Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police dogs that retired from service in 2021 (a) remained in the care of their handlers and (b) were rehomed.
Information on police dogs is not held by the Home Office. Decisions on the number, make up and deployment of police dogs are made on a force by force basis and are a matter for Chief Constables, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners.
Similarly, decisions on the retirement and re-homing of police dogs are made locally by the Chief Constable after having carefully considered the specific circumstances of each case. Each force has its own system in place to manage this, which may include charitable organisations and volunteers.