Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Neighbourhood Policing

Monday 15 January 2024 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Chris Elmore asked about the adequacy of neighbourhood policing levels and the impact of previous government cuts.
  • Chris Elmore questioned how to rectify the loss of 20,000 police officers and get more officers back on the frontline.
  • Alex Norris asked why the Government would not commit to adding 13,000 more police officers and PCSOs to the beat.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Chris Elmore Lab Bridgend
Policing & Resources
Context

The MP is concerned about the adequacy of neighbourhood policing levels due to government cuts and their impact on police forces across England and Wales.

Question

What recent assessment has his Department made of the adequacy of neighbourhood policing levels? The legacy of Government cuts has left police forces across England and Wales with a £3.2 billion cash shortfall, and 6,000 officers have been taken away from frontline policing duties in order to fill former police staff roles.

Answer from James Cleverly

Decisions on how a police force balances its important back-office roles and frontline policing roles are rightly decisions for chief constables. We have given additional resource and delivered on our commitment to recruit 20,947 additional police officers in England and Wales. Of course we are looking at police funding formulas to ensure that they remain well resourced.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked for acknowledgment of Tory cuts' impact and rectification measures specifically for frontline policing, but the answerer discussed resource deployment decisions generally without addressing these specific points directly.

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)

Q2 Chris Elmore Lab Bridgend
Policing & Resources
Context

The MP is concerned about the impact of Tory cuts on police forces, with a £3.2 billion cash shortfall and 6,000 officers being taken away from frontline duties to fill former staff roles.

Question

To this day we are feeling the devastating impact of the Tories' decision to cut 20,000 police officers. Can he acknowledge the effect of Tory cuts? How will he rectify that and get more frontline police back into our neighbourhoods across the United Kingdom?

Answer from James Cleverly

Decisions on how a police force balances its important back-office roles and frontline policing roles are rightly decisions for chief constables. We have given additional resource, and we have delivered on our commitment to recruit 20,947 additional police officers in England and Wales.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The MP asked about the effect of Tory cuts and rectification measures specifically for frontline policing, but the answerer discussed resource deployment decisions generally without addressing these specific points directly.

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)

Q3 Alex Norris Labour (Co-op) Nottingham North and Kimberley
Policing & Resources
Context

The MP is concerned about the impact of Tory cuts on police forces, with a £3.2 billion cash shortfall and 6,000 officers being taken away from frontline duties to fill former staff roles.

Question

To this day we are feeling the devastating impact of the Tories' decision to cut 20,000 police officers. Why will the Government not match our commitment to get 13,000 more police officers and police community support officers out on the beat?

Answer from James Cleverly

Unless Labour has a plan for paying for those figures, it is just empty rhetoric. There are record numbers of officers in police forces across the country, including Essex Police, which I visited this morning—it has never had more police officers than it has currently.

Not addressed: The MP asked about committing to 13,000 additional police and PCSOs, but the answerer questioned Labour's ability to fund these figures without addressing the specific commitment requested.

Was this summary accurate? Tell us

How accurate was this summary? (1 = poor, 5 = spot on)