Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of police officer numbers in England; and what steps she is taking to increase the police workforce.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
In England, there were 137,520 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers as at 30 September 2025. We are putting officers where the public expects to see them, back on the frontline keeping our communities safe. We are committed to delivering 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by 2029 and have already delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles.
In addition, as part of our measures to tackle antisemitism, we have announced funding for an additional 500 FTE personnel in areas where we need them most.
The next data publication covering the police workforce as at 31 March 2026 will be released on 22 July 2026.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to respond to the report by the Right Reverend James Jones The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, HC 511, published in January 2017; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The points of learning made by Bishop James Jones in his report span a number of departments and organisations and the Home Office is coordinating the Government’s overarching response to it.
Whilst the timing of the Government’s response has been impacted by the need to avoid risk of prejudice during the Hillsborough criminal proceedings, work has been underway within the relevant departments and organisations to carefully consider and address those points of learning directed at the Government.
As with all of the points of learning in the Bishop’s report, the Government will address the points of learning related to equality of arms at inquests and the duty of candour, as part of the full response.
The Home Secretary is committed to engaging with the Hillsborough families prior to publication of the Government’s full response in due course.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether she is taking steps to implement the recommendations of the report of the Right Reverend James Jones The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, HC 511, published in January 2017, on equality of arms at inquests and the statutory duty of candour; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The points of learning made by Bishop James Jones in his report span a number of departments and organisations and the Home Office is coordinating the Government’s overarching response to it.
Whilst the timing of the Government’s response has been impacted by the need to avoid risk of prejudice during the Hillsborough criminal proceedings, work has been underway within the relevant departments and organisations to carefully consider and address those points of learning directed at the Government.
As with all of the points of learning in the Bishop’s report, the Government will address the points of learning related to equality of arms at inquests and the duty of candour, as part of the full response.
The Home Secretary is committed to engaging with the Hillsborough families prior to publication of the Government’s full response in due course.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she will respond to the correspondence of 7 November and 22 November 2022 from the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
A response was sent by the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire on 30 November 2022.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to reinstate online accessibility to the Hillsborough archive following the ending of criminal trials; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Government has ensured public access to the online archive material concerning the Hillsborough Independent Panel and the Hillsborough Inquests which has been available via The National Archives website since January 2022. The archived websites are available on the following links:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/+/panel.hillsborough.independent.gov.uk/ ;
The Operation Resolve archive website has been accessible to the public since March 2022 and is available at the following link,
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20220308161046/http://operationresolve.co.uk/
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to publish a Government response to the report by Bishop James Jones entitled The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office is coordinating the Government’s overarching response to the Bishop’s report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families, and has been working closely with its partners in the relevant government departments and organisations to carefully consider all of the points of learning in it.
We are committed to responding to the Bishop's report as soon as practicable, and will engage with the families during the process.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to introduce the measures contained within the Public Authorities (Accountability) Bill 2017; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office is coordinating the Government’s overarching response to Bishop James Jones’ report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families, in which the Bishop asks that the Government give full consideration to the Public Authority (Accountability) Bill 2017.
The Government has been working closely with its partners in the relevant government departments and organisations to carefully consider all of the points of learning in it. The Government is committed to responding to the Bishop's report as soon as practicable, and will engage with the families during the process.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officer posts were lost from each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers in each Police Force Area (PFA) in England and Wales, as well as the number of officers that leave each year, in the annual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
The number of officers employed in each PFA as at 31 March of each year between 2010 and 2019 is available in open data tables here:
The number of officers that left in each financial year between 2009/10 and 2018/19 is available in open data tables here:
The Home Office does not hold data on the number of police officer posts lost, or data on how many police officer post vacancies. The size and composition of the police workforce is a local decision for Police and Crime Commissioners, working with chief officers.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officer post vacancies there have been in each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers in each Police Force Area (PFA) in England and Wales, as well as the number of officers that leave each year, in the annual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
The number of officers employed in each PFA as at 31 March of each year between 2010 and 2019 is available in open data tables here:
The number of officers that left in each financial year between 2009/10 and 2018/19 is available in open data tables here:
The Home Office does not hold data on the number of police officer posts lost, or data on how many police officer post vacancies. The size and composition of the police workforce is a local decision for Police and Crime Commissioners, working with chief officers.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers were employed in each police force area in England and Wales in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers in each Police Force Area (PFA) in England and Wales, as well as the number of officers that leave each year, in the annual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
The number of officers employed in each PFA as at 31 March of each year between 2010 and 2019 is available in open data tables here:
The number of officers that left in each financial year between 2009/10 and 2018/19 is available in open data tables here:
The Home Office does not hold data on the number of police officer posts lost, or data on how many police officer post vacancies. The size and composition of the police workforce is a local decision for Police and Crime Commissioners, working with chief officers.