 28 October, it has been claimed.

When asked to confirm the number of police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) serving in Gwent, Mudd stated that operational details were a matter for the Chief Constable — despite such costs being covered by her own PCC budget.

The commissioner also appeared unable to recall details of income, costs, or recent overspend figures as at May 25 which were disclosed as recently as September during a meeting of the Police and Crime Panel.

A terse exchange followed with Llanbadoc and Usk councillor Tony Kear, who described the PCC’s grasp of key facts as “embarrassing.”

Chepstow Labour councillor Dale Rooke asked: “We pay in the range of 25 per cent more than any other county. Can you be confident we get a fair share, a slice of the cake, in resources because we don’t see any difference on the ground.”

She replied the chief constable has a difficult “balancing act” between visibility of officers on the street while also protecting the public from offences committed over the internet.

Cllr Rooke also highlighted Gwent Police said in October 2022, it would recruit 100 more police officers and asked what proportion of those would be “directed to Monmouthshire.”

Ms Mudd said she would ask Chief Constable Mark Hobrough to write to the committee with the answer on recruitment which she described as an operational policing matter but said she “takes assurance” he is committed to a “delivery model” with a “focus on neighbourhood policing”.

On the police precept, which is added to council tax bills, Ms Mudd said the figure is related to the council tax base across Gwent.

Ms Mudd said she didn’t see “any variation of service” provided across the five local authority areas and said just as residents all pay towards council services, but are unlikely to use all of the 500 to 800 services a council will typically provide, that doesn’t mean “they are not available to us”.

She described the police precept as “inextricably linked” to the council tax base figure and said: “We know the Welsh Government is looking at reforming council tax and we will have to look very closely to see how we do this going forward.”

The police precept for a typical band D home across Gwent for the current financial year is £377.31 but as Monmouhshire has a greater percentage of homes in the higher value bands, than the other Gwent authorities, more of its residents are paying charges ranging from £461.16 for band E homes and £545 in band G and above. The charge for the highest band I homes is £880.39.

Mudd, who also serves as a councillor for Malpas in Newport, holds the £73,000-per-year role as Gwent’s elected Police and Crime Commissioner.