Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Deferred
Paragraph: 67
Repetitive protests significantly strain police resources, impacting other duties and officer wellbeing.
Conclusion
The repetitive nature of the recent large Israel-Gaza protests places considerable resource constraints on the police. This places additional pressure on the Met, which, having failed to meet the Uplift target, already struggles to meet the regular demands of policing London. The protests further drain police resource with more than 4,000 cancelled rest-days, and the same police officers being deployed week in, week out. We are concerned both about the effect on other aspects of policing, and about the human impact and the wellbeing of these police officers. With many officers regularly being deployed from outside of the Met, and should these protests continue indefinitely, it stands to reason that forces across the country will be less able to carry out the everyday neighbourhood and response policing that is so vital to the public.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response outlines its strengthened approach to tackling extremism, including changes to Prevent Duty Guidance and a new definition of extremism, without addressing the committee's concerns about police resource constraints and officer wellbeing due to repetitive protests.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
67
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
The recent spate of protests that have followed Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October has created challenges for policing, particularly in terms of their size and frequency. The impact of the protests has also been felt by the general public and, in particular, the Jewish community. Though the large marches have taken place in central London, providing an effective policing response has required all forces in England and Wales to share their resources with the Metropolitan Police. That support has been provided in addition to responding to smaller, localised protests held in forces across the country. Since October, mutual aid into London (to support both MPS and BTP) has so far been provided on 7 weekends, amounting to 3,025 officers/staff. Response: Following successful delivery of the Police Uplift Programme, the Government has continued to work with forces to support the commitment to maintain officer numbers at Uplift levels. It is important that each police force has an effective workforce plan in place, to meet current and future needs. The Home Office continues to work closely with policing partners nationally as they seek to build on the success of the Uplift in developing longer term workforce plans.
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