Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of officers the Police Service of Northern Ireland needed to safely provide a police service for the people of Northern Ireland.

Policing is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and operational capability is a matter for the Chief Constable. The PSNI’s main budget is allocated by the Department of Justice from the Northern Ireland block grant.

The UK Government has provided the PSNI with the additional security funding it has asked for and needs to ensure that they have the resource (including officers) to tackle the SEVERE threat from Northern Ireland related terrorism. This additional security funding boosts PSNI’s ability to tackle the terrorist threat while ensuring day-to-day policing isn’t compromised.

PSNI received £230m in additional security funding in the last Parliament and £160m in this one. In addition, the UK Government has, to date, provided PSNI with over £16.5m in EU Exit funding to help manage pressures and contingencies arising from ongoing EU exit preparations. This has enabled PSNI to recruit 206 additional officers this financial year.