The Government has identified improving public safety and security as a key priority, and in September 2019 the Home Office announced plans to support this aim by recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by the end of March 2023.
The Home Office has committed £1.2 billion of additional funding to support police forces’ recruitment and training in the programme’s first two years. The College of Policing and other stakeholders have estimated that forces must recruit 50,000 police nationally across three years to achieve the uplift and cover normal turnover.
The Committee will question senior officials at the Home Office and National Police Chiefs Council on whether they are well placed to deliver value for money from the Police uplift programme, including:
- whether the Home Office has designed and set up the programme in a way that supports the outcomes it wants to achieve;
- how well the programme is progressing in recruiting officers and achieving objectives; and
- whether the Home Office is effectively managing the short- and long-term risks associated with the programme.
If you have evidence on these questions please submit it here by 6pm on Monday 18 April 2022.