Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of changes in the level of police funding on the number of (a) arrests and (b) convictions for offences related to animal cruelty in England and Wales; and if she will make a statement.

The Home Office have announced a provisional police funding settlement of up to £15.8 billion for 2021/22. This is a total increase of up to £636 million for the policing system which will enable police to cut crime and tackle offences including relating to animal cruelty.

For the latest data on prosecutions and conviction relating to animal cruelty, please see Parliamentary Question answer 138105, tabled on 14 January 2021.