Extract from Treasury Questions: Support for Businesses and Entrepreneurs - Nov 6

Shops in Grimsby tell me that the biggest issue they face at the moment is shoplifting and antisocial behaviour, and local residents tell me that they are too scared to go into the town centre. We need to make sure that we have a strong police presence. What assurance can the Chancellor give me that the additional pension costs that Humberside Police are facing will be covered by central grant funding, to prevent the loss of 200 additional police officers?

As I have told the House before, the 2016 pension changes were notified to Departments in 2016 in their settlement letters and have been factored into departmental calculations since then. The 2018  increases in public sector pension contributions will be covered in full by the Treasury in 2019-20 and then looked at in the round in the spending review.