Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of police officers recruited in (a) Wakefield and (b) West Yorkshire.

We are increasing the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000 by the end of March 2023.

West Yorkshire Police was allocated 256 additional officers in the first year of the police uplift which covers the period to the end of March 2021. In 2020/21 the force received funding of £485m. As at 31 December 2020, West Yorkshire Police had recruited 390 additional officers.

As announced in the Police Settlement 2021/22, West Yorkshire Police has been allocated 251 additional officers for year two of the Police Uplift Programme. West Yorkshire Police will receive funding of up to £512.3m in 2021/22, an increase of up to £27.3m since 2020/21.

The deployment of these officers is an operational decision for the Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police.