The real-terms erosion of the PSNI’s budget for nearly a decade has put the service and officer numbers under immense strain. Northern Ireland Executive decision making—including the scale of health and education spending, reliance on successive one–year budgets, and periods of collapse—has also constrained the PSNI’s decision making and planning. Late changes to funding in-year have created uncertainty and highlighted the insufficiency of the baseline budget. (Conclusion, Paragraph 22)