Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they are taking, if any, to encourage police forces to recruit ex-servicemen and women.

The Government’s police reforms 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 locally, 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 and proposals for a new policing education qualification framework. This framework will introduce new entry routes for police officers, via a pre-join degree, for degree holders and through a degree level police constable apprenticeship which will become available later this year.

These reforms, along with innovative schemes such as direct entry, are ensuring that policing can continue to attract the brightest and best new recruits. The three direct entry schemes offer the opportunity to widen the talent pool from where we attract our police officers and will bring in people from a diverse range of backgrounds. The inspector and superintendent schemes are aimed at those who have the potential to reach the highest ranks in the police.