Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people employed by the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner's Office; and if she will make an assessment of how that figure compares to Commissioners' offices responsible for a similar geographical area.

PCCs are responsible for the totality of policing within their force area. This includes delivering an effective and efficient police service to meet the priorities of the local community. As the locally elected representative for policing, it is for PCCs, working with their Chief Constable, to set their priorities for policing in their area and hold their Chief Constable to account for their performance.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are funded by the Government for their functions and this is distributed based on the relative needs of the police force they oversee. As a locally elected and democratically accountable individual, it is up to them to decide how to balance their expenditure on delivery of their policing and crime priorities, including the size and composition of the Office of the PCC.

Ultimately, PCCs are directly elected by the communities they serve, and it is the public that can hold their PCC to account for their decisions and actions at the ballot box.