Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister's statement of 24 July 2019, how many of the vacancies for additional police officers to be recruited by 2022 had been advertised before 23 July 2019.

The Government has committed to increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years. We are committed to giving police the re-sources, tools and powers they need to tackle the scourge of crime.

The Home Office does not hold figures for the number of police officer vacancies advertised prior to 23 July 2019.

Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) had previously announced plans to recruit 3000 additional officers in 2019/20. The recruitment of 20,000 offic-ers announced by the Government is in addition to these numbers already announced by PCCs.