Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to (a) attract, recruit and retain high-quality police officers and (b) offer such officers career development.

The Government?s reforms to policing are designed to create a more capable, flexible and professional workforce. Central to these reforms was the establishment of the College of Policing as the professional body for policing, charged with setting standards and further professionalising the police.

Recruitment to the police is managed within a national application, assessment and selection framework maintained by the College. Within this remit the College is delivering a number of major pieces of work including a review of initial police recruitment, proposals for a new police educational qualification framework and implementing the recommendations of its 2014 Leadership Review.

These reforms, along with innovative schemes such as Direct Entry and Police Now, focus on recognising and developing the skills of existing officers, as well as ensuring that policing can continue to attract the brightest and best new recruits.