To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the resources required for the police effectively to implement the national protocol on reducing the unnecessary criminalisation of looked-after children and care leavers.

The national protocol on reducing criminalisation of looked-after children and care leavers sets out best practice; implementing it does not place any new statutory burdens on the police or other agencies. The protocol was developed with the leaders of the relevant sectors including the National Police Chiefs’ Council and endorsed as a positive step forward.