Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what level of oversight her Department has of the governance and reform of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

The Government wants to see a strong staff association that provides a robust voice for police officers and represents their interests effectively.

There is a statutory duty on the Home Secretary to ensure that there shall continue to be a Police Federation for England and Wales for the purpose of representing members of the police forces in England and Wales, and special constables. I hold regular meetings with the Federation and consistently challenge the leadership to show how they are responding to the issues outlined in the Independent Review which reported last year, as well as how they are reforming to improve their operation and representation of members.

Recognising widely-reported concerns about the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), we expect to see clear plans and rapid, demonstrable improvement in the PFEW’s operation. As we said in our White Paper, in the absence of such improvements, this Government stands ready to bring forward reforms to ensure that the interests of rank-and-file officers are properly, effectively and robustly represented.