Oral Answers to Questions

Sureena Brackenridge Excerpts

Monday 15th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)]

4. What recent progress her Department has made on improving neighbourhood policing.

[Mrs Sureena Brackenridge (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)]

17. What recent progress her Department has made on improving neighbourhood policing.

[Kevin Bonavia (Stevenage) (Lab)]

18. What recent progress her Department has made on improving neighbourhood policing.

--- Later in debate ---

[Shabana Mahmood]

I am very sorry to hear about those issues with the police and crime commissioner in my hon. Friend’s local area. It is important that those concerns are listened to. I would be very happy for him to meet the Minister for Policing and Crime, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon West (Sarah Jones).

[Mrs Brackenridge]

I welcome the action the Government are taking to strengthen neighbourhood policing in Wolverhampton, with 27 additional roles and officers newly allocated or moved back into neighbourhood roles. Fourteen years of cuts have left west midlands police with around 700 fewer officers than in 2010 and a funding formula that short-changes our region by £40 million every year. Will my right hon. Friend commit to reviewing the Tories’ funding formula so my constituency can have the same level of neighbourhood policing and security as other parts of the country?

[Shabana Mahmood]

As a fellow west midlands Member of Parliament, I of course hear my hon. Friend’s concerns, but she will understand that, as with previous years, decisions on police force funding allocations will be made via the police funding settlement, which is taking place later in the year.