Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the training needs required to provide for 20,000 new police officers.

The Government has committed to increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years. The Home Office is working with the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council to ensure all forces are supported in the recruitment of new officers.

Since 2018, there are now three new entry routes to become a police officer: Apprenticeship, degree-holder entry and pre-join degree. These routes are accompanied by a new, improved training curriculum for recruits, including cyber-enabled crime, vulnerability and risk, well-being and resilience, criminology and crime prevention, as well as separate modules on leadership and teamworking.