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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance has been issued on the criteria used for deployment of police air support when a vehicle has failed to stop.

Brandon Lewis

The College of Policing has issued Authorised Professional Practice on the management of vehicle pursuits which includes guidance on the use of air support. Deployment of police air support is an operational matter. Since October 2012, the provision of air support to the forces of England and Wales has been the responsibility of the National Police Air Service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the availability of police dogs nationally; and what estimate she has made of the number of police forces that have introduced the recommended ratio of dogs to officers.

Brandon Lewis

Operational decisions on the availability and deployment of dogs are made on a force by force basis and are a matter for chief constables, working with their Police and Crime Commissioners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to (a) encourage police officers and police community support officers (PCSO) to report assaults sustained in the line of duty, (b) standardise the procedure for reporting assaults across the 48 police forces and (c) standardise the procedures for investigating and responding to an alleged assault on an officer or PCSO.

Brandon Lewis

I want to be clear that an assault of any kind on a police officer or police community support officers is wholly unacceptable. Chief Constables, working with directly elected police and crime commissioners, have a duty to manage and support the police workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff.

The College of Policing develops standards and guidance for policing and works with forces to manage and prevent assaults.

Last year we published figures on assaults on police officers for the first time since 2009/10 and developed this further in 2016. We continue to work with forces to improve the data.

Sentencing guidelines already provide for assault on a police officer to be treated more severely in appropriate cases. The courts need to be able to take into account all the circumstances of each case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the severity of sentencing on deterring assaults of police officers; and if she will take steps to ensure that people who assault police officers receive the toughest possible sentences.

Brandon Lewis

I want to be clear that an assault of any kind on a police officer or police community support officers is wholly unacceptable. Chief Constables, working with directly elected police and crime commissioners, have a duty to manage and support the police workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff.

The College of Policing develops standards and guidance for policing and works with forces to manage and prevent assaults.

Last year we published figures on assaults on police officers for the first time since 2009/10 and developed this further in 2016. We continue to work with forces to improve the data.

Sentencing guidelines already provide for assault on a police officer to be treated more severely in appropriate cases. The courts need to be able to take into account all the circumstances of each case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of response officers (a) working as a single crew and (b) responding to 999 calls alone.

Brandon Lewis

Individual chief constables are best placed to assess the risks to their force and decisions about patrol policy must remain with them. Chief Constables, working with directly elected police and crime commissioners, have a duty to manage and support the police workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. Chief constables keep their patrol policies under regular review and decide how best to respond to their local circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the protection of single crew police officers.

Brandon Lewis

Individual chief constables are best placed to assess the risks to their force and decisions about patrol policy must remain with them. Chief Constables, working with directly elected police and crime commissioners, have a duty to manage and support the police workforce effectively, ensuring the welfare of all officers and staff. Chief constables keep their patrol policies under regular review and decide how best to respond to their local circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of spit hoods and the extent of their use by police forces.

Brandon Lewis

The use of ‘spit hoods’, as with any other use of restraint or force, is an operational matter for Chief Officers. Accordingly, the Home Office has not conducted any assessments on their use or the extent of use by police forces in England and Wales. However, the Home Office is clear that all uses of force or restraint must be necessary and proportionate.

In recognition of the importance of ensuring transparency in how police forces use various means of restraint, the former Home Secretary asked Chief Constable David Shaw to review what data should be collected and published. The review recommended that forces record a range of data in all instances when significant force is used, including restraint techniques and the use of spit hoods. The data to be collected includes the age, gender, ethnicity and sex of the subject, the type of force used, reason for the use of force, and the outcome of the incident. The new data collection system is currently being piloted in a number of forces before it is implemented nationwide. We expect all use of force records to be published by forces, and a subset of the data will be part of the mandatory requirement for the 2017/18 Annual Data Requirement (ADR).