Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the British Transport Police Authority on increasing police officer numbers to pre-2024 levels.

The Department works closely with the British Transport Police Authority on the funding and oversight of the British Transport Police. However, the British Transport Police are operationally independent of government, including in decisions on staffing and the deployment of officers.

The Authority has agreed a three-year budget settlement that will increase the Force’s budget by £63 million, from £419 million in 2025/26 to £482 million by 2028/29. This will enable the recruitment of more than 200 additional police officers which will take full-time equivalent police officer numbers to 3228 by 2027/28 compared with 3084 at the end of 2023/24.