Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of police officers on long term sick leave.

Supporting the mental and physical health of our police officers is a priority for this Government. Through the Police Covenant we are delivering meaningful changes that will support all who work in policing.

We continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service, which provides evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources to support forces and individual officers. This includes the Workforce Prioritisation Guidance, which helps chief officers decide on how best to support their officers and staff.

The Chief Medical Officer for Policing has created a consensus on Occupational Health standards, driving further work to improve occupational health provision across policing.