Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any funding requests have been received by police forces in the last 12 months relating to the search for missing children; how much such funding has been made available; and which police forces have received such funding.

The Home Office has provided £150,000 in Special Grant funding to the Metropolitan Police Service for Operation Grange for 2018/19. A further application from the Metropolitan Police Service has been received and is under consideration. No further requests have been received relating to the search for missing children.

The Home Office has received several requests for Special Grant funding relating to investigations into child sexual exploitation. For 2018/19, the Home Office has agreed to provide up to £1.9 million to Norfolk Police for Operation Hydrant, £995,000 to North Wales Police for Operation Pallial, £11.4 million to South Yorkshire Police for Operation Stovewood and £3.3 million to Cleveland Police for Operation Pandect.

Information on 2017/18 Special Grant applications has been published and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-funding-special-grant-applications.