Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes in the number of police officers on trends in the level of crime in rural areas.

Decisions on the deployment of police officers and resourcing are matters for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to determine how to respond to local need, including in rural communities. The Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee has delivered named, contactable officers in every neighbourhood (including rural neighbourhoods) who are dedicated to addressing local issues. More than 3,000 additional neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs are now in neighbourhood policing roles across England and Wales, strengthening visible policing.

In relation to rural crime, the Government is supporting action against rural crime, including through tougher measures to tackle equipment theft and by providing funding to specialist units such as the National Rural Crime Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit, supporting policing in disrupting serious and organised crime groups, which pose unique challenges for policing in large and isolated rural areas.