Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) encourage and (b) support the recruitment of armed forces veterans into the police.

The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to effectively tackle crime. We are clear that visible policing is essential to restoring public confidence in the police.

We recognise that there are important opportunities for those leaving the military to join police forces. We value these people’s commitment to public service.

Following the introduction of the Police Constable Entry Programme military veterans have a range of options to join the police depending on the qualifications they may hold and the resettlement credits available to them.

Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and selection processes are run, are a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces.