Matt Vickers
Main Page: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)Department Debates - View all Matt Vickers's debates with the Home Office
(3 days, 1 hour ago)
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Matt Vickers (Stockton West) (Con)
It has been an incredibly hard few months for Cleveland. Local people are not interested in point scoring, but they do want answers. Cleveland has the highest recorded crime rate in the country, yet the latest Home Office data reveals that it has 17 fewer police officers than it had a year ago. Can the Minister explain why?
Sarah Jones
The hon. Member knows of, and shares, our horror at what happened to the two Cleveland police officers recently—it was an honour to attend their funerals, which I know he did as well—and I will therefore not respond with a political point.
We have been talking regularly to both the chief constable and the police and crime commissioner in Cleveland. Following that incident, we agreed to give an extra £2 million to contribute to tackling serious and organised crime, and today we agreed to provide a further £3.2 million to meet the additional costs that have been incurred. We are also considering Cleveland’s application for exceptional funding. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will welcome that additional funding for Cleveland and will work with us to ensure that it has the resources it needs.