Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect of the reduction in police officer numbers of approximately 21,000 since September 2009 on the police's ability to (a) protect the public, (b) prevent crime and (c) investigate crime; and if he will make a statement.

We recognise that the police are dealing with genuine increases in demand and that it is important to ensure that they have the resources and tools that they need. After I spoke to every police force in England and Wales about the challenges they face, we enabled Police and Crime Commissioners to increase their direct funding by £280m through greater flexibility to raise precept. Most PCCs have set out plans to use this additional income to protect or enhance front line policing.

We are also supporting forces to increase their productivity through better use of digital technology because we know that if all forces can match the performance of the best, it would save every officer an hour a day that they can spend on the front line. This is the equivalent of 11,000 extra officers a year on the streets.