Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Prime Minister's statement on 22 September that the enforcement of the COVID-19 restrictions will include “a greater police presence on our streets, and the option to draw on military support where required to free up the police” (HC Deb, col 798), whether police and army leave will be cancelled for the Christmas and new year period for this purpose.

Decisions on the deployment of officers and use of police resources is a matter for individual forces. However, we have been working alongside policing partners throughout this emergency to ensure they have the resources required to be able to effectively respond and enforce the COVID measures in place. This work continues and includes consideration of how we could free up more police officers in the future if it is needed. This includes considering the option of using military support to backfill certain non-public facing police roles.