Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress she has made on the implementation of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to strong neighbourhood policing for everyone in England and Wales, wherever they live. On 10 April, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary outlined further details about our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, including that by July, every community, will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing issues facing their communities. Local communities and businesses will also have ongoing opportunities to engage with neighbourhood teams and raise local concerns and priorities through regular local beat meetings.
The Guarantee was developed through close working with the National Police Chief’s Council and other policing leads, and we continue to work closely with them to ensure it is delivered across all police forces in England and Wales.
The Government has made £200 million available in FY 25/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales, including up to 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by March 2026.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether funding will be allocated to roll out hotspot policing in rural areas.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government has awarded £66.3m in 2025/26 to all 43 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales for the Hot Spot Action Fund. This funding is for high-visibility patrolling in the areas with the highest densities (‘hotspots’) of knife crime and anti-social behaviour, as well as problem-oriented policing to tackle the longer-term drivers of crime.
This funding can be used to roll-out hotspot policing in rural areas if the area has a high density of knife crime and anti-social behaviour relative to the force area. Where funding is specifically targeted is an operational decision for individual PCCs and police forces. West Mercia Police (which includes South Shropshire) has been awarded £1m from this fund in 2025/26.
We are also providing over £800,000 in 25/26 for the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit. This funding will support police forces to tackle rural and wildlife crimes, including organised theft and disrupting serious and organised crime groups.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in rural towns and villages.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
The Government’s Plan for Change, announced by the Prime Minister on 5 December, sets out how we will reduce ASB. Every police force across England and Wales will have a dedicated lead officer for ASB, working with communities, including rural towns and villages, to develop a local ASB action plan.
We are delivering on our commitment to restore and strengthen neighbourhood policing, putting 13,000 neighbourhood police and community support officers into local communities – including rural communities - so residents have a named officer they can turn to when things go wrong.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced tougher powers to tackle repeat offending, including the new Respect Order to tackle the most persistent ASB offenders. Breach of a Respect Order will be a criminal offence and courts will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, up to two years’ imprisonment.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the projected savings that will be raised via the police collaboration and efficiency programme.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
In her Written Ministerial statement of 19 November (Statement UIN HCWS232) the Home Secretary set out her intention to work with policing on a package of reforms to ensure it can operate efficiently and effectively, deliver the Safer Streets Mission and support the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. In particular, she announced a new Police Efficiencies and Collaboration Programme to deliver commercial efficiencies and make cashable savings.
We continue to work with policing to further develop this programme, identify and unlock immediate cost savings and lay the foundations to deliver hundreds of millions of pounds of efficiency savings by the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the affordability of firearms licences and renewals for (a) game keepers and (b) veterinarians.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 5 February 2025, increased fees came into effect for firearms licensing applications processed by police forces. This gave effect to a commitment in the Government’s manifesto.
A full impact assessment was published alongside the Firearms (Variation of Fees) Order 2025, the Statutory Instrument that brought the new fees into effect.
The impact assessment covers the impact of increased fees on game keepers and veterinarians. Any future changes to firearms licensing will be subject to further impact assessments in the normal way.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to employer National Insurance contributions on police recruitment.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 and represents a 6% cash increase and 3.5% real terms increase in funding.
This includes an additional £230.3 million of funding for territorial police forces to cover the costs of the increases to National Insurance Contributions.
The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to effectively tackle crime. That’s why we have committed £200 million to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs in communities across the country.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle modern slavery in illegal hand carwashes.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government is committed to tackling modern slavery across all sectors, including hand car washes.
The Responsible Car Wash Scheme, partly funded by the Home Office, sought to enhance compliance, and investigate non-compliance in the car wash sector. As part of the scheme, a Car Wash Code of Practice was developed in collaboration with the sector to test the effectiveness of different interventions in raising standards.
As the scheme has concluded, the Government is assessing these evaluations to understand how both to bolster compliance, and support sector-led initiatives. The Government and enforcement bodies, such as the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, continue to support industry initiatives aimed at improving standards, while also cracking down on individual carwash operators employing and exploiting illegal workers.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support police forces to purchase equipment for tackling rural crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is an operational matter for policing to determine how they use the resources they have been allocated in order to carry out their duties, taking into account local priorities.
The Provisional Police Funding Settlement announced funding of up to £19.5 billion for 2025-26, an increase of up to £1 billion, or 5.5% in cash terms, from last year’s settlement.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help Police and Crime Commissioners tackle (a) rural crime and (b) agricultural theft.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to reducing crime and disorder in rural areas, given the devastating impact rural crime can have on communities. Under our reforms, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping.
We are also committed to implementing the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which aims to prevent the theft and re-sale of high-value equipment, particularly for use in an agricultural setting.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the sufficiency of funding to the National Police Air Service.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Police Air Service (NPAS) provides borderless, round-the-clock, crewed police air support across England and Wales.
The Home Office supports NPAS through the provision of an annual capital grant. For the Financial Year 2024/25, this grant is £11.46m. The NPAS revenue budget is funded through contributions from police forces. For Financial Year 2024/25 this budget is £49.6m.
Funding for future financial years will be agreed as part of the ongoing Spending Review.