SURREY Police Authority has suspended its involvment in offering contracts potentially worth £1.5bn over seven years to private security firms to take on some police functions.

The decision was taken at a public meeting last Thursday, in part because potential candidates for the post of police and crime commissioner have been actively campaigning against the much-criticised privatisation move.

The authority's spend to date on the Business Partnering Programme is about £130,000.

Authority members questioned whether it would be right to continue to spend money on a programme that has an increasingly uncertain future.

For full story, see this week's Haslemere Herald.