Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why Gwent Police Officers are policing anti-fracking protests at Preston New Road in Lancashire; and who is paying the salaries of those officers while they are in England.

The role of the police in managing demonstrations is to preserve the peace, to uphold the law and to prevent the commission of offences. Police tactics and decisions on how to achieve these objectives, and the resources required, are matters for the independent operational judgement of chief officers.

If the required resources exceed a police force’s own capacity, mutual aid assistance may be requested from other forces. The decision to seek and assist with mutual aid deployments are operational decisions for the police and the cost of the officers provided are met by the requesting police force.