Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of detectives in the police force.

I welcome the co-ordinated action that police forces, working with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, are taking to ensure all forces have adequate numbers of detectives required to investigate crime. It is clear that innovative solutions must be sought to support forces and this is why we have funded the development of the new Police Now Detective Scheme which aims to help bridge the gap in detective numbers.

In September 2018, the Home Secretary announced that he had approved proposals from the NPCC to introduce time-limited and targeted payments for ‘hard to fill’ roles, including detectives, following the recommendations of the Police Remuneration Review Body.