Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will merge the Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex police forces.

Mike Penning

Any request from police forces to merge would be considered where it is supported by a robust business case and has local consent. It is the role of directly elected local Police and Crime Commissioners to propose changes to local policing, not central government. 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 they can collaborate without sacrificing local accountability and identity. For example, Sussex and Surrey are already working together on collaborations that include a joint IT solution, procurement, major crime, forensics, firearms and fleet.