Calum Miller
Main Page: Calum Miller (Liberal Democrat - Bicester and Woodstock)Department Debates - View all Calum Miller's debates with the Home Office
(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Sarah Jones
I thank my hon. Friend and join her in paying tribute to the Dorset PCC. There are PCCs who have worked really well across the party political divide, and we should pay tribute to them for their work and for how professional they have been. She raises a point about the police funding formula, which I know many Members are concerned about. As I said, the funding formula allocations will be announced before the end of the year, and we will also be announcing a major programme of reform.
Calum Miller (Bicester and Woodstock) (LD)
I thank the Minister for her statement. In 2021, Thames Valley police closed the front desks at Bicester and Kidlington in my constituency, removing a key means for local residents to report to local officers antisocial behaviour, vandalism, mobile phone theft and other crimes that blight and damage their lives. Does the Minister agree that the money saved from today’s announcement should be put towards reopening the front desks at Bicester, Kidlington and elsewhere?
Sarah Jones
It is for local police areas to decide how they use their funding. Our priority, to be frank, is to get our police officers out on to our streets to police our neighbourhoods and communities, which is why improving neighbourhood policing is a top priority for this Government. Of course, police stations provide an important function, and there needs to be provision for people who cannot get to the police by any other means, but our priority is to get our police on to our streets.