Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 April 2025 to Question 44234 on Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners, what her planned timetable is for incorporating the policing powers of the Police and Crime Commissioners in (a) Suffolk and (b) Norfolk into the powers of the new combined authority mayor; and how this process will interact with the passage of (i) the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and (ii) associated secondary legislation.

The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill will provide a route to allow a single Mayor to be the Police and Crime Commissioner for two or more Police areas, provided that there are coterminous boundaries between the Strategic Authority and the Police areas when taken together. All future transfers of Police and Crime Commissioner functions will take place via powers in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill and will be subject to a confirmatory Statutory Instrument which will set out the date of transfer.

In Suffolk and Norfolk, we expect the Strategic Authority to be set up and inaugural Mayoral elections to be held in 2026 with the transfer of Police and Crime Commissioner functions for the start of the financial year in 2027.