Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average level of funding for Bedfordshire Police was on a per-officer basis in each of the last three years.

Core funding for police forces is set out at the annual Police Settlement. The main sources of PCC funding are the local council police precept and government grants, which are distributed on a funding formula basis.

Local resourcing decisions are the responsibility of Chief Constables and locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), including Mayors who exercise PCC or equivalent functions, to take decisions around their resourcing and estates. They are best placed to make decisions with their communities based on their local knowledge and experience, reflecting the operational independence of forces.

Bedfordshire Police funding will be up to £143.4 million in 2023/24, an increase of up to £15.2 million when compared to 2022/23. This is a continued increase in funding from the previous two financial years from £137.3 million in 2022/23 and £129.2 million in 2021/22.

Bedfordshire will also receive additional funding committed by the Home Office for the 2023-24 Pay Award of up to c£2.9 million for 2023-24.

During the Police Uplift Programme, the number of officers in Bedfordshire Police has increased from 1,351 in March 2021, to 1,411 in March 2022 and stood at 1,455 the end of March 2023.