Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government has made on the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers by 2023.

We are increasing the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000, by March 2023. I am pleased to say excellent progress is being made in delivering against this target. As a result of their hard work and commitment police forces in England and Wales have recruited 11,053 additional officers, as at 30 September 2021. This is 55% of the 20,000 officer target.

We are also attracting a broad range of people into policing from all communities and backgrounds, including more women. I’m pleased to see that forces are seizing the opportunity of the uplift to make forces more representative of their communities.

Published data Police Officer uplift statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) show that as at 30 September 2021 there were 47,425 female officers (headcount) in total, representing 33.9% of officers in England and Wales. This is the highest number of female officers than ever before. Since April 2020, more than four in ten new recruits (42%) were female, an increase on 37% the year before.

The next set of quarterly statistics, showing progress to 31 December 2021,will be published on Wednesday 26 January 2022.