Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Dan Jarvis]

We are doing more, and I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that this is a key priority for the Department, not least because 70% of fraud has an international element, particularly online. Approximately one in 18 adults were victims of fraud in the year ending March 2024. The noble Lord Hanson leads on this for the Department, and he and I are working closely with other Government Departments, including the Treasury and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. This is a priority and we need to do more.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

3. What steps her Department is taking to improve neighbourhood policing.

[Chris Vince (Harlow) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What steps her Department is taking to improve neighbourhood policing.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Yvette Cooper)]

Neighbourhood policing is the bedrock of the British policing model, yet in many areas of the country it has been decimated in recent years. This Government are committed to rebuilding neighbourhood policing by putting officers, police community support officers and special constables back in our communities with new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour and local crime.

[Ruth Cadbury]

My constituents rightly want to see more neighbourhood policing teams on their streets. I welcome the Government’s commitment to bringing in 10,000 more neighbourhood police officers, but can the Secretary of State assure me that west London will get the neighbourhood policing teams we need?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right that we now have thousands fewer police officers and PCSOs on the streets than we had a decade ago. This includes the previous Government halving the number of PCSOs and cutting the number of special constables by two thirds. This newly elected Government are working at pace to introduce a new neighbourhood policing guarantee, putting police officers and PCSOs back on the streets. We have also announced funding and support for the College of Policing to begin the national roll-out of specialist training for neighbourhood officers in order to professionalise and strengthen the work they do in every corner of the country.