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For the first time since 2015, the Home Office has published an updated Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR). It sets out the national threats and national capabilities to counter those threats and applies to police forces in England and Wales.
The Government consulted on the draft SPR during 2021/22 and concluded that six threats – terrorism, serious organised crime,a national cyber event, child sexual abuse, public disorder and civil emergencies – should continue to be identified as national threats.
Responding to recommendations from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, the SPR now includes the threat of violence against women and girls as a seventh national threat.
Other changes include a more detailed description of how threats should be tackled by police forces and an enhanced serious and organised crime section to ensure prominence for fraud and organised immigration crime.
Police and Crime Commissioners are expected to provide an annual assurance statement within their annual reports on how they ‘have had regard to the SPR’ and how it has influenced the strategic direction for their force. The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners will provide an annual summary of the assurance statements to the Policing Minister.
The Home Office has committed to revisiting the SPR again by February 2025, with further reviews every two years after this.