Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when and by which ministerial department the decision was taken to cancel the transfer of police custody healthcare services to the NHS; when that decision was announced; and what were the reasons for that change of policy.

My rt hon Friend the Home Secretary has decided that a reallocation from the overall police settlement in respect of custody healthcare costs would not be appropriate at this time. This decision was communicated to Police and Crime Commissioners on 17 December 2015 in correspondence on the provisional police funding settlement. Police and Crime Commissioners will therefore retain responsibility for commissioning such services, and have flexibility to prioritise resource towards police custody healthcare, based on local needs.

In most areas police forces and NHS Commissioners have already developed close effective partnerships in respect of custody healthcare provision and we expect that they will continue to build on these.