These accounts demonstrate the stewardship of the money by me and that of the Chief Constable.

“We received just under £110m in the year and the accounts show how it was spent, just £35,000 less than our grant.

“These accounts reflect a year where £11 million was incurred in dealing with the incident in Salisbury in March 2018, and that these costs have been fully recovered through a specific grant.

“The accounts also give details of our biggest asset, our staff.

“At 31 March, we had 28 more officers than what was budgeted for - but the precept settlement this year has allowed me to increase this number by a further 41 with some of these officers already under their initial 22 weeks training before being deployed as an officer under “tutorship”; currently 40 officers are scheduled to start training in October 2019 too.

“However, following the welcomed news from the Prime Minister last week about more officers for the UK, we are planning to increase our intake of more trainee bobbies both this year and next.

“The accounts show that our reserves have been reduced during the year; we have spent nearly £6 million on buildings and equipment but have continued to be an organisation which is debt free.

“HMICFRS report Wiltshire Police as GOOD in effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy and the auditors gave a “clean” opinion.

"But not withstanding this excellent news, I will continue to press government for a larger proportion of the central grant to be given to Wiltshire – we are underfunded as a Force and that needs to change.”