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.

The Government has committed to increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years.

We are giving police forces £700 million this year to help with the recruitment of the first 6,000 additional officers by the end of March 2021.

Police recruitment remains a priority during the COVID-19 outbreak to ensure forces remain resilient during and following this national crisis. New online police assessment centres are being rolled out by the College of Policing and we have refreshed and relaunched our national recruitment campaign to ensure the door remains open for anyone who wants to join the police and make a difference in their community.