Police Grant Report

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Wednesday 11th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Steff Aquarone (North Norfolk) (LD)]

Before I delve into the issues facing policing in Norfolk, I have to discuss some of the simply incredible ways that funding allocations are decided in the police grant report that we are debating. This is just another example of government functioning in a way that is rapidly becoming unfit for purpose and not changing with the times fast enough. An array of complex sums, based on data from as long ago as the 2001 census, dictates how many police officers we can expect to see on the streets in my constituency over the next year.

If we asked the average person on the street how their local police force funding was decided, few would guess that it was decided by a long formula that includes multipliers such as the daytime net inflow in 2001, a population projection for 2013, and the number of unemployed men between 2009 and 2012. The number of pubs and bars in an area is linked to the funding that a police force receives. Under police crime top-ups 1, 3, 4 and 5 and the “fear of crime” top-up, the greater the number of licensed establishment per 100 hectares, the greater the funding multiplier for the police force.

That leads me to a key question that I hope the Minister can answer on this year’s report and next year’s funding settlement. The Chancellor’s ongoing war on pubs is leading to closures across rural areas like mine; can the Minister confirm that under her formula, if a community lost their local pub, their local police force would receive less funding the following year? Surely we can create a clearer, more up-to-date and more workable formula than this—one that uses better data and delivers more funding. I note that Members of the Home Secretary’s own party have called for reflection on this, and so I hope she will take it into consideration.

People in North Norfolk want to be reassured that they are getting a fair deal. I am not sure that the system delivers that for them. Once upon a time, this formula may have delivered well, but given the evolving nature of crime, I do not think that it is well suited to the policing needs of 2026. Whatever logarithms and multipliers the Home Secretary chooses to use, the reality on the ground in my area is clear: our communities feel less safe than they once did. Community policing has been stripped back. Rural crime is not being handled with the seriousness that it deserves.

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

Does my county colleague agree that there are particular challenges in Norfolk? Under the previous Conservative police and crime commissioner, not only were all 150 of our police and community support officers made redundant, but many police stations lost their public access, and accessibility and visible policing have been eroded as a result.

[Steff Aquarone]

Those facts are irrefutable. I will come on to some of the points that the hon. Member makes about the challenges of policing an area like North Norfolk, due to the unique characteristics of our shared county.

We are lucky to have a lower than average rate of crime, but that does not mean that we should have our provision cut, or officer numbers reduced. Security and confidence in public safety are created by a well-funded and trusted police force, not by punishing us for not having enough crime. Maybe the Minister could listen to what her colleague and perhaps future leader, the Health Secretary, says about his focus on prevention. If we view much of crime through a public health lens, we can learn sensible and holistic lessons about stopping crime before it happens, rather than just responding as best we can.

Rural crime across the country is at staggering rates, and that causes real fear for farmers and rural business owners in Norfolk, where our past Conservative police and crime commissioners left us with zero specialist rural crime officers—an unbelievable statistic for such a rural county. Latest stats show that after pressure from the Liberal Democrats, the numbers reached the heady heights of two officers in 2024. Clearly, we have a long way to go. I will work with our PCC and police chiefs to ensure that we can deliver more for tackling rural crime, and that the Government give them what they need to do so.

I have said time and again that I am proud to have the oldest population in the country in North Norfolk, but that brings challenges for policing, and challenges to do with the way that my residents are targeted by criminals. Older people are seen as good marks for fraudsters and scammers. In Norfolk last year, £4.5 million was lost through investment fraud. In 2023, almost £100,000 was lost to pension fraud; some had their retirement savings ripped away. We have to crack down on this awful crime, which has serious financial and emotional impacts on its victims.

It saddens me that the prevalence of fraud and scams could make our communities less trusting and confident in the goodness of others, all because of criminal groups out there who steal their hard-earned money. For all the benefits that artificial intelligence can bring, we need to accept, sadly, that this will be one of the ways in which it can be damaging. Scammers with access to AI can use it to make their scams more widespread and efficient; it will allow them to hit more people in shorter timeframes. When the long-promised AI Bill comes to the House, it would be great if steps were taken to address that. We Liberal Democrats have called for the establishment of an online crime agency to focus on fraud and scammers who prey on constituents like mine. I hope that the Government will look carefully at our proposals, and will take action to stop these criminals damaging our communities.

I am not sure how many more police grant reports we will debate in this House that will have Norfolk as its own line item, as the Government’s White Paper seems to be strongly flirting with the idea of merging us with two or even three other counties. That is just another step taking us further away from policing in the community, and from an understanding of what an area needs. A lack of local leadership, making police chiefs even more distant, and the notion that policing priorities in Stalham could be dictated from as far away as Peterborough do not make sense to our constituents.

The Government are returning to type. They are centralising power, and trying to sell it back to us with the promise of some meagre back-office savings. That is their approach to local government reorganisation, to devolution and now to policing as well. We want them to ensure that Norfolk can stop and solve crime, and to make our community safer, not waste time and energy rejigging structures without a promise of improved outcomes.

North Norfolk is a fantastic community, which is lucky to see less crime than other parts of the country, but that is something we have worked hard to achieve. I am grateful for the hard work of Norfolk constabulary, which keeps my constituents safe and supported. It is time for the Government to listen to their needs and ensure that the money and resource needed to keep us safe is being delivered.

Oral Answers to Questions

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

18. What recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle rural crime.

[Ben Goldsborough (South Norfolk) (Lab)]

23. What recent steps her Department has taken to help tackle rural crime.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Jones]

I am delighted to say that, since the last Home Office questions, the National Police Chiefs’ Council launched its rural and wildlife crime strategy, which we absolutely support. The Government are going further: new provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill will introduce powers for the police to enter and search premises for items that have been electronically tracked and are reasonably believed to have been stolen, and we will implement the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which will strengthen measures to tackle the theft and resale of high-value equipment, particularly that used in agricultural settings.

[Terry Jermy]

Waste crime—an increasing concern in rural areas—often has links to serious and organised crime. Just last week, the Eastern Daily Press revealed that although there were nearly 1,300 reports of waste crime in Norfolk in a five-year period, just two people have been convicted for such offences in that time. In one case in my South West Norfolk constituency, 250 bales of DIY waste were dumped on a farm, with an estimated removal cost of £250,000. Will the Minister tell the House what more the Department can do to tackle waste crime in rural areas?

[Sarah Jones]

My hon. Friend speaks about a very serious crime, and we must go further. Last year, the Government announced a huge crackdown on cowboy waste operators in order to tackle fly-tipping. To support local authorities, our Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a power to issue statutory guidance on fly-tipping enforcement, and there will be a new five-year prison term for waste cowboys. We need to crack down on that crime.

Anti-social Behaviour: East of England

Terry Jermy Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Josh Dean]

Absolutely. The groups I mentioned are supported by local churchgoers and religious groups in our community. I pay tribute to them, not least because I was supported by youth services as a young person. I would not be standing here as the Member of Parliament for Hertford and Stortford without them.

I am looking forward to engaging in coming months with young people and local service providers in our community, to ensure that they can contribute directly as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport develops the exciting new national youth strategy.

On that point, I shall be grateful if the Minister outlines how the Home Office is working across Government to ensure that tackling antisocial behaviour and crime prevention are wired into the national youth strategy. Also, how will the Home Office work with policing teams in semi-rural communities such as mine to continue to crack down on antisocial behaviour?

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

As a former youth worker, I am pleased to hear my hon. Friend talk about the benefits of youth services. Does he agree that we have seen an erosion of youth services across the east? When cuts are made to council funding, children’s and youth services are often the first to go.

[Josh Dean]

I could not agree more. I often hear Conservative Members speak of their Government’s successes, but young people like me lived its failures. Too often, youth services, arts and culture—the things that help young people in our communities to find the path that is right for them—that were first for the chopping block. I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention and, on that point, I will conclude.

--- Later in debate ---

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

It is an honour to speak with you in the Chair, Mr Twigg. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Alice Macdonald)—my Norfolk colleague—on securing this important debate.

Statistically, Norfolk is one of the safest counties in the whole country, but antisocial behaviour is still very much a concern county-wide, including in South West Norfolk. I am regularly reminded that statistics offer little comfort for those experiencing antisocial behaviour. Nationally, according to the crime survey for England and Wales, a record 24% of people believe that antisocial behaviour is very or fairly bad. I do not think it is unreasonable for people to expect to feel safe in their own communities and their own homes.

During the Conservatives’ 14 years in government, instead of delivering law and order, they did the exact opposite. They hollowed out neighbourhood policing and gutted and broke the criminal justice system, so that more than 90% of crimes now go unsolved.

[Lewis Cocking]

I remind the hon. Member that the last Conservative Government recruited 20,000 police officers across the country and the only force not to meet that target was the Metropolitan police under Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

[Terry Jermy]

I thank the hon. Member for his contribution. In Norfolk, there were fewer serving police officers at the end of the last 14 years than there were at the start. We have made that point repeatedly.

Some 240 police community support officers were scrapped entirely and not replaced on a like-for-like basis. The then Conservative police and crime commissioner cut all police community support officers—Norfolk was the first force in the country to do so. As a former youth worker in the constituency and a long-time councillor, I saw the immediate impact of that decision. PCSOs were able to make connections with the community; they met councillors and residents’ associations, and collected and shared information where possible. In Thetford, the largest town in my constituency, there was a PCSO based in the main high school, who built a rapport with young people that paid dividends later on.

Labour’s mission in government is to restore trust in our justice system as a key pillar of our society, and that mission has begun. I am delighted that just yesterday the Home Secretary highlighted the pledge to provide 13,000 more neighbourhood police and community support officers, alongside an extra £200 million of funding in the next financial year.

I am very proud to be a Labour MP in a rural constituency, and I am particularly pleased that this Government are looking to deliver a new rural crime strategy. We need a fresh approach to tackling crime in rural areas. We must recognise that crime and antisocial behaviour is different in rural areas. Crimes such as hare coursing and livestock worrying are major issues in my constituency and of great concern to residents.

I pay tribute to the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers and its Freedom from Fear campaign, which seeks to prevent violence, threats and abuse against workers and protect them from antisocial and threatening behaviour by the public. I have spoken to staff in village shops across South West Norfolk who often work alone and in very remote areas. The abuse of retail workers is a huge concern to them. The Government understand the need for further protections and I was delighted that just yesterday, on Second Reading of the Crime and Policing Bill, the Home Secretary announced that we will introduce a specific offence of assaulting a retail worker.

I would be grateful if the Minister could comment on the opportunities and the programme for delivery for rural communities in the east.