Asked by: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resources of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to maintain security and police terrorism.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is in regular contact with the Chief Constable and the Minister of Justice in Northern Ireland to ensure that we understand the impact of funding reductions imposed by the Northern Ireland Executive on the PSNI’s ability to police the terrorist threat. The Chief Constable has stated that he will need to re-prioritise resources to minimise the effect of these budget reductions. This matter is kept under constant review.
This Government has provided additional security funding of £231m to support PSNI in their efforts to tackle the threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism. This funding is not affected by the budget reductions imposed by the Northern Ireland Executive.