Roberta Blackman-Woods
Main Page: Roberta Blackman-Woods (Labour - City of Durham)Department Debates - View all Roberta Blackman-Woods's debates with the Home Office
(9 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)
18. What discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on changes to police budgets in the next comprehensive spending review.
The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Mike Penning)
The Home Secretary and the Chancellor meet regularly to discuss budget matters. No decisions have been made about police budgets after March 2016.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
Does the Minister agree that many forces, including Durham police, will be unable to cope with large budget cuts—especially at a time when they must manage an historic level of demand as well as dealing with increasing challenges such as child exploitation and cybercrime—without cutting police numbers, which our police and crime commissioner, Ron Hogg, says is absolutely inevitable?
Mike Penning
No, I do not accept that. What I do accept is that where cuts have taken place, crime has fallen. Let us consider the area that the hon. Lady represents. I quote:
“Despite these difficult times, I am very proud to report that County Durham and Darlington remain among the safest places in the country to live…This performance puts us in an excellent starting position for the period of continued austerity.”
I believe that is from County Durham’s Labour police and crime commissioner, Ron Hogg.