The number of full time equivalent police officers employed in traffic policing roles as at 31 March in each of the last 5 years is provided in the tables. Officers with multiple responsibilities are recorded under their primary function or role. Data for 31 March 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available) can also be found in the supplementary tables of the July 2015 police workforce statistics publication:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444537/police-workforce-supptabs-mar15.ods

Reclassification of roles within a force can lead to fluctuations in the number of officers in a particular role.

As HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.

Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

Resourcing is an operational matter for individual Chief Constables. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement to empower police forces to maximise specialist skills and expertise to prevent offending and resolve cases. This means that police forces must have in place the capabilities they need to protect children from sexual abuse.

In 2015/16 the Government provided an additional £10 million to the National Crime Agency to create specialist teams to tackle online child sexual exploitation. We have also made available £1.7 million to fund Operation Hydrant, which coordinates the handling of multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and up to £1.5 million to support regional coordinators and analysts to oversee the implementation of the National Policing Plan for tackling child sexual exploitation.

The Home Office continues to work closely with police forces to ensure that we are best placed to tackle the threat posed by cyber crime.

Through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP), we invested over £90 million during the last Parliament to bolster the law enforcement response.

As the Chancellor announced in November, this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime.

The Home Office is also supporting the work led by Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, the National Policing Lead for Digital Investigation and Intelligence (DII), to build capabilities to combat the full range of digital crime types. In addition we are providing funding through the Police Transformation Fund to support police led programmes to provide a step-change in digital capability.

The information requested is not collected centrally. The issuance of Harassment Warning Notices, also known as Police Information Notices (PINs), is an operational matter for Chief Constables. Responsibility for the publication of information relating to PINs rests with Chief Constables.

As part of a criminal investigation, police can also conduct a parallel confiscation investigation using the powers in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. The purpose of a confiscation investigation is to obtain a confiscation order following the offender’s conviction. As part of that process, and in order to preserve assets for confiscation, a restraint order can be obtained at any point during the criminal investigation or proceeding to effectively freeze those assets. The powers provided by Part 8 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 for a confiscation investigation are a production order, a search and seizure warrant, a disclosure order, a customer information order and an account monitoring order. A disclosure order effectively empowers an investigator to demand information and evidence, including by way of an interview. A customer information order requires any financial institution to provide information they possess on an individual or business including details of any customer due diligence information.

Any police officer must be able to discharge their duties within the law and is expected to abide by the oath of constable. The Standards of Professional Behaviour, set out in Schedule 2 to the Police (Conduct) Regulations (2012), require police officers to be ‘honest, act with integrity and . . . not compromise or abuse their position’. Police officers must be able to do so, irrespective of membership of any external membership organisations.

The College of Policing introduced a Code of Ethics in July 2014 which applies to all police officers and staff in England and Wales and sets out clear principles and standards of behaviour expected of them. It is for individual forces to determine whether an individual officer’s behaviour or misconduct meets the standards that are set out and where they are not, to investigate and instigate disciplinary proceedings where appropriate.

Following the Chapman Review in 2014, the Government is continuing its programme of reforms to improve police integrity and the police discipline system, including through the Policing and Crime Bill which is currently before parliament to improve the system and its ability to hold officers to account for their actions and behaviour.

In the case of judges it is also essential to the rule of law that they are independent and impartial when exercising their judicial functions. All judicial office holders should recuse themselves in any case where bias or the appearance of bias arises and are counselled against engaging in any activity which might undermine or be reasonably thought to undermine their judicial independence or impartiality. These commitments are enshrined in the judicial oath.

Currently, volunteers already have all the powers of a police constable as a Special Constable and have done so for over a century.

Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Bill will enable chief officers to designate police staff with a wider range of police powers. They will also be able to confer police powers – other than the core powers reserved for warranted officers set out in Schedule 9 to the Bill – on volunteers. The intention is that the powers that can be conferred on employed staff and designated volunteers are the same. This includes the power to carry and use defensive sprays, such as CS or PAVA, in situations where the chief officer considers there to be an operational case for this. It is already the case that chief officers can equip police community support officers with defensive sprays; accordingly, the Bill simply codifies the existing position for staff. Chief officers must ensure appropriate training before conferring a power.

Since opening the recruitment for Volunteer Police Community Support Officers (VPCSOs) in the autumn of 2013, Lincolnshire Police have recruited 80 volunteers, who have been trained to the same standard as paid PCSOs. The College of Policing guidance in respect of VPCSOs has not yet been written.

We will respond to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report as soon as we are in a position to do so.

We have noted the Committee’s recommendations and are taking them into account as we consider the options for how best to take forward the work on the police funding formula.

The direct entry to superintendent scheme has been running since 2014; over the three years of its operation it has had a total of 2,049 applications.

The first direct entry scheme to inspector launched this year. There were 1,647 ap-plications and the selection process is ongoing. The first cohort are expected to start in November.

Details of success and retention for the direct entry to superintendent scheme are outlined in the table below.

Assessment centres for the 2016 inspectors’ and superintendents’ schemes will take place this summer.

The direct entry to superintendent scheme has been running since 2014; over the three years of its operation it has had a total of 2,049 applications.

The first direct entry scheme to inspector launched this year. There were 1,647 ap-plications and the selection process is ongoing. The first cohort are expected to start in November.

Details of success and retention for the direct entry to superintendent scheme are outlined in the table below.

Assessment centres for the 2016 inspectors’ and superintendents’ schemes will take place this summer.

The direct entry to superintendent scheme has been running since 2014; over the three years of its operation it has had a total of 2,049 applications.

The first direct entry scheme to inspector launched this year. There were 1,647 ap-plications and the selection process is ongoing. The first cohort are expected to start in November.

Details of success and retention for the direct entry to superintendent scheme are outlined in the table below.

Assessment centres for the 2016 inspectors’ and superintendents’ schemes will take place this summer.

The direct entry to superintendent scheme has been running since 2014; over the three years of its operation it has had a total of 2,049 applications.

The first direct entry scheme to inspector launched this year. There were 1,647 ap-plications and the selection process is ongoing. The first cohort are expected to start in November.

Details of success and retention for the direct entry to superintendent scheme are outlined in the table below.

Assessment centres for the 2016 inspectors’ and superintendents’ schemes will take place this summer.

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of police officers who have taken time off work due to stress.

Policing, by its nature, can be a stressful and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers, supported by the College of Policing, to ensure that good management systems are in place to support police in their work.

The Home Office recognises the importance of police welfare - last October we allocated £10 million to help support emergency services personnel and volunteers, focused on mental health, physical recuperation and bereavement support for those who need it.

The number of full time equivalent police officers employed in traffic policing roles as at 31 March in each of the last 5 years is provided in the tables. Officers with multiple responsibilities are recorded under their primary function or role. Data for 31 March 2015 (the latest period for which figures are available) can also be found in the supplementary tables of the July 2015 police workforce statistics publication:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444537/police-workforce-supptabs-mar15.ods

As HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.

Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are.

The Aircraft Accident investigation Bureau investigation into the collision will be made public. However, the separate, ongoing criminal investigation, and any decision to release the results of the investigation, is an operational matter for the Metropolitan Police, as the investigatory authority.

Guidance has been circulated to Police Forces to assist them when dealing with incidents involving misuse. A decision on whether to investigate and prosecute is made on an assessment of threat, risk and harm.

The deployment of police resources is an operational matter for Chief Constables. However, any deployments overseas to provide advice or assistance to a foreign government must be approved by the Home Secretary under the provisions of Section 26 of the Police Act (1996). No decision has been made regarding any future deployments following last year’s pilot.

The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of police officers who have committed suicide.

Policing, by its nature, can be a stressful and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers working with directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners and supported by the College of Policing - to ensure that good management systems are in place to ensure the welfare of all officers and staff.

The Government recognises the importance of police welfare – in October 2014 we allocated £10 million to help support emergency services personnel and volunteers, focused on mental health, physical recuperation and bereavement support for those who need it.

Policing, by its nature, can be a stressful and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers, supported by the College of Policing, to ensure that good management systems are in place to support police in their work.

The Government recognise the importance of police welfare. In October 2014 we allocated £10 million to help support emergency services personnel and volunteers, focused on mental health, physical recuperation and bereavement support for those who need it.

The Home Office is working with the national policing lead for wellbeing and engagement on the development of his strategy but this must remain a sector led initiative.

Overall police spending will be protected in real terms over the Spending Review period, when the locally funded police precept element of council tax is taken into account. This is an increase of up to £900 million in cash terms by 2019/20. Overall, the public should be in no doubt that the police will have the resources they need to respond to new threats rapidly and effectively to keep people safe.

Decisions on the how the funding is allocated to priorities within forces are for individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners.

Online crime covers a vast range of criminality; what is illegal offline is also illegal online. However, the internet has enabled crime to be committed in a different way, which requires a different type of approach from Law Enforcement. That is why this Government has committed to spending £1.9 billion on cyber security over the next five years, including for tackling cyber crime.

The 2015 Strategic Policing Requirement states that ‘capabilities will be delivered locally by police forces but may need to be brought together nationally through collaborative arrangements between forces or with other partners when the threat or risk demand joint working’. In some cases they are combined to provide an ongoing regional resource that provides a national network of capabilities to disrupt serious and organised crime, for example, through the Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs).

The Government has invested over £90 million in ROCUs, over the last three years. In addition to at least a further £20 million in 2016/17, in order to increase and sustain the specialist capabilities required in law enforcement to respond to Serious and Organised Crime including online crime, and to support local forces to investigate online crime in a collaborative way in England and Wales.

Action Fraud, within the City of London Police also plays an important role in educating and assisting local forces to investigate cyber crime and cyber enabled fraud, with a particular focus on improving the service to victims.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) operates UK wide and works in close collaboration with all UK police forces and other law enforcement partners, including PSNI and Police Scotland (including through two-way tasking and coordination processes). The NCA leads some investigations, whilst supporting and coordinating others.