Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the number of people applying for positions as Chief Constables; whether the number of such applications has reduced since the introduction of Police & Crime Commissioners; and if she will make a statement.

Police and Crime Commissioners are responsible for recruiting and appointing chief constables. Information is not collected centrally by the Home Office on the number of people applying for chief constable roles.

All potential opportunities in policing should be open to the widest pool of capable candidates. Suitably qualified officers from overseas have been eligible for chief constable posts since the introduction of the Anti Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

The College of Policing is working to broaden the candidate pool from where chief officers can be drawn. This includes proposals for the setting up of a national hub to help develop and select police leaders.