Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have made to the claim by the Chief Constable of Cumbria that the proposed changes in the funding formula for police forces mean that forces could be reduced to a "blue light" emergency response service, and that those changes could lead to the end of community policing in the county.

We are currently refining the proposed police funding model in light of responses to the public consultation and continue to engage with Police and Crime Commissioners and forces as part of this process. The model will not be finalised until we have considered further feedback from policing partners. Allocations for individual force areas have not been set and no decisions on funding will be made until the Spending Review reports in November.

The proposed model uses objective indicators to allocate funding according to relative need. We consider this approach to be a fairer and more transparent method of allocating limited resources in comparison to the current complex, opaque and out of date formula.

Decisions about the size and composition of the police workforce are an operational matter for chief officers, in line with the local priorities set by their Police and Crime Commissioner.