Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of police officers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder; and what steps she is taking to support police officers with work-related mental health issues.

The Home Office collects and publishes information on the number of officers on long-term absence, recuperative duties and medical retirements. This information is published annually as part of Police Workforce in England and Wales statistics. However, figures specifically on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are not available in this data.

The Government has been clear about its commitment to support the mental and physical wellbeing of all police officers and staff and is working closely with police leaders to ensure this.

We have invested in programmes which offer help directly to officers and staff. This includes £7.5million to fund the development of the National Police Wellbeing Service, which was launched in 2019. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.

The Government has also accelerated work to introduce a Police Covenant, which will ensure our police get the support and protection they need. The Covenant will be enshrined in law, with provisions being brought forward later this session, and the Home Secretary will have a duty to report annually to Parliament on the work undertaken.

Our focus will be on health and wellbeing, physical protection and support for families. We are in no doubt that an area we must focus on is mental health support. We will continue to work closely with policing partners to ensure the Covenant has a lasting impact on both those who work, or have worked in policing.