Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to assess the request from the Metropolitan Police Service for further funding for Operation Grange until March 2020.

The Home Office has awarded £11.75 million to cover the costs of Operation Grange up until March 2019. A request for further funding until the end of March 2020 has been received, the costs of which will be assessed against the Special Grant Award criteria. (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-funding-special-grant-guidance/special-grant-guidance). A decision will be made in October.

The Home Office has previously provided £1.1 million of Special Grant funding to South Yorkshire Police to meet the additional costs of the investigation into the disappearance of Ben Needham. We do not hold information on spending on other missing children investigations as these are funded locally by police forces.