Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new arrangements have been made in 2015, nationally, regionally, or locally, for police forces formally to share operational or support functions.

Chief Constables and PCCs are best placed to consider whether and how their forces’ operational or support functions should be shared. The number of collaborations continues to increase, with at least 4 new alliances involving 9 forces announced in 2015.

Regional Organised Crime Units, the National Crime Agency and local law enforcement continue to develop specialist capabilities to tackle a range of threats, including serious and organised crime, child sexual abuse and cyber crime. The Government supports the current review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners into where specialist policing capabilities best sit, and how they should be delivered, to provide a common basis for future collaboration decisions.

To continue to strengthen and improve mutual aid arrangements, the National Police Coordination Centre is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to develop consistent national standards.