Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the number of police forces.

This Government is committed to addressing the strategic challenges policing faces. We specifically recognise the problems around fragmentation and resultant inefficiencies across the 43 police forces, which many police system leaders have highlighted.

The policing system must be equipped to serve the public effectively and to make efficient use of its funding and resources. This is why the Home Office will publish a White Paper on police reform later this year. It will include a comprehensive package of reforms to policing in England and Wales that will drive quality, consistency and efficiency.