The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Jon Boutcher, has welcomed a House of Commons report examining Policing and Security in Northern Ireland.

The publication follows both written and oral evidence delivered to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee by the Chief Constable and Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck. As part of the evidence-gathering process, committee members also observed neighbourhood policing teams in action and attended a Team PSNI workplace event.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said: "As we approach the 25th anniversary of the PSNI, I believe this inquiry is an incredibly welcome report from a respected committee that provides yet another opportunity to take stock of the perilous financial situation the PSNI has been placed in. Everyone in Northern Ireland and indeed beyond our borders should be concerned about the way police funding in Northern Ireland has failed to keep pace with other public services. This is a report that was to highlight how far the Police Service of Northern Ireland has come in 25 years, and examine the work that still needs to be done. It is dominated by the lack of financial support for policing and this cannot continue. The dire financial situation which PSNI continues to face is widely recognised and acknowledged in numerous reports such as this. There has to be a watershed moment and I hope this report proves to be that moment. We need decisive action to ensure there is a plan to properly finance the PSNI for the longer term.

"I am enormously grateful that the committee recognises, and has taken this opportunity to highlight, our critically dangerous budgetary pressures and the impact of this unacceptably low funding has had on our officers and ultimately upon our service delivery. It is our outstanding workforce that has kept the ship afloat but this cannot be expected to continue.

"Despite some recent welcome indications of political funding support the PSNI remains structurally underfunded and in a precarious and unworkable financial situation. Two months into the new financial year we still don't have an agreed budget and are staring down the barrel of projected shortfalls of roughly £57m, £92m and £149m over the next three years.

"I must particularly make comment about the absolute lack of any recognition for the enduring and increasing legacy costs placed upon the PSNI. Legacy alone costs policing £24million each year and that is merely to sustain legal cases and the ongoing demands of various inquiries.

"There has been no proper planning or forecasting of legacy costs on the PSNI. Indeed the opposite is the case; when I suggest such discussions about legacy funding I get pushed from pillar to post with no political responsibility being taken to support the organisation in dealing with these increasing costs. This not only impacts directly on the trust and confidence in the PSNI but is a continuing theme of victims being let down. "Legacy costs have to be paid from our core/everyday policing budget that is provided for Neighbourhood officers needed to tackle anti-social behaviour and keeping communities safe, for those Response officers who come to people's aid when immediate help is needed from 999 calls, and for detectives to deal with violence against women and girls, and those criminal gangs who threaten and exploit the vulnerable in our society including our children. Money that should be spent on policing today is being spent on the past. This has to stop. We cannot continue to provide money for legacy, when it should be spent on policing and keeping Northern Ireland safe today.

"I am, of course, especially aware of the responsibility policing has towards the victims of legacy. We cannot continue to fail them because we are not funded to deal with these issues.

"I am very concerned about the Government's one dimensional approach to the Legacy Commission, as the be all and end all of legacy. Without the PSNI being funded to service the demands of this expanding legacy body, the entire project will fail.

"The requirements of the proposed Schedule 4 of the Troubles Bill are entirely unworkable. It is not for the PSNI to categorise documents from a security perspective or determine if those documents are prejudicial.

"All of the legacy records the PSNI hold should be directly accessible to the Legacy Commission in an unfettered and uninterrupted way. The direction of travel will cause the entire process to collapse. A programme of work should be funded to digitise these records and for their direct access to be facilitated to the Commission. It is not for the PSNI to work out what each document represents. Such an approach would galvanise trust and confidence of victims and reduce the huge and unworkable demands the draft Bill places on the PSNI.

"As for recruitment challenges, we are working to build a Police Service which is representative of all communities in Northern Ireland.

"Moving through this anniversary year, we must have a debate about barriers to joining policing and explore how to collectively increase the number of applicants from all of those groups currently under represented in the PSNI. We in the PSNI need to do more, I have readily acknowledged that, and we are introducing various measures to seek to attract more recruit applications from across all communities.

"Many people will have watched Peelers – The PSNI for Real, and that is just one example of showing the real people behind the uniform. We hope the next series will be released later this year and will be a recruiting tool along with other activities to attract people from across communities to join this brilliant organisation. But we cannot do this alone. This is going to require community and political support and leadership. The Patten report, which remains the template for today's policing model, makes clear that we all share a responsibility to do this.

"Policing is a difficult and dangerous job, made more so by the ever present threat of violence from a small number of dissident republican cowards who have yet to realise that Northern Ireland has moved on and left them in the past. They should think of the next generations not of themselves.

"Partnership working is an imperative element in our pursuit to tackle this kind of criminality, which we know still creates fear in local communities. This will not be tolerated and we will continue to ensure that robust enforcement is at the forefront of our approach to dealing with paramilitaries.

"I thank the committee for its examination of the remarkable transformation of policing in Northern Ireland and we will look closely at the recommendations made within this report to build, in partnership, on our progress.

"This organisation will seek to continually improve and put things right that we get wrong, but we need the funding for officers and capital investment for technology to provide the policing that people deserve. Please let this report be the turning point that causes PSNI funding to be addressed."