A £2 MILLION spending package is due to boost Lancashire Police staffing levels and resources in the next year.

The money has been found to allow Chief Constable Pauline Clare to improve the service offered by her officers, despite early fears that the county's police authority might have to make £500,000 of cuts to meet its budget requirements for 1997/98.

And it includes £1 million made available following a drastic trimming of the superintendent and chief inspector ranks as part of the force re-organisation.

The Government originally announced that Lancashire Police could spend a maximum of £168.25 million in the next financial year, despite the authority claiming it needed £168.75million for a "standstill" budget.

The authority's spending power has been improved by the announcement of £750,000 of extra cash to cover the cost of policing this October's Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool. And police bosses have also put together a package of spending cuts to make more money available.

The force is also expecting to recruit another 55 officers in 1997/98, thanks to a £1.06 million government grant for new recruits.

Now there is expected to be spending on administration and human resource managers for the force's six new divisions when they come into operation in April.

The force's major crime unit is also expected to get a new base and money will also be spent on new specialist equipment.

A package of one-off spending for the next year is expected to include a programme to provide officers with protective clothing and the introduction of new uniforms, featuring new blousons and lightweight, washable trousers, in April.

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