Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the readiness of the West Midlands Combined Authority to assume policing governance responsibilities from the Police and Crime Commissioner; and what estimate she has made of the (a) costs of that transfer and (b) projected long-term annual savings from the merger.

The Government has committed in its English Devolution White Paper to transfer policing functions to Mayors of Strategic Authorities wherever boundaries of the mayoral and policing areas align, by default. Subject to Royal Assent to provisions in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, it is anticipated that the transfer of Police and Crime Commissioner functions to the Mayor of West Midlands would happen by May 2028; the end of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s term of office and at the next election for the Mayor.

There are no costs to the Home Office in transferring PCC functions to the Mayor of an existing Mayoral Combined Authority. As has previously been the case for transfer of policing functions to mayors, the cost of local implementation will be expected to be met locally.