Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there is a shortfall in the number of Ministry of Defence Police Officers; and what provision there is for tasking such officers beyond their contracted hours of work.

Mark Lancaster

The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) currently has a number of vacancies within the Force. Where there is a shortfall in numbers at an MDP station the use of overtime working may be authorised in order to cover essential duties. Volunteers to work additional hours are sought in the first instance, but officers may be directed to work additional hours if insufficient volunteers are available.