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.

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.