Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has issued instructions to police authorities to build up financial reserves.

The Home Office does not mandate specific levels of police financial reserves as it is a matter for Police and Crime Commissioners to determine appropriate levels of reserves required to support their financial plans. As at March 2017 PCCs held usable resource reserves of over £1.6bn. This is public money and the public are entitled to more information around police plans for reserves and how those plans will support more effective policing. The Home Office has therefore published guidance to PCCs requiring them to publish their reserves strategies in plain English, with a clear justification for each reserve held. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-financial-reserves