CHESHIRE Constabulary has saved almost £1.5 million over the last three years through effective procurement.

This significant saving has been achieved through purchasing essential items - such as uniforms and vehicles - collectively with other forces or public bodies.

Savings made since 2015 include £240,000 saved on the purchase of Microsoft Surface 3 tablets, £100,000 for forensics and £61,000 for the purchase of a remotely operated vehicle.

David Keane, police and crime commissioner for Cheshire, said: "I'm pleased that in Cheshire we've been able to save the taxpayer a significant amount of money on equipment costs through effective procurement.

"When selecting kit and equipment, the constabulary always seeks to achieve value for money but also ensures that quality of the product and health and safety requirements are also taken into consideration to ensure officers are equipped with high quality kit to carry out their duties."

As part of plans to deliver policing within smaller budgets, the commissioner has indicated that further work will be carried out to ensure all contracts are providing the best value.

He added: "Cheshire Constabulary has faced a 37 per cent real term cut in funding since 2010.

"With police funding expected to be slashed even further by Central Government in future years, we will continue to work hard to find further efficiencies to ensure the taxpayer is getting value for money and to enable us to invest even more of our limited resources into frontline policing to keep the people of Cheshire safe."

The figures have been published through the Home Office's 'basket of goods' data set which revealed that, collectively, police forces across England and Wales have saved £273 million in equipment costs since 2015, with some reducing costs by up to 63 per cent per item.

The data set allows the public to compare what each police force spends on common items to ensure best value for money.

Most of the national savings from this year's figures result from the Collaborative Law Enforcement Programme (CLEP), led by police forces, identifying opportunities for collaboration.

Association of police and crime commissioners' lead for business enablers and chair of the national commercial board, Jason Ablewhite PCC, added: "I very much welcome the work of police and crime commissioners, forces and others to deliver significant savings from more effective procurement.

"The public rightly expect policing to be as efficient as possible and through the National Commercial Board, which oversees the work of the CLEP programme, we will be looking at the options for a future commercial operating model to ensure greater coordination of commercial activity at a regional and national level."