Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his speech to the APCC and NPCC joint summit 2018, published on gov.uk on 31 October 2018, what meetings he has held with police leaders to seek to build a smarter and better police system which is more collaborative, more innovative, more tech-savvy and less fragmented.

The Home Office has engaged closely with policing over a number of years to support the transformation of policing and continues to do so. This takes place through a wide range of fora and engagements including the Police Reform and Transformation Board and the digital roundtables convened by the Minister of Policing and Fire in January and June 2018 to support transformation in the digital space.

In May, The Minister for Policing & the Fire Service wrote to police leaders setting out our commitment to work with the police ahead of the Spending Review. We have since launched a comprehensive programme of work covering a range of issues including efficiency, productivity and better use of digital technology.