Nicholas Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on merging police forces in England.

Mike Penning

It is the role of directly elected local Police and Crime Commissioners to propose changes to local policing, not the Home Office. Any request from police forces to voluntarily merge would be considered where it is supported by a robust business case and has local consent.

It is not necessary for police forces to merge in order to become more efficient. Existing legislation places a strong duty on Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners to collaborate in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness. Many are demonstrating that savings can be generated through collaboration without sacrificing local accountability and identity.