Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effect of the reduction in neighbourhood policing on the police’s ability to counter violent crime in Liverpool, Walton constituency; and if she will make a statement.

It is for operationally independent Chief Constables to decide how to best deploy officers in their force area to effectively counter violent crime. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are elected by the public to hold Chief Constables and the force to account; making the police answerable to the communities they serve.

The PCC for Merseyside has chosen to use precept flexibility to increase the force’s direct funding by around £5.2m in 2018/19. She has set out her intention to use this funding to protect front line policing and enhance the force’s armed capability to help combat serious violence.