Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has had discussions with the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland on policing budgets.

Policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland Executive block grant. The budget set out in the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 27 April gives the Department of Justice a total allocation of £1.2 billion and is now being put on a statutory footing with the introduction of the Northern Ireland Budget (No.2) Bill on 29 June. We have provided the Department of Justice with the third largest budget allocation after Health and Education.

It is now for the Department of Justice to determine the allocation of funding to the PSNI from their budget allocation for 2023-24. It is an operational matter for the Chief Constable to determine how to deploy the funding allocated to the PSNI, in consultation with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, to deliver the best outcomes possible.

Recognising the unique security situation in Northern Ireland, the UK Government makes additional contributions to PSNI through Additional Security Funding. The contribution for the financial year 2023-24 will be £31.2 million.

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is in regular contact with the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland regarding a variety of matters. The UK Government fully supports the excellent work that the PSNI undertakes to keep people in Northern Ireland safe, often in exceptionally challenging circumstances.