Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has plans to increase the number of police officers after the UK leaves the EU.

We reviewed the changing and increasingly complex demands on the police. We are proposing a funding settlement that will provide total funding of up to £14 billion for 2019-20 in England and Wales, an increase of up to £970m compared to 2018/19, including precept, pensions funding and national investment. Funding for the police in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter.

It is for Chief Constables in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commis-sioners as part of their forward planning to determine the amount of police officers they will require to help them deal with any emerging pressures.

The Government is already supporting the police sector to respond to pres-sures arising from the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. We have provided £2.4 million to the National Chiefs’ Police Council and have also paid £845k to Kent Police for their European Union Exit planning.

We are engaging closely with the police sector in relation to planning and funding pressures in relation to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.